The Blinne Blog

Casper City Council Moves Monument, Rebuffs Phelps

The latest on the Fred Phelps saga is here. The Casper City Council decided to move their 10 Commandments monument to a park that will put it in historical context. They also banned Phelps from this park. Not to undone, Phelps is trying to place his monument in Idaho. Here's the Casper story:

City Council decides to create monument plaza

By BRENDAN BURKE Star-Tribune staff writer
On a 5-4 vote the Casper City Council on Tuesday decided to move the city's Ten Commandments monument from City Park to a new historic plaza on the corner of Beech and Second streets.

The council also unanimously voted to reject an offer from Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., to place a monument declaring slain gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard is in hell anywhere on city property.

The decision to move the Ten Commandments to the new plaza is designed to keep the monument on public property and in a context that will play up the Decalogue's historic value.

Several council members stated that by highlighting the historic value of the Ten Commandments, the city will be less vulnerable to potential litigation.

However, spokespersons for both the Freedom From Religion Foundation of Madison, Wis., and the Westboro Baptist Church said the move is nothing more than an attempt to circumvent the law laid down by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2002 when it ruled in the case of Summan v. Ogden , which states a city that displays a Ten Commandments monument must also display monuments espousing more unpopular beliefs.

The motion to place the Ten Commandments monument in the new plaza was introduced by Councilman Paul Bertoglio and seconded by Councilman Ed Opella, after the council voted on another 5-4 vote to take the monument out of City Park where it has been since 1965, the year the Fraternal Order of Eagles donated it to the city.

Along with Bertoglio and Opella, Councilwomen Jacquie Anderson, Lynne Whalen and Mayor Barb Peryam voted for the plaza plan.

Council members Barb Watters, Guy Padgett, Renee Burgess and Mildred Lamb, who had to participate in the meeting via telephone due to incapacitation caused by a broken ankle, voted against the proposal.

Watters, Padgett, Burgess, Lamb and Peryam voted to remove the monument from City Park.

"This is where our statement of faith, our statements of values, our backbone belongs," Peryam said while endorsing the historic plaza plan. "And for those outsiders who think they can run our city, I say, 'Thank you, thank you very, very much.' Because, you know what, if you think that we are going to put our monument someplace in cold storage, I've got another thought for you. We are going to put it where it will be more noticed, more taken advantage of and used for learning purposes by all families.

"If we are going to be taken to court for this action, then so be it," Peryam added. "Bring it on because this is a battle I firmly believe we can win."

However, neither Dan Barker of the Freedom From Religion Foundation nor Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church shared Peryam's assessment of the city's chances in a court case defending the constitutionality of the historic plaza plan.

"It looks like a ruse; it looks like a trick for them to keep it," Barker said. "It would probably be unconstitutional because the intention of the city is to maintain a religious document. The reason they are doing that is to keep the Ten Commandments."

Phelps-Roper agreed with Barker.

"What they have done is a thinly veiled attempt to do an end run around the Constitution," she said. "What they did here was try to create a way to avoid having to deal what the 10th Circuit said they must do."

Barker was unable to say what his organization's next move on the matter of Casper's Ten Commandments will be.

Phelps-Roper, however, said her church will "explore our options." Asked if those options include litigation, her response was, "Of course they do."

After the City Council approved moving the Ten Commandments to the new plaza, Watters introduced a measure to give the Decalogue back to the Eagles if a lawsuit is filed against the city challenging the constitutionality of the historic plaza. The measure failed.

The Casper City Council has been embroiled in a controversy over the Ten Commandments since last month, when the Freedom of Religion Foundation sent a letter to the city asking for the monolith's removal.

The foundation claims having a Ten Commandments monument on city property is a violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The controversy deepened when Phelps announced plans to place a monument in City Park near the Ten Commandments.

City Manager Tom Forslund said the Ten Commandments monument will probably be removed from City Park and placed in temporary storage some time in the next month. He was unsure, however, exactly when the move will be done.

The idea for the new historic plaza is based on a plan utilized by the city of Grand Junction, Colo., that withstood a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union in 2001.

Under the plan adopted Tuesday, the city of Casper will construct a plaza on city-owned land located on the southeast corner of Beech and Second streets. The Ten Commandments will be joined in the new plaza by monuments honoring the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble of the United States Constitution and other documents vital to the historic development of American law, Forslund said.

The city budgeted money to renovate the now-vacant plot into a plaza of some kind when it passed its fiscal year 2004 budget in June.

Design work on the historic plaza should begin this winter and bidding should take place next spring, Forslund said. Hopefully the plaza will be finished in a year, the city manager added.

The new monuments for the plaza will cost the city between $4,500 and $5,500 each, Forslund said.

Here's the Idaho story:

Kansas minister wants to erect anti-gay monument in Idaho

By REBECCA BOONE

Associated Press Writer

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A minister known for his fiery rhetoric against homosexuals and who unsuccessfully fought to erect an anti-gay monument in Casper, Wyo., is now turning to the tiny town of Rupert, Idaho.

The Rev. Fred Phelps asked Minidoka County Commissioners this week to buy a small section of the courthouse lawn for the same monument rejected by Casper's city leaders on Tuesday.

He got the idea after learning that Rupert's local American Legion post was seeking to buy the land for a Ten Commandments monument. American Legion members hoped that by purchasing the land, they could display the biblical message without violating the separation of church and state.

''I didn't think anybody would come up with buying a 2- by 3-foot spot of the land. That's a wonderful idea,'' Phelps said.

Commissioners said they have not yet reviewed Phelps' request and do not know if they could legally sell a portion of the land. But their reaction to the proposed monument - which says that a slain University of Wyoming student went to hell because he was gay - was guarded.

''I'm afraid this is a can of worms getting opened up,'' said Commissioner Dave Teeter. ''Personally I don't think there's a chance that it's going to happen. It's just going to get worse. Here I thought we were a nice town, and we don't need that around here.''

American Legion member Don Murray was disappointed to learn of Phelps' request.

''I think it's a shame. We just wanted to do something for the community, and all of a sudden other people want to take advantage of it,'' Murray said.

Murray said that if the American Legion is unable to purchase courthouse land, they will not attempt to post the Ten Commandments anywhere else.

Phelps, 73, of Topeka, Kan., said he was unconcerned that his anti-gay message could prevent the Ten Commandments from being displayed in Rupert, a community of 5,645 people about 165 miles southeast of Boise.

''My message is infinitely more important than the Ten Commandments, because nobody is delivering it,'' Phelps said.

If denied, Phelps said he may attempt to buy land near the courthouse for the monument.

He already has started advertising for land near downtown in Casper, Wyo. offering to pay ''top dollar.''

''We're prepared to go as high as we need to go,'' he said.

Casper is the hometown of slain student Matthew Shepard, who was beaten and left for dead outside Laramie, Wyo. Shepard's 1998 murder sparked a national outcry for hate-crimes legislation. Phelps picketed the funeral.

On Phelps' proposed monument for Rupert, Shepard is pictured along with the inscription: ''MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, at Age 21, In defiance of God's solemn warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22.''

Phelps said he was attracted to Rupert because he believes it is a place where the monument would be safe from vandalism.

''I'm not planning to put one in the Castro district of San Francisco where all the homosexuals rule. We plan to dot this country with these monuments, where at least they're not determined to destroy it,'' he said.

Commissioner Marvin Bingham said the matter would be discussed Monday at the next commissioners' meeting.

Colorado Theologian Calls for Presiding Bishop to Resign

The Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner of the Diocese of Colorado sent the following letter to The Most Rev. Frank Griswold who is the Presiding Bishop of the ECUSA.

October 30, 2003

The Most Rev. Frank Griswold
Presiding Bishop
815 Second Ave. New York,
NY 10017

October 28, 2003

Dear Presiding Bishop Griswold:

I write out of deep respect for your office and for various services
you have rendered these past years in filling it. It is precisely for the sake of maintaining this dual respect, tied to the preservation of our church's integrity that I humbly ask, along with many others that you now step down from your position as Presiding Bishop.

The time has come when events have clearly proved your continued leadership of ECUSA to be an obstacle to renewed corporate health.

You have, for some years, lifted up a vision for us of communal diversity; but this vision has now engendered bitter and seemingly intransigent division. You have for some time promoted a pastoral ministry of reconciliation; but this has now been embodied in a widespread rancor. You have sought to give witness to a community where truths are held in tension; but this has now born within our midst only the fruit of lawless turmoil. Compounded by your unwillingness, however principled from your standpoint, to abide by and lead others into respectful embrace of the teaching, pleas and admonitions of the Anglican Communion at large, now voiced with unequivocal clarity, you have left ECUSA in a place where we are a pariah and derided scapegoat for churches and denominations around this nation and across the globe. Whatever happens in New Hampshire, the Episcopal Church has seriously lost its collective way, and your presence at the helm is no longer something in which we can have confidence.

We urge your resignation at this time. It would come as an act of mercy and of courage, and would be welcomed in that spirit.

In the peace of Christ Jesus,

Ephraim Radner (The Rev. Dr.)
Diocese of Colorado

Williams asked to dissociate Episcopal Church if gay bishop's canonization proceeds

The Association for Chruch Renewal sent the following letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury:

The Most Reverend Rowan D. Williams
Lambeth Palace
London, SE1 7JU

October 29, 2003

Your Grace:
As a fellowship of renewing and confessing movement leaders within mainline Protestant denominations in the United States and Canada, the Association for Church Renewal notes with sadness the decision of the Episcopal Church USA to confirm the election of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, an unrepentant practicing homosexual, as bishop and to recognize liturgies celebrating and blessing "same-sex unions."

By these radical actions, the Episcopal Church USA has severed its ties with Scripture, with two millennia of Christian moral teaching, with the great majority of Anglicanism's 77-million members worldwide, and with the larger Christian community around the world. We do not believe and cannot accept that this is Christ's will for His Church.

Our Association for Church Renewal is an ecumenical fellowship that represents millions of Christians who continue to live in faithfulness to God's Word. With Scripture and the historic teachings of the Church, we understand marriage to be a covenant between one man and one woman, the only appropriate context for sexual intimacy.

We are weary of divisive and destructive actions being taken by those seeking approval and even sacred blessing of homosexual behavior. Their relentless pursuit of this agenda has deeply damaged the Body of Christ. Already, we observe the results within your own communion, including massive membership losses, financial redirection, the departure of clergy, and threats of disassociation being made by Global South provinces.

It has been said that the acceptance of homosexual behavior by the Church is a necessary accommodation to Western culture. We reject this claim. As Christians who live in the United States and Canada, we know, first-hand, the fragmentation of the family, plague of sexually transmitted diseases, and loss of human dignity that have resulted from our culture's sexual mores. We repent of these practices, and we ask forgiveness of every non-Western culture to which we have exported our culture's licentiousness. We believe Christians are called not to accommodation, but to the transformation of culture.

We respectfully request that the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 37 primates of the worldwide Anglican Communion, heed the pleas from Biblically faithful Christian churches in North America and around the world. In the event that the Episcopal Church USA proceeds to "consecrate" Rev. Robinson's election as bishop, we ask that you declare publicly your refusal to recognize this act, and that you exercise appropriate fraternal discipline by declaring that the Episcopal Church USA has alienated itself from the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Such faithful leadership would bear powerful witness to Christian churches everywhere – and to a watching world – that the Body of Christ continues in fidelity to the Biblical foundation of the one holy, catholic and apostolic Church as the only norm for faith and life.

In Christ,

Rev. James V. Heidinger II, ACR Chairman
President and Publisher
Good News
United Methodist

Mrs. Diane Knippers, ACR Co-Chair
President
Institute on Religion and Democracy

Rev. Parker Williamson, ACR Co-Chair
Chief Executive Officer and Editor In Chief
The Presbyterian Lay Committee
Presbyterian Church (USA)

The following is a partial listing of ACR members:

Ms. Sara L. Anderson
Vice President
Bristol House, Ltd.
United Methodist

Rev. Karen Booth
Executive Director
Transforming Congregations
United Methodist Church

Rev. Mark Chavez
Executive Director
WordAlone Network
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Rev. Susan Cyre
Executive Director and Editor
Theology Matters
Presbyterian Church (USA)

Rev. Ira Gallaway
Associate Director
The Confessing Movement
United Methodist Church

Dr. Christopher Hershman
Evangelical Lutheran Confessing Fellowship
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Ms. Linda Huntington
Administrative Coordinator
American Anglican Council
Episcopal Church USA

Mr. Jim Kushiner
Executive Editor
Touchstone Journal

Mr. Bruce Mason
Media Officer
American Anglican Council
Episcopal Church USA

Pastor Gerald Miller
Member, WordAlone Network
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Sen. Patricia Miller
Executive Director
The Confessing Movement
United Methodist Church

Rev. Bill Nicoson
National Coordinator
American Baptist Evangelicals
American Baptist Church

Dr. Tom Oden
Chairman
Institute on Religion and Democracy
Dr. Oden is United Methodist, the IRD is ecumenical

Rev. David Runnion-Bareford
Executive Director
Biblical Witness Fellowship
United Church of Christ

Mrs. Terry Schlossberg
Presbyterians Pro-Life
Presbyterian Church (USA)

Mrs. L. Faye Short
President
RENEW Network for Women
United Methodist Church

Mr. David M. Stanley and Mrs. Jean L. Stanley
Chairman and Board Member
United Methodist Action
United Methodist Church

Rev. Vernon Stoop, Jr.
Executive Director
Focus Renewal Ministries
United Church of Christ

Mr. Mark Tooley
Executive Director
United Methodist Action
United Methodist Church

Rev. Todd H. Wetzel
Executive Director
Anglicans United (Formerly Episcopalians United)
Episcopal Church USA

Mr. Geoff Wilkins
National Chairman
National Alliance of Covenanting Congregations
United Church of Canada

More Anglican Trouble

The situation in the Anglican communion appears to have become completely polarized. I noted here how it looked like conservative Anglicans are attempting to force their will on the liberals. It appears that the liberals are attempting the same with the conservatives. What's at stake here is whether dissenters will be able to have alternative oversight. In Anglican-speak this is to have a kind of denomination within a denomination. This was provided for by the primates here. Here's the situation as described by the Abbortsford Times:

Dissident Anglican priests charged by church

By Lisa Jorgensen - LJorgensen@abbotsfordtimes.com

The pastor of St. Matthew's Anglican Church is facing a handful of charges from the Diocese of the Yukon.

Rev. Trevor Walters, along with six other priests, who all belong to the Anglican Communion in New Westminster and oppose the blessing of same-sex unions, are now facing "ecclesiastical charges" for that opposition.

"Whenever anyone is charged with something it's traumatic," ACiNW spokes-man Peter Turner said Monday. "It's unprecedented. There's never been anything like this in the history of the Anglican Church in Canada at least."

The charges which are similar for all the priests, include disobedience to the bishop, contemptuous or disrespectful conduct toward the bishop, schism, conduct causing scandal and "otherwise offences against the lawful authority of the bishop," an ACiNW news release reported.

Turner added that each priest has received about five charges. The exception is Walters, who has received about 10, most of which are described as "trivial."

"Bishop [Michael] Ingham doesn't believe in free speech at all. Most charges refer to private conversations. Basically it's an attack against people who don't believe [in the same thing]. Bishop Ingham seems to be lashing out at anyone he can," Turner said of the charges being pressed on the ACiNW, which represents about one quarter of the Diocese of New Westminster.

"What it really means for the Anglican Church is rather than try to resolve issues, he is proceeding to destroy his church."

The procedures after the charges have been laid are similar to civil court, however in this case they are within the church, Turner added.

"A person is presumed innocent until proven guilty although in this case it is not happening," he said, adding that the charges are trivial as they relate to the priests' beliefs.

"It's traumatic, but it's been this way ever since they put themselves at risk a year and a half ago. It's been a tremendous strain for themselves and family . . . and congregations."

At issue is Ingham's decision to bless same-sex unions. Since the synod in June 2002, members of the ACiNW, including the Church of the Holy Cross in Abbotsford, have voted in favour of alternative oversight from Bishop Terry Buckle, of the Diocese of Yukon.

An easy resolution to the ongoing crisis in the Anglican community, Turner said, would be for Ingham to allow Buckle's offer of alternative leadership, something that there is precedent for and something that the archbishop has recommended.

"Basically Bishop Ingham is thumbing his nose at him," Turner said.

Things are progressing rapidly between the two sides and the pending meeting of the Canadian House of Bishops this week will probably "have a lot of fireworks happening," Turner added.

Diocese of New Westminster spokesman Neale Adams explained that although the charges have been called in the diocese, "it's really preliminary in the sense the commission of inquiry has to look at them and see if they are valid. If it doesn't go to trial there's no reason to publicize them."

The charges, according to the ACiNW, were filed on Aug. 28, but were announced on Oct. 15, less than 24 hours before the Anglican communion's senior archbishops issued a statement saying decisions on human sexuality by the Diocese of New Westminster threaten to "tear the fabric of our communion at its deepest level." The statement also recommended "adequate episcopal oversight" for so-called dissenting minorities.

Also charged are Rev. Stephen Leung, of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rev. David Short, St. John's Shaughnessy, Rev. Barclay Mayo, St. Andrew's Pender Harbour, Rev. Simon Chin, St. Matthias and St. Luke, Rev. Silas Ng, Church of Emmanuel in Richmond, and Rev. Ed Hird, St. Simon's in North Vancouver.

Church of the Holy Cross's Rev. James Wagner was recently fired.

More Thoughts on Online Music

I have had some days now to look at the respective technologies for online music. It seems that the labels are doing their best to make the pay versions of online music much more difficult than the "free" versions. Let's look at what made the file swapping programs popular (excluding, of course, getting something for nothing).

• Exploring — This deals with the issue that radio has done a lousy job of exploring new music (even so-called alternative stations). Even in large urban areas, radio is a vast wasteland of bland uniformity. Napster allowed for people to explore new music easily.

  There is a very key difference between copyrights for broadcasting versus actual copies. A copyright holder cannot withhold the broadcast of their material if the broadcaster abides by the statutory license payments. This license is also more artist-friendly and less label-friendly on who receives the royalties.

  With the new Napster many of the really new tracks are buy-only. Thus, only 30-second clips are available for streaming. This restricts the ability of exploring new music. This is not Roxio's fault. Rather, it is the music labels trying to restrict things. Napster also does not give information on music that is not yet available. Apple Music Store has no streaming whatsoever. MusicMatch to the rescue. Here they have their radio-based model for streaming. Brand new stuff is available for streaming. The only restriction is — like radio — you cannot pick the exact music you will be getting. You can specify down to the granularity of an individual artist, however. If the track or album is available for purchase, you can click on the buy-track button or add a song to your wish list. In addition to this, their music guide is far better than the other two. They include music that they don't have yet available. On the negative side, they removed the Buy-CD with Buy-Track button. There is really no need for this either/or approach. Some people would prefer a CD over electronic tracks. Hopefully, they will bring the old button back.

• Availability — People want to play their music on their equipment. For playing on your computer, this is mostly solved (at least for PC owners). It appears that the labels will be providing music at least for purchase in some form. It may get expensive. In one case I noted that to purchase an album through Napster would be twice as expensive as buying the CD. MusicMatch and Apple Music Store both provide more comprehensive album purchasing selections. My guess is the price issue will be a temporary problem on Napster.

  Playing on portables is a different story. As I commented earlier, there are two major formats for protected music. Apple Music Store seems locked into AAC while Napster seems locked into WMA. Again, MusicMatch to the rescue. Their CEO has been publically quoted as saying that they will look at supporting AAC format. Hopefully, this will include transcoding between formats. Their vision is being a universal player. Even without this support, they are coming real close. The only issue right now is they have the smallest library of the three majors. This will undoubtably be fixed in the next couple of months.

As you can see I am a big MusicMatch fan. In a sea of black hats they seem to be the only white hat out their. Add to that their new relationship with Dell for driving Dell's new portable. They may make the online music business work despite the ongoing stupidity of the labels.

Church draws up secret plans for Anglican 'Pope'

The Archbishop of Canterbury will be granted sweeping new powers under secret proposals to force rebel Anglican churches into line, The Times can disclose. This requires a paper subscription to The Times which I don't have. So, I am including a summary of the article from ekklesia. If anyone has a Times Online subscription please verify the accuracy of the summary.

Church may give new powers to Archbishop -24/10/03

The Archbishop of Canterbury may be granted new powers under secret proposals to force rebel Anglican churches into line, reports The Times newspaper.

The planned changes in church law would apparently give Dr Rowan Williams the power to intervene in the affairs of churches outside England for the first time since the Church was established by Henry VIII.

The proposals, which would have to be agreed by the Church’s separate provinces, have already aroused suspicions that they will turn the Archbishop into an Anglican version of the Pope suggests the newspaper.

The powers are proposed in a legal document presented to the 37 Anglican primates who met at Lambeth Palace last week.

At present, the Archbishop of Canterbury has moral authority amongst bishops but no juridical authority.

The new proposals could lead to new powers being granted to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to his fellow primates, through the legal adoption of mutually agreed ius commune, common law, into the canon law of individual Anglican provinces.

The paper emphasises that any new powers would be used only in exceptional circumstances. “There is no hidden aggrandisement policy on the part of the Archbishop and his advisers,” a senior source told the Times. “But the present divisions are acute and need to be addressed urgently.”

The new role will be worked out by the commission Dr Williams agreed to set up last week “to consider his own role in maintaining communion within and between provinces when grave difficulties arise”.

According to the paper presented to the primates, the aim would be to give the Archbishop of Canterbury power to intervene in the internal affairs of another province “for the sake of maintaining communion within the said province and between the said province and the rest of the Anglican Communion”.

The author, a senior canon lawyer, cites the 1998 Lambeth Conference resolution which called for a commission to be set up to work out when it would be appropriate for the Archbishop to exercise “an extraordinary ministry of episcope (pastoral oversight), support and reconciliation with regard to the internal affairs of a province other than his own”.

In the paper he writes: “To date, no such commission has been established, and it is possible that this may be one of the reasons why provinces and individual primates may have been tempted to take the law into their own hands.”

Canon John Rees, Joint Registrar of the Province of Canterbury, who has been involved with the new Network of Legal Advisers set up by the Anglican Consultative Council at its meeting in Hong Kong in 2002, said the intention was not to create an Anglican Pope.

“My hunch would be that the Anglican Communion, having such a heavy emphasis on provincial autonomy, would have little or no stomach for that sort of supra-provincial structure.”

Dark Galaxy Found

The discovery of a so-called dark galaxy is being reported by New Scientist.  A dark galaxy is a galaxy mostly composed of dark matter.  Dark matter is the generic term for the matter in the universe that is not directly observable as it emits no light. Although its presence is inferred from the motion of galaxies, its exact form is controversial. Dark Matter is believed to include MACHOs - Jupiter like objects the fill the galaxies and WIMPS - Exotic particles that have mass but dont otherwise interact strongly with normal matter.   Results from the WMAP satellite is telling us that dark matter makes up about 23% of the universe while baryons (what we consider "normal" matter) only constitute 4% of the universe.  What is reported below is further confirmation of the existence of dark matter.

Astronomers have found the first "dark galaxy" - a black cloud of hydrogen gas and exotic particles, devoid of stars. The gloomy galaxy lurks two million light years from Earth.

Joshua Simon, Timothy Robishaw and Leo Blitz of the University of California, Berkeley, observed a cloud of hydrogen gas called HVC 127-41-330 using the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico.

It appears to be rotating so fast it would fall apart unless it contains a strong, hidden source of gravity. The researchers therefore argue that the cloud must be at least 80 per cent dark matter, the hypothetical invisible substance whose gravity is supposed to explain why many objects in the cosmos move as fast as they do.

If they are right, this could resolve a problem in dark matter theory. In our local group of galaxies, we know of only about 35 dwarf galaxies, but simulations of galaxy formation using dark matter suggest there should be about 500.

If most of these dwarfs are dark galaxies with no stars, that would explain why we have missed them until now. The reason HVC 127-41-330 and its kind are dark may be because they have too small. Without enough mass, their gravitational forces would be too weak to cram gas together densely enough to form any stars.

Winner Takes All? No, Winner Plays All

Having run both Napster and iTunes for Windows I found the same thing a USA Today reviewer did

More seriously for users of other software, Apple's songs are sold in the AAC format, which I incorrectly said on my Chat last week was an Apple-proprietary format. It's not, but on the other hand it might as well be: I've had a really hard time finding another Windows jukebox application that works with it. Winamp, MusicMatch, RealOne and Windows Media Player won't play them, and if you want to use Roxio's popular Easy CD and DVD Creator to burn AAC songs to a CD, you're also out of luck.

If you buy songs at the iTunes Music Store, you have to play them in iTunes for Windows and use that program to transfer to CDs, whether you like it or not. And if you can get it to "rip" songs from your CDs onto your hard drive (which I did successfully on my laptop, but not desktop, which isn't currently recognizing CDs), the songs are automatically encoded in AAC, although a tab does let you switch your save preference to MP3.

The application nicely adds your hard drives MP3's to the library, as does Napster and MusicMatch, but if you happen to have any Windows Media Audio (WMA) files, they don't exist in iTunes.

However you feel about Microsoft and it's dominance of the computer world, the fact is that MusicMatch, Buymusic.com and Napster all sell songs in the WMA format, and more stores are coming. If you mix and match songs from the services, you'll have to make separate CDs, and listen in separate programs. Apple took the radical step of creating a Windows program. Why not go all the way and make life easier for the PC users?

Apple and Microsoft are playing this like the old VHS vs. Beta battle. This is the wrong paradigm. Rather, it is the recordable DVD battle. Here the DVD recorders that won play everybody's format. Whichever jukebox plays all formats wins and with it draws buyers to their storefront. Same thing goes for portable players. The other players in the portable game could care less what the format is. If Apple views Microsoft as the competition they will fail to have iPods play WMA files. Then iPods lose. The game is not winner takes all but winner plays all.

Genetics and Sexual Identity

Has science finally answered the question whether GLBT sexual identity is determined by genetics? That's what a first-blush reading of the following article would suggest. The problem is the study neither proves nor disproves the thesis. The supposition up to this point is a pre-natal testosterone bath makes a brain male:

Since the 1970s, scientists have believed that estrogen and testosterone were wholly responsible for sexually organizing the brain. Recent evidence, however, indicates that hormones cannot explain everything about the sexual differences between male and female brains.

What has been discovered here is the following:

Using two genetic testing methods, the researchers compared the production of genes in male and female brains in embryonic mice -- long before the animals developed sex organs.

They found 54 genes produced in different amounts in male and female mouse brains, prior to hormonal influence. Eighteen of the genes were produced at higher levels in the male brains; 36 were produced at higher levels in the female brains.

"We discovered that the male and female brains differed in many measurable ways, including anatomy and function." Vilain said.

For example, the two hemispheres of the brain appeared more symmetrical in females than in males. According to Vilain, the symmetry may improve communication between both sides of the brain, leading to enhanced verbal expressiveness in females.

"This anatomical difference may explain why women can sometimes articulate their feelings more easily than men," he said.

The scientists plan to conduct further studies to determine the specific role for each of the 54 genes they identified.

So, they proved the sexual identity of the brain is genetically and not epigenetically determined. Note the last sentence. This is critical. If the gene expression says one thing and the testosterone production says another, then you will prove the point that biological and psychological gender may differ. Hopefully, such effects will be part of the followup. But, for now, we still don't know.

Reflections on Controversy, Leadership, and Church Unity

The recent events in the Anglican Communion and the possibility (and in my opinion the probability) of a split has caused me to reflect on the nature of church leadership during times of controversy.

While I am not currently doing so, in the past I have served as a part of church leadership. There I have experienced first-hand the temptations of such offices. The biggest temptation occurs when you are absolutely convinced you are right. Now, I am not talking about error here. Let's assume for a moment that the leader is right. The problem occurs when you assume that being right is sufficient for church leadership. Herein lies the seeds of schism, because Scripture goes further than that. Scripture requires the bishop or elder to be a pastor (Ezekiel 34). That means that he represents all the people, not just those who agree with him. It is on this basis that the leader will be judged by the Great Shepard.

Let's first consider the case where the people are looser than the leader. Note the Apostle Paul's words in 1 Cor. 12:

19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. [emphasis mine]

For those who believe that homosexual practices block someone from church leadership, Paul instructs them to treat the "dishonorable" with special honor. If we must block people from certain parts of service then we must show that the part of service that is allowed is indeed honorable. Because if only leadership is where it's at then people will interpret the blocking as they don't have value. Furthermore, such a view of service is unbiblical (Eph. 4:11-13) :

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

It is the people, and not the leadership who do the works of service.

Now, how about the case where the people are more strict than the leader? Romans 14:13-16 says:

13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. 14As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.

While you may as a leader have to rule against the consciences of the people (v. 16), great effort should be made to accomodate them (v. 13).

In neither case should pushing through an agenda be without consideration of the "losers". When I was in leadership, those on my side of a controversy got impatient. One person got publically quoted as saying, "I guess we will just have to win." The other side picked up on it and it caused a world of hurt.

In the view of the world, my advice above is foolishness. We need to have a strong political front and must not give quarter because we are right. But, this is not the way of Scripture. The way of the world betrays a lack of faith in God's provision. Being pastoral may for a time delay the advancing of the "truth". But, it was the Greeks that had an abstract view of the "truth". For Christians, the truth was personified in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus cared about people and subordinated agendas for them -- no matter how "true" those agendas were.