The Blinne Blog

Circumcision Helps Prevent HIV Infection

The March 27, 2004 issue of the Lancet (subscription required) is reporting that circumcision helps prevent HIV infection. Heretofore, while non-circumcision was a risk factor it wasn't clear whether the underlying issue was behavioral or biological. The study declares that the cause appears to be biological and thus a true risk factor. From Lancet's Talking Points:

A snip in the right direction

'Effective HIV prevention strategies . . . are urgently needed to combat the current HIV pandemic'

Circumcised men have a lower risk of HIV-1 infection than uncircumcised men. Several hypotheses to account for this effect have been proposed--eg, some investigators have argued that circumcision is an epidemiological marker of reduced behaviours related to risk of HIV-1 infection, while others suggest that it reduces the risk of HIV-1 by removing a possible entry point of the virus. Steven Reynolds and co-workers did a prospective study to further investigate the association between circumcision and infection with HIV-1 and other sexually transmitted infections. They found that circumcision was strongly protective against HIV-1 infection but not herpes simplex virus type 2, syphilis, or gonorrhoea. The authors suggest that the specificity of this relation is attributable to a biological rather than behavioural effect of male circumcision against HIV-1.

The abstract of the study:

Male circumcision and risk of HIV-1 and other sexually transmitted infections in India

Steven J Reynolds, Mary E Shepherd, Arun R Risbud, Raman R Gangakhedkar, Ronald S Brookmeyer, Anand D Divekar, Sanjay M Mehendale, Robert C Bollinger

Circumcised men have a lower risk of HIV-1 infection than uncircumcised men. Laboratory findings suggest that the foreskin is enriched with HIV-1 target cells. However, some data suggest that circumcision could simply be a marker for low-risk behaviours. In a prospective study of 2298 HIV-uninfected men attending sexually transmitted infection clinics in India, we noted that circumcision was strongly protective against HIV-1 infection (adjusted relative risk 0·15; 95% CI 0·04-0·62; p=0·0089); however, we noted no protective effect against herpes simplex virus type 2, syphilis, or gonorrhoea. The specificity of this relation suggests a biological rather than behavioural explanation for the protective effect of male circumcision against HIV-1.

Lancet 2004; 363: 1039-40

Whiff of Life?

Science magazine is reporting today that Mars Express (pictured above, CREDIT:ESA) may have found a signature of current bacterial life on Mars. They found traces of methane that has one of two different sources, volcanoes or (current!) life.

At a press conference in Paris held earlier this month, Formisano reported finding spectral emissions of methane around a wavelength of 3.3 micrometers. "We have seen methane on Mars," he tells Science. "A very little amount, but the result is clear." Even the apparent concentration of 10.5 parts per billion "is extremely interesting from a scientific point of view," he says, "because you need a source for methane." Otherwise, any methane in the martian atmosphere would be destroyed by solar radiation within a few hundred years.

Either of the two possible sources for martian methane would be noteworthy. It could be oozing out of the interior of the planet through erupting or even quiescent volcanoes, or through hot springs. No sign of such ongoing activity has turned up yet in remote sensing from orbit, although Mars apparently erupted lavas as it cooled into the geologically recent past (Science, 4 August 2000, p. 714).

The other possibility is the Holy Grail and World Cup of astrobiology combined. Bacteria could be living somewhere deep beneath the apparently sterile surface, perhaps chewing on the rock and spewing methane as a byproduct. "I have no reason to exclude one origin or the other," says Formisano. "I can only say we see methane."

Templeton Winner on Science and Religion

Templeton Winner, George Ellis, made the following comments concerning the relationship between science and religion.

I have done so because I believe the science and religion dialogue is one of the most important issues we can engage in at the present time. It fundamentally shapes the way we see the universe and how we understand our own existence. Furthermore, the time is right to engage in this study. We are at a stage in human history when, as we gaze with amazement and appreciation at the incredible progress of science in the last century, we can also start to see clearly some of the limits to what science can achieve. The way in which science and religion by and large complement each other is becoming ever clearer, as are the natures of the various points of tension between them, and some possible resolutions of those tensions. It is a good time to look at these issues.

...

My own particular studies in this area have been on five major themes.

1. The limits of science and of the scientific method. In the face of some who claim that the powers of science are limitless, it is important to try to understand what aspects of existence science in fact can and cannot comprehend. As I mentioned above, I believe the boundaries here are becoming clear, for example science cannot and never will be able to handle issues of aesthetics, ethics, metaphysics, or meaning. However there are some areas where the answer is unclear: it is unresolved, for example, whether science will or will not succeed in solving the hard problem of consciousness. I have extensively written and talked on this important theme of the limits of science, for it sets the parameters for much of the rest of the discussion.

2. The way that complexity can arise through physics, and alternatives to reductionist viewpoints that demean humankind. It is true that physics and chemistry underlie our existence and functioning as human beings, but that does not mean we are "nothing but" atoms, molecules, chemicals, or whatever. That phrase always hides an attempt to deny the true complexity and autonomous existence of vibrant living beings. We are much, much more than implied by hard reductionists and their favourite phrase "nothing but". I have written extensively on why it is that these reductionist viewpoints miss out on the true nature of the complex reality that emerges from the underlying physics and chemistry. And one should note here that reductionist viewpoints emanate equally from the social and human sciences as from the natural sciences, and are equally fallacious in those cases too.

It is crucial also that despite the fact that our the functioning of our brain can be understood by neuroscientists in terms of action potentials in the brain and flows of chemicals across synapses, nevertheless personal choice is real. Furthermore, the ethics that underlies the direction and nature of our choices is causally effective, and strongly shapes the nature of what happens in the world around us. It is not possible to reduce ethics to statements about neuroscience (or evolutionary history, for that matter), for it has a real normative nature; I return to this later.

3. The natures of existence that flow from all this. Those pursuing a hard reductionist line associate it with a strongly materialist viewpoint: the claim that all that really exists are just particles with specific forces acting between them, and there is no other kind of reality to contend with. This too is deeply mistaken, and I have been developing further a line of argument of Karl Popper, John Eccles, and Roger Penrose on the multiple natures of existence. Here I emphasize that even hard-headed physicists have to acknowledge a number of different kinds of existence as well as that of the particles that constitute matter. In particular, human thoughts, emotions, and social constructions are both causally effective, and cannot be compassed by present day physics. Consequently even the most advanced physics today is unable to give a causally complete account of the factors that are effective in shaping the physical world we see around us, for example it cannot even explain the existence of as simple a thing as a pair of spectacles, because it is unable to encompass human thoughts and intentions. Furthermore, by its very nature it is unlikely to ever do so. This realisation strengthens the arguments I have already mentioned regarding the limits of science.

4. The nature of the tensions between rationality and faith and between emotion and reason in human life and affairs. Much our of life can be thought of as a struggle between emotion and rationality - the calm analyst deciding on a logical basis what we should do, versus the emotional hot-head who rushes into action and just does things. A common view is that evidence-based science represents that calm rationality which exemplifies us how we ought to behave, and we should try to avoid basing our lives on faith and hope rather than rationality and reason. However this is also a bad misunderstanding. In facing our individual and communal lives, we always need faith and hope as well as rationality, and indeed the real issue is how we can best balance them against each other. Take the case of my own country: there were very many times in the past when it was rational to give up all hope for the future - to assume that the nation would decay into a racial holocaust that never happened. It did not occur because of the transformative actions of those marvellous leaders Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, confounding the calculus of rationality. This is a really important practical issue that I have only recently begun to consider. It is in a sense the theme of the book The Far Future Universe that I edited.

However as well as being a highly practical issue, this also relates to the issue of reductionism and the way the mind functions. The reading and writing I have been doing on that topic have led to a very interesting appreciation: the fact that the rational mind is in a profound developmental sense based in the emotional mind. This is true both functionally and in evolutionary terms. So one of my latest projects is looking at this fascinating theme, and even writing about it in association with Judith Toronchuk of Trinity Western University. So I am now happy that though I am a cosmologist by trade, I have just had a paper on this theme accepted for publication by the journal Consciousness and Evolution. This paper shows that the tension between emotion and reason has a deep grounding in the neurological mechanisms underlying brain function.

5. The science-religion-ethics triad, and the true nature of deep ethics. Finally, a theme in my writing, set out in detail in the book with Nancey Murphy, is the importance of including ethics in the science and religion debate. This is because ethics is causally effective, as outlined above, and provides the highest level of values that set human goals and choices. Consequently a crucial issue is the origin of ethics, on the one hand, and the nature of ethics, on the other. With Nancey I am a moral realist, that is, I believe that we discover the true nature of ethics rather than inventing it, hence the title of our book: On the moral nature of the universe. Indeed it is only if ethics is of this nature that it has a truly moral character, that is, it represents a guiding light that we ought to obey. I am fascinated that Stephen Pinker too has been suggesting moral realism in his recent book The Blank Slate - he too realises this must be the case if it is to have the normative status that true morality must have. If true, this is a very important feature of the nature of the universe.

But then the issue is what is the nature of true morality? Nancey and I have argued that it must be kenotic in nature, that is, it must be a kind of ethics involving letting go of one's own interest on behalf of others, being ready if necessary to sacrifice one's own interests for them, even on behalf of an enemy. This is of course very controversial, just as it was when Jesus in essence stated it in the Sermon on the Mount. However I am convinced it is a deeply transforming principle of fundamental importance, which is universally recognised by the non-dogmatic branches of all the great religions: it is held up in all of them as behaviour to aspire to. Indeed this is the theme of one of Sir John Templeton's books, called Agape Love: A Tradition Found in Eight World Religions. Furthermore this is the only basis for true security, for the deep foundation of security is based in transforming your enemies into friends. That can in the end only be achieved by the kind of sacrificial practices exemplified by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Desmond Tutu, for this is the only way to touch the hardened heart. What seems rationally impossible can indeed become possible through the generosity and hope underlying and enabling kenosis and forgiveness: and this we experienced in South Africa. Nancey and I suggest this principle is deeply imbedded in the universe, both in ethics and in other aspects of our lives, and will thus be discovered by deeply moral beings in the vicinity of Alpha Centauri or the Andromeda galaxy, just as it has been discovered by all major religions here on Earth.

Overall, in these studies I have been working on developing a comprehensive integrative view of the world and the universe, in contrast to the simplistic reductionist views that so many hold from one standpoint or another; this view endeavours to take into account the most recent achievements of science as well as relevant philosophy and ordinary human experience. I believe that although these issues may at first seem somewhat abstract, they are in fact foundational in the ongoing Science and Religion debate, and have the capacity to help change the way we view things and to help develop a worldview with rich foundations and outcomes.

Scientist Wins Templeton Prize

Showing that science is not necessarily the enemy of religion or vice versa, the Templeton Prize was awarded to cosmologist, George Ellis.

NEW YORK, MARCH 17 - George F.R. Ellis, a leading theoretical cosmologist renowned for his bold and innovative contributions to the dialogue between science and religion and whose social writings were condemned by government ministers in the former apartheid regime of his native South Africa, has won the 2004 Templeton Prize. The announcement was made today at a news conference at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York.

The Templeton Prize, valued at 795,000 pounds sterling, more than $1.4 million, is the world's largest annual monetary prize given to an individual. It will be awarded to Ellis by the Duke of Edinburgh in a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace on May 5.

Dr. Ellis, a professor of applied mathematics at the University of Cape Town, specializes in general relativity theory, an area first broadly investigated by Einstein. He is considered to be among a handful of the world's leading relativistic cosmologists, including luminaries such as Stephen Hawking and Malcolm MacCallum. His most recent investigations question whether or not there was ever a start to the universe and, indeed, if there is only one universe or many.

It is his important contribitions to the dialogue at the boundary of theology and science, however, that led to his being named the 34th Templeton Prize laureate. Specifically, Dr. Ellis has advocated balancing the rationality of evidence-based science with faith and hope, a view shaped in part by his firsthand experiences in South Africa as it peacefully transformed from apartheid to multi-racial democracy without succumbing to racial civil war. Ellis describes that history as a "confounding of the calculus of reality" that can only be explained as the causal effect of forces beyond the explanation of hard science, including issues such as aesthetics, ethics, metaphysics, and meaning.

The award, officially known as the Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities, was founded by Sir John Templeton, the financier who pioneered global investment strategies. Since selling the Templeton Group of mutual funds in 1992, he has focused his talents on stimulating progress through philanthropy that fosters broader understanding of the relationship between theology and science. The world's best known religion prize, the Templeton Prize is given each year to a living person to encourage and honor those who advance spiritual matters. When he created the prize in 1972, Templeton stipulated that its monetary value always exceed the Nobel Prizes to underscore his belief that advances in spiritual discoveries can be quantifiably more significant than those honored by the Nobels.

The 2003 Templeton Prize laureate was philosopher Holmes Rolston III, widely acknowledged as the "father of environmental ethics." John Polkinghorne, a mathematical physicist and Anglican priest, won the prize in 2002, and Arthur Peacocke, a biochemist who is also an Anglican priest, received the award in 2001. The first Templeton Prize was given to Mother Teresa in 1973, six years before receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

George Francis Rayner Ellis, 64, was born in Johannesburg and received a Bachelor of Science (Honors) degree in physics with distinction from the University of Cape Town in 1960. In 1964 he received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics and theoretical physics from Cambridge University, where he was a student at St. John's College. It was during this time that he began his prolific career as a writer and lecturer on issues of time, space, and relativity. His first book, The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time, written with Stephen Hawking and published in 1973, immediately became a standard reference work on the subject and continues to sell steadily today. In 1974 he was appointed to his position at the University of Cape Town, and served eight years as head of the department.

But while he was rapidly moving to the forefront of the development of general relativity theory, Ellis was also establishing himself as an unrelenting critic of the Nationalist government of South Africa and its brutal system of apartheid. It was also around this time, in 1974, that he joined the Religious Society of Friends - the Quakers. In 1977, he and three colleagues wrote The Squatter Problem in the Western Cape, a scathing review of the plight of homeless people under the Nationalists.

Two years later, he co-wrote Low Income Housing Policy in South Africa, an analysis of how to transform the desperate housing situation among blacks and other down-trodden minorities in Cape Town. The book so enraged the apartheid regime that the government minister responsible for housing policy took to the floor of parliament to denounce it, a moment which Ellis now recalls with pride. Ironically, the book later became a guide for a renewed national housing policy even before the new pluralistic government.

South Africa's journey from apartheid to multi-cultural democracy provided Ellis with insights that would come to inform some of his most important discoveries and writings in the realm of science and religion. When defending his notion that rationality and reason must be balanced with faith and hope in order to accurately understand the universe, for example, Ellis cites his own nation's history.

"There were very many times in the past when it was rational to give up all hope for the future - to assume that the nation would decay into a racial holocaust that never happened," Ellis wrote in a statement prepared for the March 17 news conference. "It did not occur because of the transformatory actions of those marvelous leaders Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, confounding the calculus of rationality."

His work on the origin of the universe, evolution of complexity, the functioning of the human mind, and how and where they intersect with areas beyond the boundaries of science, has been covered in such books as the groundbreaking On the Moral Nature of the Universe, written with Nancey Murphy. In 2002 he edited The Far-Future Universe, developed from a symposium examining cosmological, biological, human, and theological aspects of the future held at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in The Vatican.

In nominating Ellis for this year's Templeton Prize, Rev. Dr. William R. Stoeger, an astrophysicist with the Vatican Observatory Research Group, noted that Ellis' service to a broad spectrum of social, economic and ethnic groups in South Africa and elsewhere had sparked significant insights into the workings of the physical universe. "He has demonstrated how genuine religious and theological perspectives can help us understand the constitution and character of our universe in terms of 'kenosis,' self-sacrificing love," Stoeger wrote, adding that Ellis had shown, "that our universe seems to be particularly suited for fostering that attitude and practice, and to require it for its harmonious functioning at every level."

Self-sacrificing love, according to Ellis, is the true nature of morality, another area that he says cannot be explained with simple physics. "Ethics is causally effective," he said in his prepared remarks that referred to the power that ethics has to change the world, "and provides the highest level of values that set human goals and choices." Describing himself as a "moral realist," Ellis noted his belief that ethics and morality are a very real part of the universe, as compared to something that humans have socially developed over the millennia. "I believe that we discover the true nature of ethics rather than invent it," he said.

Referring to On the Moral Nature of the Universe, Ellis added, "Indeed it is only if ethics is of this nature that it has a truly moral character, that is, it represents a guiding light that we ought to obey." He believes, along with co-author Murphy, that kenotic behavior is "deeply imbedded in the universe, both in ethics and in other aspects of our lives" and that it is the only way to achieve what might otherwise be "rationally impossible" in a world fraught with war and insecurity.

Beyond ethics, Ellis contends that there are many areas that cannot be accounted for by physics. "Even hard-headed physicists have to acknowledge a number of different kinds of existence" beyond the basics of atoms, molecules and chemicals, he said in his prepared remarks. Directly challenging the notion that the powers of science are limitless, Ellis noted the inability of even the most advanced physics to fully explain factors that shape the physical world, including human thoughts, emotions and social constructions such as the laws of chess.

Since the rise of democracy in South Africa, Ellis has devoted much of his energies to developing the nation's social, political, cultural and educational future, particularly in making math and science education more broadly available to his fellow citizens. Ellis said he intends to use a portion of the Templeton Prize money to provide tutorial and monetary assistance for black youth in Cape Town.

Ellis, the father of two children and two stepchildren, and his wife, Mary, a retired doctor, live in Cape Town.

Forget Planet X: Solar System Shrinks

Space.com is reporting that Pluto's status as a planet may be in jeopardy.

The discovery of a nearly Pluto-sized object way out beyond the known worlds could jeopardize the status of Pluto as a planet, adding fresh fuel to an argument among astronomers that is likely to last years.

In the end, our solar system will either shrink to eight planets, grow to more than a dozen, or contain a glaring asterisk born of an emotional attachment to the diminutive Pluto.

The object announced this week, called Sedna, adds impetus to an effort by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define just what is and is not a planet. The IAU has no specific plans to directly challenge the planetary status Pluto. But the decision by a working group within the IAU could have that effect, an official said today.

"Whether or not one needs to do anything about Pluto will depend on what the definition of a planet will be," Iwan Williams, president of the IAU's Planetary Systems Sciences division, told SPACE.com.

The process could fester into 2006, when the group holds its next General Assembly. And whatever the ruling, there will likely be astronomers who try to keep the debate alive after that, another astronomer familiar with the process said.

Dutch Press Agency: Iraq Church Growth Explosive

I found the following Dutch-language piece by way of a Dutch Reformed e-mail list. The English translation below is a combination of the translation provided by the list and worldlingo.com.

Church Growth Explosive

BAGDAD -- The number of church members in Iraq has risen explosively since the demise of the regime of Saddam Hussein. In several places in the country this has resulted in tension between Christians and Muslims, as reported by several Iraqi church leaders to the ANP (Dutch Press Agency).

It is almost a year ago that an end came to the regime of Hussein. 'Many Iraqi's had been plagued with questions, but were afraid to ask them', said Y. Yousif, a leader of the Evangelical Free Church. 'Under Saddam, it was forbidden to change religion. Many people are seeking for the truth and now find it in the Christian church.'

Especially the evangelical churches have experienced tremendous growth. Before the American-British Coalition invaded Iraq, only one evangelical church had been permitted in the country. Now, twelve new congregations have arisen in the Iraqi capital alone.

Muslims are not impressed with the growth of churches. Muslims who convert to Christianity are often rejected by their families. 'They stand alone in almost all circumstances,' said preacher A. Athneal, who started a Kurdish church. 'The church has no way other besides prayer to help them. Church leaders can also become targets of certain Muslim families. I have received two death threats myself,' said Athneal.

The church leaders say that they do not fear the possible establishment of Sharia (very strict Islamic law). 'The Americans would not allow it,' suggested the Syrian-orthodox priest A. Hana. He added 'And they will always have a big influence here.'

ANP (Dutch Press Agency)

New Planet Discovered

The AP is reporting a discovery of a new planet:

LOS ANGELES (AP) - It is a frozen world more than 8 billion miles from Earth and believed to be the farthest known object within our solar system.

NASA planned a Monday press conference to offer more details about Sedna, a planetoid between 800 miles and 1,100 miles in diameter, or about three-quarters the size of Pluto.

Named for the Inuit goddess who created the sea creatures of the Arctic, Sedna lies more than three times farther from the sun than Pluto. It was discovered in November.

"The sun appears so small from that distance that you could completely block it out with the head of a pin," said Mike Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology who led the NASA-funded team that found Sedna.

That makes Sedna the largest object found orbiting the sun since the discovery of Pluto, the ninth planet, in 1930. It trumps in size another world, called Quaoar, discovered by the same team in 2002.

Brown and his colleagues estimate the temperature on Sedna never rises above 400 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, making it the coldest known body in the solar system.

Click on the two links above for the mythologies of Sedna and Quaoar. We have entered the age of politically-correct planet naming. Quaoar is a creation force in Tongva (a Native American tribe near Los Angeles) mythology. Sedna is a goddess in Inuit mythology. I guess dead white European mythology doesn't cut it anymore.

Ohio Bishop Rebuffed

Sometimes people need to choose between God and His representatives. For example, the disciples had the following conflict with the religious rulers of the day in Acts 4:18-20:

18Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. 20For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

A similar impass occurred yesterday in Ohio. There people from six Episcopal churches were not confirmed by their local bishop but by other retired bishops and a bishop from Brazil. The reason is Bishop Grew's support of the ordination of a practicing homosexual. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported the following on their front page:

Hundreds gathered to hear the Gospel, sing hymns, receive Communion and celebrate the confirmation of 110 people, ranging from junior high students to seniors in their 70s.

But one person was missing from the festive, Episcopal gathering in Fairlawn Sunday afternoon - the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio.

Six area congregations unhappy with Bishop J. Clark Grew II's support of the election and consecration of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire broke church protocol and brought in retired bishops from outside the diocese to conduct the confirmation service.

They secretly planned the service and held it in an Orthodox church so that Grew could not stop it and they later could not be accused of holding an improper service in an Episcopal Church.

"We don't know what repercussions there will be, but we certainly expect some," said Cynthia Brust, a spokeswoman for the conservative American Anglican Council that helped arrange the service at Presentation of Our Lord Orthodox Church. She said about 800 people attended.

The view of the ECUSA is that it breaks "protocol".

"It's a breach of protocol, and Bishop Grew will be working on some sort of response," said spokesman R. Stephen Gracey.

The view of the American Anglican Council is that Biblically faithful congregations have not been given adequate alternative oversight promised to them by the Archbishop of Canterbury and all the Primates of the Anglican Communion, including the Episcopal Church. Former Bishop Maurice Benitez made the following statement at the confirmation service:

Good afternoon!

I am Maurice Benitez, former Bishop of the Diocese of Texas, and I have the pleasure of presenting to you the other bishops who are with us today: Bishop C. FitzSimons Allison, former Bishop of South Carolina; Bishop William Cox, former Assistant Bishop of Oklahoma and more recently Assistant Bishop of Texas; Bishop Alex Dickson, former Bishop of West Tennessee, and Bishop William Wantland, former Bishop of Eau Claire.

Next, it is my honor to present our highly honored guest, the Rt. Rev. Robinson Cavalcanti, Bishop of Northern Brazil.

Our presence today is in direct response to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the rest of the Primates of the Anglican Communion, who called for “adequate provision for episcopal oversight” in their statement of October 2003. To date no such oversight has been offered by ECUSA. We represent a spectrum of congregations and Provinces within the Anglican Communion, and our actions represent a spectrum of possible responses to the Primates directive. Our participation in today’s Service represents “emergency measures” for those ECUSA congregations in revisionist dioceses who cannot in good conscience accept the radical actions taken by our General Convention last year and who now find themselves alienated from their bishops and diocesan leadership who voted for and support such actions. Our active bishops are currently seeking means for providing Adequate Episcopal Oversight, and if an acceptable plan is approved, these kinds of measures may no longer be necessary. But right now, we consider these actions an essential and imperative response to a pastoral emergency in Northern Ohio.

We come as pastors who care very much about you, the Clergy and Lay members of the six congregations gathered here today. We come because the lay persons among you have asked us to come. We come knowing well your predicament in feeling estranged from your bishop, your diocese and the Episcopal Church.

The actions of the Church at General Convention last summer abandoned 4000 years of Biblical teaching and doctrine which declares sexual relations outside of marriage between a man and a woman, as wrong in the sight of God and clearly contrary to His Will. We want to emphasize that the heart of the matter is not sexuality or sexual orientation but rather the authority of Holy Scripture in the life of the Church.

The schism we have in the Church today was not caused by us or by those who believe as we do, but rather by the leadership of the Episcopal Church at General Convention who voted to approve local option for blessing of same sex unions as well as to confirm the election of V. Gene Robinson as Bishop Coadjutor of New Hampshire and by those who subsequently consecrated him. These actions have led 21 global Provinces, representing the majority of the worldwide Anglican Communion to declare either “impaired or broken communion'' with the Episcopal Church in the United States.

The goal of those who are here today is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to call people to repent, to embrace godliness and righteousness, and to obey Biblical doctrine and the Apostolic faith “once delivered to the Saints”. Our goal is to call all of us to be authentic and faithful Anglicans and to be the true expression of Anglicanism in America, one that is in full communion with the rest of the Anglican Communion.

We did not come here today to argue or to say harsh words about anyone, but rather to speak the truth in love, and to pray for all of us, and for the Church. My brothers and sisters in Christ here in Ohio, we reach out to you today because we agree with you, and we believe, in the name of God, that you are right!

We honor each of you, and we thank God for your faithfulness! Above all, we came here from distant places to join with you in once again recommitting our lives to Jesus Christ in this service of Confirmation and Holy Eucharist that is now beginning.

AMEN.

---

Update: The Bishop and Bishop-Elect of Ohio have responded:

From the Ven. Mark Hollingsworth Jr., Bishop-Elect of Ohio:

I am disappointed that the parish priests from the Diocese of Ohio and the six bishops of the Church who were involved in this service chose to begin their relationship with me, not with direct and honest dialogue, but by acting in this manner. I certainly don't want anyone to think that this behavior is characteristic of Christian community, especially the young people of those congregations.

An action of this sort, designed to break down the community of faith, has no place in our polity. No one group can define for the whole Church what constitutes an "emergency." The laity and the clergy of the Diocese of Ohio, meeting in convention last November, clearly articulated their support of an inclusive theology in the larger Church, and their affirmation of its actions in last summer's General Convention. It is a singular privilege to begin serving with them in this diocese at a time of such great potential for the Church.

From the Rt. Rev. J. Clark Grew, II, Bishop of Ohio

It is unfortunate that five Episcopal parishes, gathering people for sacramental purposes, have felt the need to participate in an unauthorized and clandestine service. I am not yet clear on what prompted such an action, one that was also decided and planned in secret, except perhaps an anxiety on their part caused by having the majority of clergy and parishes in this diocese take up the work of mission at home and abroad after the events of last summer, and center themselves in the gospel imperatives with renewed energy in anticipiation of shared service with Bishop-elect Mark Hollingworth.

It saddens me that these five congregations had to create a disturbance with our common Church polity, in order to focus attention once more on their minority position. There is no crisis in the Diocese of Ohio, except the one created by a group that hopes to hold on to attention that is slipping away as time passes, a group that may use the threat of further extracanonical action as a way to manipulate the House of Bishops in its deliberations on the matter of alternative oversight.

Neither the House of Bishops nor the Diocese of Ohio is likely to be swayed by sudden confrontational actions. Any response by the Diocese of Ohio in this matter will be prayerfully considered and characterized by the life of Jesus himself, who calls us all to unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.

You Are Here

The following is the picture of Earth from the Mars Spirit rover. Click on the picture for a larger image.

Oh So Fine: The Fine Structure Constant and Variable Speed of Light

The fine structure constant, alpha, is a so-called dimensionless constant. This is defined as 2*pi*e^2/hc. If this "constant" changes over time, the conventional wisdom is that c, the speed of light, may not be a constant but variable. The fine structure constant causes absorption lines in spectra to be separated in specific ways. One experiment to see if the fine structure changes is to look at the spectra of quasars. This was done in 2001 and 2003. In both of these cases, there was a small change in the fine structure constant implying the speed of light was slowing down with time. This effect was slight, though, on the order of a difference of 1/1000 of a percent.

Now we have a newer and more rigorous survey that shows a non-changing fine-structure constant within 6/100000 of a percent. Variable speed of light theories took another blow as I described here.

The speed of light. It's not just a good idea, it's the law.

Political Debate: Then and Now

Via ***Dave :: Civility and staying on the issues

Thank heavens the Kerry campaign isn’t stooping to the vilification, name-calling, and ad hominem attacks that those vile Bushies have. Thank heavens indeed.

The East Bay for Kerry/MoveOn House party on December 7th combined the forces of two grass-roots organizations based in San Francisco East Bay Area. We had 200 guests eating, drinking, and watching the MoveOn Documentary “Uncovered” featuring Joseph Wilson and Rand Beers from the Kerry campaign.

When Teresa Heinz-Kerry arrived, she handed me a pin that read in the center: “Asses of Evil” with “Bush”, “Cheney”, “Rumsfeld” and “Ashcroft” surrounding it.

This brought to mind an incident that happened twenty years ago. Newt Gingrich was making speeches during what were known as "Special Orders" on C-SPAN. Special Orders are done to an empty chamber when the business of the House is complete. The Washington Post quoted the then third-term Congressman charging Democrats believe that, "America, does nothing right and communism ... rushes into vacuums caused by 'stupid' Americans and its 'rotten, corrupt' allies." Gingrich then cited some Democrats by name.

Speaker Thomas "Tip" O' Neill responded by ordering the cameras pan the empty chamber. This infuriated Gingrich who called for a point of personal privilege concerning the Speaker's action. A three-hour debate ensued. Gingrich started denouncing the Speaker. Finally, O'Neill came down to the floor and asked, "Will the gentleman, yield?" Gingrich yielded. Then O' Neill said the following:

"You deliberately stood in the well of this House and took on these members when you knew they would not be here. It's un-American. It's the lowest thing that I've heard in my 32 years here."

At this point Representative Lott (R-Miss.) challenged the last sentence on parlaimentary grounds. The Paraliamentarian of the House advised the presiding member, Rep. John Joseph Moakley (D- Mass.), that the use of the word "lowest" was out of order. Moakley ruled according to the Parlaimentarian.

After the session, O' Neill said, "I was doing my best to control my temper. Much harsher thoughts were in my mind." On the other side of the aisle was Minority Leader Robert Michel (R-Ill.). Michel played golf with O'Neill and was considered a conciliator. At the close of the debate, Gingrich walked to his seat to a standing ovation by his fellow Republicans, except for Rep. Michel.

With time there was a changing of the guard amongst Congressional Republicans. On October 5, 1993. The Washington Post reported the following:

House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel, R-Ill., Monday announced he would not seek re-election to a 20th term next year, marking a likely end to a line of pragmatic Republican leadership in the House and unleashing the ambitions of GOP lawmakers eager to move up.

Michel, the gentlemanly representative from prototypical Peoria since 1957, became House Republican leader in 1981 as heir to a tradition of consensus-oriented, non-ideological politics followed by his immediate predecessors, John J. Rhodes of Arizona and Gerald R. Ford of Michigan.

Recent elections have brought more confrontational conservative Republicans to the House and its leadership ranks, isolating Michel, 70, within his party.

"There's a big gap between my style of leadership and my sense of values, my whole thinking process," Michel told reporters here yesterday. "(That) is giving way to a new generation, and I accept that. (That's) probably the way it ought to be. But I was really much more comfortable operating ... (the way) we did when I first came to the Congress."

Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (Ga.), second-ranking Republican and leader of the confrontational wing, instantly became a favorite to succeed Michel. Gingrich, who for months has been saying he would run if Michel retired, scheduled an announcement for Thursday.

On May 15, 1984 calling a Congressman low got you censured. The Speaker and the Minority Leader could play golf together. Now we have the President of the United States being called an ass. Call my nostalgic but I long for the old days.

Space Politics

John Glenn was critical of the new plan for space. He contends we are not spending enough on the ISS:

Former astronaut John Glenn on Thursday told a presidential commission on space exploration it would be a mistake to cut funding for international space station research.

Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth and a former Ohio senator, said U.S. experiments in the low gravity of space have produced "some of the most unique, cutting-edge research in the history of the whole world."The Bush administration has said future U.S. research projects on the station would focus on helping achieve its proposed moon and Mars missions.

Space station research has produced tangible results, including better medicines and more productive rice harvests, Glenn said. Eliminating that kind of research would enable other nations to fill the void and benefit from new technologies, the Democrat said.

"I just don't think that's right," he said, adding that space exploration and research go hand in hand. "I think you should do both. I don't think you cut out one to do the other."

Hmm. But, let's look at the budget plan, below.

As you can see the ISS research budget doesn't really go down for twelve more years. The bulk of the savings in this plan purely comes from retiring the shuttle. Senator Glenn's argument is a straw man.

Overestimating Oil Reserves

Reuters is reporting that Shell is getting rid of two exectives for overestimating Australian oil reserves.

Royal Dutch/Shell Group sacked its two top executives on Wednesday, responding to pressure from angry shareholders in the wake of news in January that they had overestimated oil and gas reserves.

I wonder how systemic this overestimation is. Saudi oil reserves may also be overestimated. The New York Times reported the following:

Saudi Arabia's reported proven reserves, more than 250 billion barrels, are one-fourth of the world's total. The most significant is Ghawar. Discovered in 1948, the 300-mile-long sliver near the Persian Gulf is the world's largest oil field and accounts for more than half of the kingdom's production.

The company told The New York Times that its field production practices, including those at Ghawar, were "at optimum levels" and the risk of steep declines was negligible. But Mr. Price, the former vice president for exploration and production at Saudi Aramco, says that North Ghawar, the most valuable section of the field, was pushed too hard in the past.

"Instead of spreading the production to other fields or areas," Mr. Price said, the Saudis concentrated on North Ghawar. That "accelerated the depletion rate and the time to uncontrolled decline," or the point where the field's production drops dramatically, he said.

"Opportunity" Meets Good Planning: The Story of the Discovery of Water on Mars

Given some time to digest yesterday's press conference I am struck with the overall strategy for Mars exploration. A couple things that keep coming back are:

1. An overall vision of Mars exploration with the backing of the President. At the press conference there was repeated references to the "President's vision".

2. Discovery-driven science. No plan is good enough that there shouldn't be corrections. Now that they know what minerals to look for they will be expanding that using satellite-based observations. Given they found a high concentration of sulphur they are thinking of adding an isotope analyzer to the next probe. The reason: life processes sulphur differently than non-life. This appears to be a challenge to get a device that is small enough on the next rover. This will result in a delicate interplay between engineering and science as described by Dr. Squyers to Nova. He said, "Once you get all the engineering constraints and safety stuff out of the way, then it boils down to science." There is really a good team of engineers and scientists who have been able to work together towards a common goal, and it appears that it will continue to do so.

The discovery announced yesterday was not luck but the result of good plannning. I will close with a quote made by Dr. Squyers before the discovery. Note how much of it came true. Congratulations to all involved.

Once you get all the engineering constraints and safety stuff out of the way, then it boils down to science. The science of this mission involves going to places where there was liquid water in the past, so I want to go to places where there is absolutely compelling evidence that liquid water was present. The problem with that is that evidence for liquid water on Mars is never going to be 100 percent convincing, and it comes in different types.

NOVA: Such as?

Squyres: I'll give you two examples. One form of evidence that we find is what I'll call chemical evidence. The best evidence that we have for that is a mineral called hematite. On Earth, hematite mostly forms in places where there's liquid water, in big standing bodies like lakes or oceans, or in hot springs. Or it forms where cold water percolates through the ground and dissolves stuff.

There are a few places on Mars, including one called Meridiani Planum that we can probably land on, where hematite is present. So that's a place where the chemistry of the surface, as viewed from orbit, tells you that maybe water was there. The problem with that is that there are other ways to make hematite too, and some of them don't involve water. So it's kind of an ambiguous signal that says water was here.

The other kind of evidence for water comes from landforms. I'll give you a good example. There's a place called Gusev Crater, an impact crater maybe 100 miles across. It's got this huge, dried-up river valley flowing into it. It had to have been carved by water: water flows through the river valley, flows downhill, gets into this big hole in the ground. It's hard to believe that this thing didn't have a great big lake in it at some point in martian history. Sediments were surely deposited in that lake, so you should have a good sedimentary record of liquid water and whatever was going on there. Gusev Crater is a fabulous place to go.

The problem with Gusev is that whatever happened there happened a long time ago. We're talking billions of years. Since then, other stuff could have happened. Impact craters could have chewed things up, lava may have flowed down onto the sediments. And we can't dig big holes with this rover.

So there's no slam-dunk winner here. There's no place where you can go and say, Oh yeah, that will be a place where there will be absolutely conclusive evidence for liquid water. There are a number of very, very tantalizing ones, and I hope we pick wisely.

Live Blog: Mars Press Conference

Update 3/4/2004: Nature Science Update has the best description of the science.

Update: The AP story of this is found here.

I will blog this live as I am watch the NASA channel on the press conference for the Mars Rover.

Ed Weiler: 3 1/2 years a number were on the stage telling to send two rovers to look for water activity. They gave their dreams to find their dreams for water. Opportunity was on an area where liquid water was drenched in the past. They are laying down the new vision of exploration as defined by the President.

Steve Squyres: They have been puzzling out the outcrop on the Mariani Plain. The German instruments have helped puzzling them out. The last puzzle piece. The rocks were once "soaked in liquid water". Were the layered rocks layed down by liquid water. They have some tantalizing clues in two weeks or so. Were the rocks altered by liquid. A definitive yes. Four pieces of evidence:

1. Little spherical objects a few mm in size. Named "blueberries" because they were embedded like in a muffin. Were they lapilli -- volcanic hail stone? Were they droplets of volcanic glass? They have looked at the objects in many ways. All the clues led them to be concretions. Liquid water in rock they precipitates out from a nucleation agent that grows into a spherical object.

2. Shot through with tabular holes (long and thin). Shot through the rock. Like rocks on earth when crystals grow in rocks. If the crystals are tabular. Water dissolves or erode away the tabular holes.

3. Alpha particle X-Ray spectrometer. Much sulphur. Outside of rock had a coating? RAT ground the rock and looked at it again. Even more sulpher. Too much to explain other than sulphate salts. Telltale sign of liquid water. Mni-TAS found evidence of sulphate salts

4. Jarocite Fairly rare. Predicted as might be found on Mars someday. Sulphate/hydrate, must have water.

Put the story together. Hard to avoid the conclusion of liquid water. Purpose of the mission to find habitable environment. At some point in time this was habitable for life. Don't know if it was there, but it could have. Best kinds of rock for ancient earth life these kinds of rocks are helpful. They can trap the evidence. Very good targets for continued investigation.

We have tenative evidence. Modified by liquid water but may have been laid down by water. Big Bend will have very detailed images to determine if laid down by liquid water.

Show movie of outcrop. Layering is ubiquitous. El Capitan reminded of Guadalupe Mtns of Texas. Still see layers. More lamination and voids and blueberries. Lamination comes up to spherules are concretions of sedimate. Spherules are randomly distributed. Tabular taper at the ends like earth mineral gypsum. Could have been eroded by wind, also, though. Seven days of experiment to look at "last chance". Details of cross-bedding. Layers are inclinded to the principal bearing planes. Requires sediment to move in a flowing current. Could be other liquids.

Looking at the spectrometer data: APXS shows sulpher is much higher in outcrop also Bromine also differential to original landing sight. Knew sulpher was high at Viking mission. Could have been salts. Chlorine was constant but Sulphate change near layered outcrop. This is an evaporitic sequence. The salts precipitate out. Four different kinds of minerals. Jarocite is a very high concentration of the iron. Many lines of chemical evidence of a strong indication of very salt in the outcrop.

Next question. How extensive was the liquid water? Go to crater Endurance. Crater has bright rim. Interested if the bright rim is the same as the outcrop rock. Maybe a different water story. Look at older rocks in the crater. Finding out if the bright material of the mottled terrain is the same kind of stuff.

New mission. MRO. Looking for the same stuff from orbit. These rocks for ancient habitats on Mars. Want to bring rocks home. One example we really want to bring it home. Look at the President's vision to design a mission to bring this back. We know a good place to find rocks for the labs. Roving vehicle to collect and drive them up to mother ship to return to earth labs to find microfine details. First step to see the new Mars.

Cannot yet tell the waters are laid down in a pool. Don't know about depth yet. The best way to get at age of water is bring it back. Want to see how thick the layering. Can't talk about age or duration without some more moving around.

President's initiative will include a sample return, astrobiology missions, prep for human landings (e.g. toxicity). Some mission totally science oriented, human prep, probably a combination of the two. Predictions of the future may be dangerous, though.

Don't know timeframe of habitability, yet. Still some interesting things may happen at Spirit site. Gusev out of the plain. When Spirit gets to a crater than maybe find out some other information. A lot more work to do before answer on habitability.

Finding fossils on ancient rocks is very rare. First look for place for preservation. These are ideal time capsules to find such fossils if they are there. Nevertheless, a bit of a challenge.

Sulpher gets fractionated differently by life than by other mechanisms. Could do a chemical test to look for such clues and do an isotopic analysis. MSL may have isotopic tools but a challenge to get in by '09.

Evidence of soaking: Massive quantities of sulphate.

Not a well-defined basin so hard to imagine this as a pool.

Another week to ten days in this crater and go to Big Bend to look for cross beds and ripples. One thing we don't know what spherules are made of. There is bowl space called the blueberry bowl and look at composition of them. Another few days. Then crawl out of the crater and look for a few sols and go towards endurance crater. Opportunity will catch up on travel with respect to Spirit. 50 to 100 meters per day, maybe. Hematite was a chemical beacon to something interesting chemically. More hematite outside of the crater.

One possibility water percolates from below. Other scenario: a salty sea, water currents, and waves. Look at possibility water sloshing. Water evaporates away. Both are possible given current evidence. Big Bend may show which may be more likely.

Habitable means suitable for life given organisms we know from Earth.

This was from a different from long ago. A different Mars than from what we see today.

Go to Big Bend and Last Chance suggest some cross-bedding. The geometries will tell us if it flow of current is involved. Hope to constrain the mechanisms involved.

Cross-bedding may not be real. Need to get closer and look at the specific geometries for answers on current flow.

Need to get Bonneville Crater to possibly find similar stuff at Spirit site. Need a wider range of materials. Need to ask these question in a few weeks with respect to water at the Spirit site.

Phoenix mission will explore ice regions.

Final quote from Steve Squyres: We all went into this landing site with all our prejudices. As we acculate the evidence piece by piece, it was interestingly each of us to come to the conclusion. Some lept over the cliff and others dragged. On one hand it was very gratifying. On the other hand, we are just started. We are enjoying at looking at every cm of the outcrop. But also want to get out of it.

A Better, Wetter Mars?

The AP is reporting a significant press conference on the existence of water on Mars tomorrow. I'll update as soon as the press conference hits the wires.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - NASA plans to announce "significant findings" about the history of water on Mars discovered by its Opportunity rover, which has been studying rocks and soil for evidence that the Red Planet was once a wetter place that could have been hospitable to life.

"The primary mission of the rovers really dealt with the history of water on Mars and we'll be reporting new findings that bear on that," NASA spokesman Don Savage said Monday from Washington, D.C. "I can't go into any detail without telling you what it was."

The findings were to be released Tuesday during a press conference at National Aeronautics and Space Administration headquarters in Washington.