Eye on Faith

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Rudolph the red-meat breeder

As if Rudolph’s red nose weren’t trouble enough, his red-meat DNA is now being farmed out for Christmas gourmands.

Edible.com (“Edible” being a highly subjective term) is advertising their Reindeer Pate as a “farm raised relative of Ruldolph” that is not only an “arctic delicacy,” but also “an indulgent winter treat.” Although there is already cognac within the pate, the advertisement suggests that a glass of brandy be set alongside the gamey mix.

If some Santa-loving neuron deep within your brain is wincing as you read this, edible.com has already anticipated that. In the “Ethics” section of its

website, edible.com proclaims the following: We do not believe there is a difference in eating a farm raised insect as opposed to a farm raised prawn or chicken. Indeed, our sourced raw ingredients do not suffer the same stresses or mistreatment in the same way commercially farmed species often do. What this seems to be saying is that because these “raw ingredients” (i.e. sentient beings) do not suffer in exactly the same way that they might elsewhere, it’s therefore okay for them to suffer in this manner.

Vegetarians International Voice for Animals (VIVA) reports that “in Nordic countries, reindeer are often

herded with snowmobiles, motorcycles and even helicopters,” which causes so much stress that “their muscles can literally waste away.” VIVA also states that “Siberian reindeer may be being killed in a way that could be illegal in the UK, by having their spinal column severed with a sharp instrument.” VIVA adds: More than 70 per cent of all reindeer slaughtered for meat are calves that have grazed during the summer, which means they never even get to see snow.

So much for Rudolph going (way) down in history… These red-nosed descendants only get to ride with

Santa if they’re trapped within his belly…

Resources

http://www.edible.com/shop/carnivore/reindeer%20pate/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reindeer

http://www.viva.org.uk/mediareleases/display.php?articlepid=232

http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/exoticmeat/reindeer.htm

Monday, December 19, 2011

Jubilee Shalom Duggar: No foot too small

Shalom ("Peace, Completeness, Welfare")

When the Duggar’s youngest child, Jubilee Shalom, recently died in utero, a commemoration service was held for her. According to The Blaze, mother Michelle Duggar experienced a natural miscarriage three days after doctors had discovered that Jubilee “no longer had a heartbeat.”

During the commemoration ceremony, which was held

approximately one week after the miscarriage, “friends and family converged to help celebrate the life that would have been.” Controversial photos of Michelle holding Jubilee’s tiny hand, and of Jubilee’s tiny feet resting on Michelle’s hand, were also distributed. The caption on the latter photo read as follows: There is no foot too small that it cannot leave an imprint on this world.

Therefore, the Duggars were not only celebrating the “life that would have been” – but were also faithfully

celebrating the life that was, is, and will forever be. Cousin Amy Duggar tweeted these words: RIP precious Jubilee Shalom Duggar! Can’t wait to meet you someday, thank you Lord for giving our

family peace. Jim Duggar was quoted as saying: We know we will see this child in heaven some day. According to People Magazine, he also said: I really believe that God sees the bigger picture. I hope that her short life can encourage other people who have gone through things like this…

Photographer Deborah Billingsley, who took the photos of Jubilee with her mother, is from the nonprofit organization Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (NILMDTS). In 2005, this organization was cofounded by a professional photographer and a mother whose baby had died shortly after birth. According to its website, “NILMDTS offers professional photography services to families who have suffered the loss of an infant.” These compassionate services are offered free of charge.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shalom

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20553968,00.html

http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/events/article/260/

http://news.yahoo.com/duggars-heartbreaking-pictures-stillborn-baby-girl-200214772.html

Sunday, December 18, 2011

God Almighty, where's that particle?

(Standard Model of elementary particles)

Not all scientists believe in God, yet many believe in the existence of a “God particle.” According to Steve Connor of The Independent, this “God particle” (aka “Higgs boson”) “is thought to be one of the building blocks to the universe.” Not only that, it is also thought to be that which “confers mass on matter.”

If words such as “boson” don’t mean much to you, then it’s time for a crash course on sub-atomic particles. Wikipedia defines the “Higgs boson” as “a hypothetical massive elementary particle that is predicted to exist by the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics.” Still confused? Then how about this explanation by Norbert Cunningham of Times & Transcript: …the Standard Theory is almost complete. It explains how the universe works, by which we mean how all particles function and interact to make atoms and matter. Particles have mass. If particles had no mass, they’d never come together to form other things, ranging from stars to galaxies to us.

The term “mass” comes from the Greek word for “barley cake” or “lump of dough.” Cunningham theorizes that without mass “our home would just be a massive space full of tiny particles flying around everywhere.” So what makes these particles clump together like snowflakes that form snowmen? Logic would dictate these prerequisites: a “sticky factor” that draws the individual flakes together, plus an “intelligence” that “shapes” these sticky flakes into an entity.

The “sticky factor” is what scientists are calling the “Higgs field.” Theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, as well as others, proposed back in the 1960s that “the universe must have a ‘field’ that runs all through it and particles gain mass by interacting with the field.” Cunningham compares this field with a snowy field that slows objects down as they try to move through it. These decelerated objects would then have a much greater chance of interacting and connecting with one another.

And what about the “intelligence” that somehow shapes these “sticky” particles into that which we call matter? The name “God particle” might just contain a clue…

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_Particle:_If_the_Universe_Is_the_Answer,_What_Is_the_Question%3F

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/1464557

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/has-science-found-the-god-particle-6276634.html

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Leaving Home for St Matthew-in-the-city

(St Matthew-in-the-city)

David Keighley, an Anglican priest with progressive beliefs, wrote a “personal statement” titled Leaving Home. In it, he states: I’m off! I must leave the political and ethical compromises that have corrupted the faith of my Jesus.

According to Keighley, these “compromises” include the following: “stifling theology… patriarchal structures… enduring prejudices… the God of miracle and magic… the neurotic religious desire to know that I am right… the claim that every other pathway to God is second-rate…” In order to escape these compromises, he feels he must “leave the Church, my home” and “move to a place where I can once again sing the Lord’s song.”

More pungently, he concludes: I must move to a place where they are not playing at moving the deck

chairs on the decks of an ecclesiastical Titanic.

This new place that Keighley seeks might just be St. Matthew’s of Auckland, New Zealand. The St. Matthew’s website lets Keighley and all others know just what to expect at St. Matthew’s. First off, you won’t find “a prayer group… a Bible study group… a women’s fellowship… a men’s one either… a Sunday school… a Youth group.” Oh, these things might “occasionally happen, but in a very unconventional way.” There is also no pressure on individuals to get involved in the usual church ways (such as fundraising). Worship services are compared to bonfires that travelers can “stop for a while” at - or not.

What you can expect at St. Matthew’s are “a commitment to social justice and radical theology… excellent preaching… people from many races and classes, backgrounds and viewpoints.” You can also expect to feel both “comforted and challenged.” You can chose to be a part of all this in person and/or via computer.

Although St. Matthew’s is an Anglican church, it focuses upon having its own “personality” within that denomination. This “personality” embraces “Progressive Christianity” – which in turn favors spirituality and ethical living over “right belief or proper worship.”

Resources

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/billboard-depicts-virgin-mary-holding-pregnancy-test-150612060.html

http://www.stmatthews.org.nz/nav.php?sid=437

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Matthew's,_Auckland

Friday, December 16, 2011

Baby seal snuggling on couch: What is Selkie?

Seal or Selkie? (Photo by Chillum)

In a strange case of real-life Jeopardy, the answer to a New

Zealander’s urgent query might have been: What is Selkie?

The New York Daily News reports that, while upstairs in her home one day, Annette Swoffer heard a clatter down below. She hightailed it down to the kitchen to investigate, and there was a baby seal. It had let itself in through the cat door, and was well on its way to the living room couch. Once there, it cuddled down for a nap.

Just how did this cute-as-could-be pinniped manage to drag its aquatically-adapted body all the way from the deep blue to the grassy green? Wikipedia reports that, albeit clumsily, pinnipeds (we call them seals) can move on land by “wriggling their front flippers and abdominal muscles.” This produced the “waddling” effect that Swoffer noted as her new pinniped “roomie” helped itself to her couch.

Sounds plausible - but not nearly as interesting as other possibilities. For instance, what if this “seal” were actually a Selkie?

Selkies look just like seals to the uninitiated. However, the Faroe Islanders, Icelanders, Irish and Scots have discovered that “seals” are sometimes only skin deep. In other words, mythological Selkies (aka “silkies” or “selchies” from the Old English seolh and the earlier Scots selich) can shed their seal-skin to become humans (which could be why some humans are still so fatally attracted to the skin of seals).

In the Faroe Islands, they tell tales of a farmer who hung out on the beach to watch the Selkies dance. These sleek females would slip out of their skins as the night progressed. The farmer was so overcome with passion that he stole one Selkie’s skin in order to force her to remain human and marry him. He then locked her skin in a chest and kept the key with him day and night. Years later, he left the house and forgot the key. His Selkie wife was able to reclaim her skin and escape back to sea (leaving their children behind). She then reunited with her Selkie husband and their two sons.

Perhaps this baby seal is actually one of those Selkie sons. Who really knows the answer to that one…

Resources

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/baby-seal-sneaks-woman-home-cat-door-curls-couch-a-nap-article-1.991767

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinniped

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selkie

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Tattoo or taboo?

(Croat woman)

Many were surprised at the recent “tattoo conference” that was held at the Vatican’s Pontifical Urbaniana University. They were even more surprised (actually “gobsmacked”) to learn that one of the organizers of this conference was Israeli Ambassador Mordechay Lewry.

That’s because tattoos (from the Polynesian tatau – meaning “mark the skin with pigment”) have often been thought of as taboo (from the Proto-Oceanic tabu – meaning “sacred, forbidden”). According to Wikipedia, “tattoos are forbidden in Judaism based on the Torah (Leviticus 19:28): ‘You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any

marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.’” (Body modification that is not medically indicated is also forbidden.) The 12^th-century Jewish scholar, Maimonides, explained that these types of prohibitions were originally means of distinguishing Jews from pagans. Tattoos became even more shunned by Jews after the Holocaust.

Wikipedia also reports that the Sunni Islam book, Sahih al-Bukhari, states that “The Prophet forbade […] mutilation (or maiming) of bodies.” Two reasons why Sunni Muslims believe that tattooing is sinful are “because it involves changing the creation of God” and “because the Prophet cursed the one who does tattoos and the one for whom that is done.” Shi’a Muslims are of mixed opinion about the permissibility of

tattoos.

Christians also have mixed beliefs about tattoos. Wikipedia explains that some adhere to the Leviticus 19:28 prohibition, but most are okay with the idea of tattoos. The Catholic Church does not forbid tattoos unless they are obscene or blasphemous. The 786 Catholic Council of Calcuth praised tattoos that were “for the sake of God” (meaning tattoos of Christ, the cross, and/or the saints). During the 1463-1878 Turkish

occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Catholic Croats used tattoos as “perceived protection against forced

conversion to Islam…” Tattooing a symbol of the Coptic cross on the right wrist is common today amongst Coptic Christians who live in Egypt. However, tattooing is discouraged in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because Mormons believe that “the body is a sacred temple” and should therefore be kept “clean.”

Resources

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=taboo

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=tattoo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattoo

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Against Christmas: Is that Victoria's real secret?

(Scrooge: The original Grinch?)

According to the American Family Association (AFA), Victoria’s Secret is against Christmas. Not only that - so are Barnes & Noble (or ignoble, as the case may be), Staples (that was queasy), and a number of other retail “Grinches.”

Although the managers of these stores are not (yet?) throwing Christmas trees down the aisles, neither are they using the word “Christmas” enough to suit the AFA. Another company on the AFA’s “Grinch” list is Gap Inc. MSNBC’s Bottom Line reports that this is the case even though Gap marketing utilizes many Christmas themes. Randy Sharp, AFA Special Projects Director, calls Gap’s Christmas displays “essentially window-dressing” since most Gap advertising refers to generic “holiday” sales. Gap spokesperson Louise

Callagy explained that “as a global retailer, we embrace diversity across all of our customers…”

According to its website, a large part of the AFA’s mission is “to inform, equip, and activate individuals to strengthen the moral foundations of American culture…” This entails “a culture based on biblical truth…” – which in turn hinges upon “personal transformation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ…” To promote this mission, the AFA uses its “nearly 200 radio stations across the country” (American Family Radio) - as well as its internationally-syndicated online news provider (OneNewsNow.com) and its “activist websites” (OneMillionMoms.com and OneMillionDads.com).

At first glance, the activism goals of the AFA sound laudable. After all, who could possibly argue with such things as “decency and morality,” “sanctity of human life,” and “media integrity…” However, these terms are broad enough to include the diversity of perspectives that Gap Inc. claims to “embrace.” If the Bible is what most defines these concepts, then which part of the Bible? The 66 books that many Bibles are comprised of often contain statements and scenarios that seem to conflict with one another. Discernment can be tricky, especially with a holiday like “Christmas” which is neither a Commandment nor a Commission.

Resources

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/13/9421835-war-on-christmas-waning-list-shows

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grinch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Commission

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_66_books_of_the_Bible