Deus semper maior!

Update: Sandell, Phelps, Haggard

Last summer, pastor Halvar Sandell showed a video of an authentic abortion to his confirmation class. In September, bishop Gustav Björkstrand gave him a warning for this unsuitable action, and criminal charges were subsequently filed against Sandell.
Now, the district attorney in charge of the investigation has dropped the case. Since the video is available on the Internet, it is available to all, until the motion pictures board has given it a rating. It has not done so in this case; that the video would be restricted for viewers under the age of 18 if the board were asked for a rating is immaterial.
Consequently, Sandell has committed no crime. The bishop's warning stands, however.

*

The sectarian leader Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, Kansas are renowned for their hatred of homosexuals and for the demonstrations they arrange at the oddest places. On November 10, 2008, they picketed the Swedish embassy in Washington, D.C. The excuse was, of course, that Sweden does not actively discriminate against gays.
The Swedish bloggers that I've seen commenting on this have been amused or annoyed or something in between - except one that agreed with the WBC so wholeheartedly, that he must have been ironic...

*

The former pastor Ted Haggard, who was caught doing men and drugs two years ago, entered three weeks of reparative therapy and claimed to have been cured of his homosexual leanings. Very efficient therapy, apparently. He now works as an insurance salesman, but is back in Colorado Springs. In November, he preached a sermon in a church in Illinois, so the pulpit still has its lure, apparently.
Haggard has claimed that he was sexually abused at the age of seven. This is terrible (if true), but doesn't really have too much bearing on his homosexual behaviour.

*

Sources and links: http://korta.nu/844a

The old man and President Bush

One sunny day in January, 2009 an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine looked at the man and said, "Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here."
The old man said, "Okay", and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here."
The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same U.S. Marine, saying "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?"
The old man looked at the Marine and said, "Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it."
The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "See you tomorrow, Sir."

*

Thanks to MadPriest!
http://revjph.blogspot.com/2008/11/dont-blame-me-blame-ellie.html

Nyhetsanka om kyrkoskatten

I onsdagens (26.11.08) nummer av Borgåbladet fanns en intressant nyhet med rubriken Dyrare kyrkoskatt i Borgå? Signaturen MB (som torde betyda Marit Björkbacka) skrev om det möte som gemensamma kyrkorådet i Borgå kyrkliga samfällighet hade haft veckan innan. Och det är ju trevligt att lokaltidningen bevakar också kyrkliga nyheter. Trevligt vore väl också om fakta skulle bli korrekta.

I nyheten koncentrerade MB sig på ekonomin och nämnde bl.a. om finansiering, lån, personalutgifter, investeringar och kyrkoskatt. Hon skrev:
"Kyrkoskatten beräknas stiga med cirka 1,5 procent."

Nu började varningsklockor ringa. Kyrkoskattesatsen har hittills legat på 1,45%. 1,5 procent av detta är 0,02175 procentenheter, så skatten skulle i så fall ligga på 1,47175% (fast så många decimaler används inte, så det skulle väl bli 1,47 eller 1,50).

Detta är alltså nyheten för den som kan skilja mellan procent och procentenhet. Problemet är förstås att många trasslar in sig i detta och tror att om skatten stiger från 1,45% med 1,5%, så blir slutsumman 2,95%, alltså mer än en fördubbling. Men i så fall hade det ju stått att höjningen vore 1,5 procentenheter.

Men oberoende av om det gäller procent eller procentenheter, är nyheten en anka. *Kyrkoskatten höjs inte i Borgå för år 2009!* Det finns kanske ett litet tryck på att höja den, men den förblir ändå vid 1,45%.

Detta konstaterade också Bbl följande dag (27.11.08). Som vanligt skedde dementin ändå inte på samma plats eller i samma storlek som nyheten, utan på några spaltmillimeter på familjesidan. Undrar hur många som såg den.

Jag kan bara hoppas att ingen får för sig att skriva ut sig ur kyrkan p.g.a. denna falska nyhet i hopp om att spara några euro...

Bonhoeffer on overcoming the world

The world is overcome not through destruction, but through reconciliation. Not ideals, nor programs, nor conscience, nor duty, nor responsibility, nor virtue, but only God's perfect love can encounter reality and overcome it. Nor is it some universal idea of love, but rather the love of God in Jesus Christ, a love genuinely lived, that does this.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Meditations on the Cross

as quoted on God's Politics
http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2008/06/voice-of-the-day-dietrich-bonh-5.html

Sermon competition?

From ENI (www.eni.ch):

* Stellenbosch, South Africa (ENI). A South African student has won top honours in a competition run by a Netherlands newspaper for a sermon, written in Dutch, on doubt. Almatine Leene, a 24-year-old doctoral student in the Faculty of Theology at Stellenbosch University, whose mother tongue is Afrikaans, entered the competition hosted by the Dutch newspaper, Nederlands Dagblad. The other two finalists were Maarten Trimp, aged 22, from Utrecht, and Hanna Blom-Yoo, who is 26, from Amsterdam. The final leg of the competition took place on 12 November in Utrecht's historic Jacobi church, when the finalists preached their sermons. Leene said the Book of Judges from the Bible had inspired her winning sermon. *

It's good that people give good sermons, of course - but to compete? Why not a competition to see who is best at celebrating the Lord's Supper, while they're at it?

It all seems a bit strange to me. But maybe it is I that am strange...

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive

Alexander McCall Smith: The Good Husband of Zebra Drive. Edinburgh 2007.

Having heard so many good things about Alexander McCall Smith's books about the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Gaborone, Botswana and its proprietor, Mma Ramotswe, I became curious. Finally, I was able to find one book in the series in the local library here in Porvoo. They are available in the local book stores as well, of course, but usually in translations. And out of principle, I always read books in the original language, if possible. Luckily, McCall Smith writes in English and not in Setswana...

The book I found, The Good Husband of Zebra Drive, is the eighth book in this particular series (there is a ninth, and a tenth is due to be published in 2009). Not having read the others (yet!), I cannot compare them, but this was an absolutely charming novel. To my European eyes, the African setting seemed genuine - and McCall Smith was born in 1948 in Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) and has worked in Botswana, so why shouldn't it be?

The characters in the book - Mma Ramotswe herself, her husband, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, her associate, Mma Makusi, and all the others, are warmly sketched with all the little flaws that people have. They are no sterile superheroes, but real people, that live in Botswana, but could equally well live in Finland or the U.S. Were it not for the African background, however. Their culture, their language, their city and their landscapes are African, of course, and so are these characters, as well. Universal - but African.

Ah, the language! It is clear that the characters actually speak Setswana, but the dialogue is in English, nevertheless. Luckily for me. The form of English used by the author is very colourful and full of Africanisms - technical terms, of course, such as names of animals and plants, but also the titels "Mma" and "Rra" for ladies and gentlemen, respectively, and notably the expression "to become late", meaning "to die". "The boy's mother is late" sounds far warmer than to say that "she is dead" or that "she kicked the bucket". I suppose the background of this novel expression is speaking of "the late Mr. Jones", but this form of it was new to me. And I liked it; not that I intend to use it.

This is, naturally, a detective story. The crimes that Mma Ramotswe investigates are not the high society murders of an Agatha Christie or a Ngaio Marsh, nor the brutal incidents of other more contemporary writers. They are, rather, small scale incidents that can make life miserable for those involved, but do not affect society as a whole - a theft of office supplies here, an unfaithful husband there. And that just makes the book the more charming.

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive is no thriller. If you seek adrenaline and testosterone, seek elsewhere. If you, on the other hand, seek realistic people that you would like to befriend, you'd be well adviced to try the warm embrace of Mma Ramotswe!