Post 67--Gatewaymail: The Nigeria-Canada Connection

This morning news reached me about a Nigerian launching a Canada-based online publication called Gatewaymail. The founder is the Nigerian journalist based in Canada, Femi Shodunke, who launched it this past Friday, September 4, 2015.  It will feature general news and exclusive interviews, with a focus on Nigeria and Canada. Having served in Nigeria for 30 years and then  researching and writing about the country, especially about its Christian-Muslim relations, for another ten years, I deeply welcome this venture and hope to read it regularly. Well, at least, somewhat regularly. Mr. Shodunke, welcome.  Feel free to contact me at <  boerjf@hotmail.com  >. 

Nigerians are a lively people who tend to respond to each other’s writings in very robust and graphic manner that can be both humorous and disgusting. As a special friend to Nigeria, I want to advise Mr. Shodunke to reign in the language of his people who respond to your articles. Femi, I suspect you want to be taken seriously in Canada.  If I am right, then you won’t want to have your publication associated with such diatribe.  You don’t want Canadians laugh at your publication and at those who respond. You want to be respected. Please take this suggestion from a friend of Nigeria seriously.

Just in case you’re not sure what I mean, Femi, I reproduce a short dialogue from two Nigerian readers who have read the story of the launching of Gatewaymail in the Nigerian newspaper Premium Times. That’s definitely not where you want to go with this new venture in Canada.

To the readers of this blog: I have deleted the names of and references to the names of the writers of the materials below and refer to them simply as “Writer 1” and “Writer 2.”  Sometimes I use ellipses. The first one is a UBC student; the second lives in the USA. Non-Nigerian readers of this post do not need to have all the Nigerian acronyms translated to get the drift of this exchange.

Writer 1: Here you go again, marshmallow head …. Have tried to investigate who the editor is before making your usual tribalistic and senseless comment? I live in Canada and without any doubt the best country to live on the planet. Ask anyone you know if at all your coconut head of your type will know anyone living in Canada. I am not sure you will get ever get the visa to come here base on your Facebook postings. Instead of enouraging the editor, all you could do is to throw your filthy beaks full of horse manure at this laudable venture. At least he is not engaged in your own 419 vocation. Pity you dud brain. Just a hug a zamboni.

Writer 2: It's amusing Mr. Knuckle head , to hear you bragging about Canada , a country that the economy is almost in the toilet now , and the only part of Canada where any form of activity is going on now is Alberta , and that's because of the oil there, but sadly , Alberta is now in crises too , since the price of oil has dropped . I dislike people that boast. If I may ask you, are you a Canadian citizen ? For your information, I have a dual citizenship, as a Nigerian and as a US citizen. I hold the strongest passport in the world. I can travel to almost all the Countries in the world including UK, Canada, Australia, etc., visa free . I also hold the passport of one of the Carribean Islands . That makes it 3 valid passports . By the way , you know the value of the Canadian dollar has dropped by 30 cents , compared to the green back ( the almighty $US) . So now I've beat you off your pants.  What next ?

Writer 1: I don't need three passports to travel to anywhere in the universe. I only need my Canadian passport, dunk head, because I am honestly employed as a professional. So you know that much about Canada. So tell me then why is USA, always at the bottom of the barrel in terms of their social services? And while you at it, how come your fellow black brothers and sisters are now the endangered species in your USA, dumbo Chudi. Canada has always been in the top three countries in the universe the rest of the world wants to live in. Screw head Chudi I have traveled extensively in USA before you ever connived your way to USA, so you cannot even compare your coconut head to what I have achieved since I have been living North America. And the purpose of education is to be functional, and you Chudi, what have you learnt about America democratic dispensation that you have been able to transfer to your country of birth assuming you are not some type of Biafran renegade AWOL. I still believe in Nigeria hence my penchant for fighting for the betterment of it regardless of what your fellow 419 brothers are doing here in North America to soil its image. Just yesterday your brothers were caught with loads of hard drugs in UK, and your fellow brother by the name ..... was just put in jail for 419 in here in UK again along with all his accomplices, and so now what are you are going to do about that, marshmallow head Chudi …? Have you tried to assist DSS in Nigeria to fish these people out. I hope you are gainfully employed in USA and not running from FBI due to your soiled cupboard. At least I know that most of the jailbirds in Houston, Texas are your friends from SE/SS in Nigeria after the Mexicans. And if you know so much about the current state of the world economy you will remember that your USA was saved from bankruptcy by Obama in the 80s. Canada is still the envy of the rest of world in terms of GDP, skunk head Chudi …. And there you have it. I can teach you more world lessons if you need it, but I don't have time for a dumbo of your type.

Well, you get the drift of it, I believe. If you’re just publishing for Nigerians, Femi, go ahead, use all the scuff you want, but if you want Canadians to join you…  We’re just too polite for this kind of lingo, humorous as it is. We won’t take you seriously, just shake our heads and laugh. And you know, I’m probably going to be one of your most tolerant non-Nigerian readers. I can take a lot of gaff, but that’s not true for most of us.

And now I’m going to try to access  Gatewaymail and invite you to do the same.           Let me know what you think of it.

Post 66—Political Correctness: A Definition from the Land of Politics

George Fraser, a gentleman—or so I assume—unknown to me, recently shared with the rest of us in digital space an interesting and humorous story about the meaning of “political correctness.” I want to share that story with you if for no other reason than that it’s time for a bit of laughter. The story may not prove originality, but it does give us a rough definition of the concept that you may enjoy. The story also illustrates that the people we respect, such as elected leaders, are not always the ladies or gentlemen we assume them to be—with apologies along with thanks to George Fraser.  Also ahead of time an apology to you, reader, for the coarse lingo to which alleged gentlemen occasionally resort.  It’s not my usual stuff. 

On August 8, 2015, George published an article with the title “What a Brilliant Definition.” Since it reached me via via via, I take it that there are no copyright restrictions involved. It’s gone way beyond that. Here then in another font but in his own words, goes Fraser:

For the last six odd years, almost all of the things I wanted to write or say, have been stymied by the modern term referred to as 'POLITICAL CORRECTNESS'.  Although I consider myself reasonably fluent in English, that term was not in my vocabulary.  

Curiosity got the better of me so I decided to do a little research, and after two weeks of chasing fruitless leads, I found what I'd been looking for at the Truman Library and Museum in Independence Missouri .  An unnamed source there sent me copies of four telegrams between then-President Harry Truman and Gen Douglas MacArthur on the day before the actual signing of the WW2 Surrender Agreement in September 1945.  

The contents of those four telegrams below are exactly as received at the end of the war -- not a word has been added or deleted!

----------------------------------- 

(1) Tokyo , Japan 

0800-September 1,1945 

To: President Harry S Truman  

From: General D A MacArthur 

Tomorrow we meet with those yellow-bellied bastards and sign the Surrender Documents, any last minute instructions?

(2) Washington, D C

1300-September 1, 1945 

To: D A MacArthur

From: H S Truman 

Congratulations, job well done, but you must tone down your obvious dislike of the Japanese when discussing the terms of the surrender with the press, because some of your remarks are fundamentally not politically correct!

(3) Tokyo , Japan  

1630-September 1, 1945

To: H S Truman

From: D A MacArthur and C H Nimitz 

Wilco Sir, but both Chester and I are somewhat confused, exactly what does the term politically correct mean?

(4) Washington, D C

2120-September 1, 1945

To: D A MacArthur/C H Nimitz

From: H S Truman 

Political Correctness is a doctrine, recently fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and promoted by a sick mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of … by the clean end!  (Boer: The ellipsis represents a crude word I, ever the gentleman, deleted, but it is synonymous with “manure.”)

Now, with special thanks to the Truman Museum and Harry himself, you and I finally have a full understanding of what 'POLITICAL CORRECTNESS' really means.

End of Fraser Input

There you have it, improprieties and all. I asked myself whether I should apologize to the Japanese about participating in the spread of this story. After all, it is not exactly flattering to them. But then I compared the tone and language of this story to the atrocities the Japanese unleashed on the people in Asia, such that even today’s Japanese are ashamed of. And not only on the people of Asia, that is, Asians, but also on the non-Asians residing there. My middle name is Harm, named after my father’s oldest brother, who was living in Indonesia along with his Dutch family and was interned in a Japanese concentration camp. His wife eventually died from the after effects. Of course, you can legitimately ask what these people were doing in Indonesia in the first place, but that’s another story.  This story about political correctness with all of its insults is peanuts compared to atrocities the Japanese inflicted on their neighbours. So, I am not about to turn to political correctness and apologize to the Japanese.

In more politically correct terminology, the website < http://www.freedictionarydefinitions.com > offers this definition:  “conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated.”

So, now you have two definitions of the term. Take your pick. Personally, as you may have noticed, I don’t embrace either one.

Post 65--Back to the Water

Hume’s Prophetic Warning

That precious stuff—water—has been discussed in posts 55, 57 and 58.  I want to continue with the topic today, for we here in BC are still in the serious water shortage of 2015 and we don’t see the end in sight.  Stephen Hume wrote us a strongly prophetic warning about the upcoming scarcity. He holds up California as the BC of tomorrow (“Water scarcity crisis looms in BC,” VS, April 6, 2015).  He warns that “Instead of tit-for-tat finger pointing, we now need an adult discussion of how to adapt to coming change with long-term planning that isn’t dictated by developers, investors and politicians wanting quick returns within short horizons.” 

Turning to stats, Hume tells us that over the past 50 years BC’s snow cover has “dwindled by 18% on average;” in  the Columbia region, 20%; Kootenay, 23%; mid-Fraser 47%!  50 years may seem like a long time to the juniors of this world, but to guys like me (77), that’s a short time, believe me, so short that we cannot afford to duplicate those stats during the coming 50.  Scientists are warning of “An impending water crisis in Canada’s western prairie provinces.” A crisis next door will become our crisis in BC, as farther-way California is already in terms of our food prices. 

Hume wants us to “to start having this conversation right now. Not in the rarefied atmosphere of academic conferences but as citizens prepared to bring the same passion to the discussion that we mustered over TransLink’s proposals. Believe me, water security is a much bigger issue than adjustments to the sales tax.” Amen, brother!

Mixed Public Reaction

In spite of his dire predictions and calls for serious actions on the part of citizen, government and UN, earlier in July, when our drought had already begun to make its mark, hundreds of Metro residents have been caught ignoring restrictions. Can you imagine such stupidity?  These are the people that have the power to vote, to determine our next governments!  No wonder we can’t vote satisfactory government into place. With such egocentrism and stupidity in place, how can you expect intelligent voting? 

I need to be fair. While there are those stupid ones, “across most of Metro Vancouver over the last decade” the use of water is down! (Gordon Hoekstra and Randy Shore, VS, July 17, 2015).  Despite increasing population, the total drop in Metro was 9% between 2004-2013. In per capita terms, this spells a reduction of 20% across the region. In the Township of Langley, water consumption dropped from 307 litres a day in 2004 to 282 in 2013—that’s 25 litres per capita per day. Try drinking that! You’ll see how much that is. So, credit where credit is due. Thanks to the more intelligent among us. Apparently we are still the majority!  Do I hear a shout of approval? Thank you. But, at the same time, 282 litres is still a lot that must be reduced.  How many bathtubs is that per capita?

Some Government Measures

What has caused this impressive reduction? Several measures taken by the authorities have helped. Hoekstra & Shore list education, sprinkling restrictions, better leak detection, improved water-efficient technology and charging for water, among others.  Then there are new requirements in construction. In Vancouver proper “the demolition of 1200 properties a year to make way for new homes…that require the lowest flow toilets and shower heads,” while “new single-family homes and duplexes” require the installation of meters. 

From Tub to Tank

In one of the earlier posts I confessed to a private water saving measure I have never before confessed publicly to others, only to find we are not the only ones to…. Well, remember that ditty? Today, in view of the extreme shortage we are facing, we are following advice we read elsewhere—from tub to tank. Our bathtub and toilet are right next to each other. So, we leave the water in the tub and whenever a flush is unavoidable, I get down on my knees and scoop water from the tub into the tank fast, so that the tank fills up from the tub and not from the “natural” mechanism inside of the tank. My guess is that at the end 75% of the water in the tank is from the tub. That’s a considerable saving.  Gross, you might think?  Extreme, you might snort? Well, yes, probably, but we are in an extreme situation and soon might be in one that’s gross if there’s no water to flush at all.

That’s it for today, but in the near future I do hope to return once or twice more to this most vital of topics—more vital than a half percent increase in sales tax and one that may well dwarf all TransLink issues. If there’s no water, there’s no need for the former.  Just to make you curious, the next post will be among the most politically incorrect I have ever plagiarized. 

Post 64--Competition between Government and Tax-paying Citizens

  

I had a few other subjects in mind for the next posts, but the issue of competition between Canadian governments and their citizens popped up again, unannounced and unexpectedly. The last post, you may remember, dealt with competition between the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), a so-called “crown corporation” with special ties to the Federal Government (FG), and private broadcasters. The CBC receives hefty subsidies from the FG but also advertises like any other medium house, often against their private competitors who support them through their taxes. I have expressed my deep displeasure with that arrangement. 

Today this same topic intrudes again as I read yesterday’s VS today. This time the issue is between BC Government Liquor Stores (GLS) and private wine stores. Please understand, I am hardly a wine bibber and so this does not personally apply much to me, except that every individual in any given jurisdiction is affected when major economic shifts occur. There is always a ripple effect. Furthermore, sometimes I wonder whether we all would not be better off without all that alcohol stuff, given the misery and suffering it creates form day to day. Yes, I do take a drink very sporadically and sometimes actually enjoy it, but wines, hardly.

A major shift has occurred in the alcohol world of BC. Whereas formerly, liquor was sold only in GLS-es and bars, with the exception of wine that was also for sale in private wine outlets, recently, the gates have been opened with the result that liquor is now available in all kinds of places. That spells serious competition for the wine sellers, but it’s private vs private. That’s the nature of our economy. Not a problem to me, though such major adjustments spell serious challenges to which those sellers have to adjust. Again, that’s our economy for you. Change is as common as stability. You have to learn to cope. It’s the name of the game. Nothing guaranteed.               

The problem is that the GLS has increased its business hours to include Sundays and statutory holidays.  Patrick Greenfield, owner of a wine store complains that his Sunday sales are down considerably. On Good Friday 2015 they were down by 40% for him. Another owner, John Clerides, said his Sunday sales have fallen 15-20 percent since FGS opened Sundays. Greenfield complained, “It’s hard to compete with the government, which seems to have a ‘bottomless chequebook,’ noting the millions of dollars being spent to add refrigeration facilities to government stores.”  He continues, “It’s hard when the government is (both) your competitor and your supplier,” without even talking of its control over legal power. It’s not a “level playing field,” for GLS doesn’t “face the same consequences.” For one thing, not every store needs to show a profit, for it can be carried by the entire network. 

Clerides has applied to the Government—the very department that makes the rules and from which he gets his supplies—for “the right to sell beer and spirits in his store so he can better compete against government stores,”but that request was turned down.  It has, he surmises, “obviously” fallen on deaf ears. Why is that not surprising?

You see the mess such an arrangement creates?  Someone please explain to me why the Government is into liquor sales. Has anyone ever defined the role of a government, especially in a “free” Western society? I checked the internet about the history of this mess, but perhaps lacked the patience to pursue it long enough, for I did not find any reference to this history. If it were important enough to me, I might even go to the Public Library for literature on the subject. As it is, I am left guessing. One of my guesses is that it is one of these brilliant NDP achievements with its union friends blocking any move towards a freer market.  Well, yes, they have a good thing going for themselves, what with government salary and job security as good as guaranteed. I am almost jealous! 

But what of its citizen tax payers?  It is unconscionable that these entrepreneurs are forced to purchase their supplies from their competitor, who has virtually unlimited power over the market and part of whose income comes from those very taxes. No government should be allowed to compete with its citizens and no citizen should be saddled with such a competitor-master. I am not anti-government and certainly not anarchist. I'm just a plain old conservative with a Christian twist. Note the small "C," though I am also (still) a large "C-er."

The same argument can also be applied to private schools vs public schools, but that’s a much more complicated issue that I’ve touched upon before and, no doubt, will again in the future. 

I think I will visit my neighbourhood wine store and buy a bottle just to show my support. It would be the first time in my life, not of buying wine but of buying in a private wine shop. 

[With thanks to Bruce Constantineau for his VS article “More choice is a bad thing for private liquor stores” (Aug 15, 2015).]

Post 63—SumOfUs: Protecting the Spoiled CBC

             SumOfUs is a movement of consumers, workers and shareholders speaking     
             with one voice to counterbalance the growing power of large corporations. 
             Join us on our journey as we seek to make the world a better place for 
             ourselves, our children and all who share our planet.  

That’s how this organization introduces itself on the Internet. I’m not sure I’m a member, but I do receive emails from them regularly and every time they urge me to vote for this or that anti-corporate cause. Apparently the organization is capable of arousing millions of people around the globe into action. It really is quite remarkable how it can mobilize those millions to change the actions and policies of various megacorps. I am really quite impressed with them, though I’m not sure I know enough about them to recommend them to you or, to the contrary, to warn you against them.  

I know quite a bit about that corporate world actually and am very aware of the oppressive shenanigans they pull off against the peoples of the world, including their own fellow citizens. If that sounds like a boast, I claim the right to that boast after I wrote a 220-page book on the subject under the title  Caught in the Middle: Christians in Transnational Corporations. The entire book is within your immediate easy reach for free on my website. Just go to < www.SocialTheology.com/Boeriana.htm > and do a search (^F) there.

A few days ago, SumOfUs sent me a message under the heading “Terrifying news for the CBC.” For the non-Canadians among my readers, “CBC” is the acronym for “Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,” the semi-government-owned and, if you can believe them, most popular and most effective broadcaster in the country. It’s what we call a “crown corporation,” by virtue of which it is heavily subsidized by the Federal Government. I may as well be upfront by immediately confessing I’m not all that fond of it, even though I do watch it quite frequently, along with other Canadian channels.

So what’s this “terrifying news?” Allow me to quote SumOfUs’ own “alarming” statement:

Documents were just leaked from the top-secret Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations -- and the news is bad for the CBC. If the TPP passes, Crown corporations like the CBC could be required to operate entirely for profit. And worse -- this move could force the CBC to be privatized.

The mission of the CBC is to tell the bilingual and multicultural story of Canada – not just to exist for corporate profit. Canadian politicians are extremely vulnerable to public pressure right now as they head into one of the longest election campaigns in Canadian history -- let’s make sure our CBC is protected and not sold off for profit.

To make sure readers get the full impact of this horrible scenario, they repeat, “Leaked documents show CBC could be forced to operate solely for profit if the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal passes,” all of it in bold letters. 

Ah, yes, this could turn out to become a Canadian nightmare.  But the axe was not restricted to CBC. Canada Post and “other crown corporations” are also slated for the same treatment. Now I could be motivated to protect Canada Post, since it delivers where private carriers won’t be seen, but to me the CBC is a very different kettle of fish.

I have long been annoyed by this govt-funded CBC. You want a completely govt-funded CBC, but it isn't even now. It advertises like any other medium and, worse, it advertises against the very people who pay the taxes that support it.  I am talking about the private TV and radio stations against which it advertises and competes. Govt should not be competing with and advertising against its own tax payers. Months after this post was published, Andrew Coyne, one of my favourite journalists, wrote that the CBC should be defunded. "This disparate treatment" can no longer be tolerated, he wrote. Among other things, it leads to a sense of superiority vis a vis the private competition (Vancouver Sun, February 18, 2016,  p. B2).

Besides, “for-profit” is not the only alternative. Let CBC become a not-for-profit but privately funded medium. Then it will have to be more concerned to appeal to the public, all the public. Certain religious groups are either ignored or given mostly--mostly, not totally--negative coverage.  I have occasionally watched some of their “comical” programmes, but almost without exception turn them off in disgust at the poor, not to say, brutish, taste displayed on the screen, again often at the expense of certain groups in society.  As it is, it can afford to ignore or lambast without consequences for itself. 

Still another alternative is for government to give some support to all radio and TV channels on condition that they include certain types of programmes alongside those of their own choice. Treat them all alike. Now that would be true pluralism. However, that would be impossible for sure. Coyne writes that if the government subsidizes some, in the name of fairness, it would have to subsidize all, but "that way lies madness." Therefore, if it cannot subsidize all, it should subsidize none.

SumOfUs, you are giving a false picture by suggesting that a purely capitalist system is the only alternative. I am not sure of your motive. Are you getting some kind of support from CBC either in the form of money or favourable coverage? I don't believe you are giving a one-sided picture because you can't think beyond your nose; you're too smart for that. So, there must be a reason, possibly the one I just hinted at. 

In closing, I cannot resist making a statement I’ve made many times in different contexts. If you’re criticizing corporations, don’t forget the largely faceless and nameless people behind them—the shareholders. Some of them may be members of SumOfUs, but it is those shareholders with their demands for and expectations of dividends that drive the corporations.   SumOfUs should consider targeting those shareholders, that is, the ordinary citizens, and hold them also responsible for the distortions they introduce into society.

But perhaps you would like to hear to hear more from the horse’s mouth. That is to say, from the same sources from which SumOfUs got their info. They kindly have left us with the address of their sources, which I herewith pass on to you:

TPP Trade Deal Proposal Would See CBC, Canada Post Exist Solely For Profit, Huffington Post, 30 July 2015.
Analysis of Leaked TPPA Paper for Ministers' Guidance on SOEs, Professor Jane Kelsey, Faculty of Law, University of Auckland, 28 July 2015.

Post 62—Celebrating NASA’s Pluto Miracle

                               

“It’s been an incredible journey,” to quote John Grunsfeld, NASA’s Science Mission Chief, the day the New Horizon came as close to planet Pluto as had been planned or, perhaps a better term, hoped. Grunsfeld’s was a fair enough statement, but I would classify it as an understatement. Of course, he knows better than I do, for he was part of the journey, even if not physically in the New Horizon. To adequately express it, one would need to pile up almost every word denoting extravagance and a myriad of “!!!!’s”. Among the words I would choose is “miracle.”  Yes, a scientific miracle.

“Scientific miracle?”  What’s that? Isn’t that an oxymoron?  It may be to some folks who see the two as opposites. Miracle to them is associated with religion, something from which science is allegedly far removed. That, of course, is a myth, a deceitful one at that. Yet, that myth has become the common sense of our century and thus the politically correct opinion to be contradicted only at your own peril. 

O’o, there’s that thing called contradiction again that I kind of legitimized in Post 60. Well, not really. The contradictions posited by the politically correct are pseudo contradictions, false choices the correctness folk impose on us without a rational basis. Those imposed on us are not contradictions at all. Science and miracle are perfectly comfortable bed partners.  How else explain the fact that modern science in its fetus stage got its start in the bosom of the Christian community, nay, in its very womb?  And, if you know your birds and bees, you know that most of us enter the womb in bed!

I insist on calling this achievement one of the greatest miracles in human history and am perfectly comfortable with that term.  Just think of the astounding numbers associated with it. Taking my data from an Associated Press article in the VS (“A Hallmark in Human History,” July 15, 2015,  B6), the project took 50 years of planning! What foresight, imagination and patience that required!—“the last stop on a planetary tour of the solar system a half-century in the making”!  It was “epic journey… that spanned more than 4.8 billion km and more than nine years”! The nearest it reached the planet was “within 12,300 km” at a speed of 50,000 km/h. Now, driving an RV that far, which I have done more than once, is a distance, but within our planetary environment that’s like next door! It’s like having arrived and all you need to do is to fumble in your pocket to retrieve the key to open the door. I confess to never having driven that fast!  And get this: “It actually happened 72 seconds earlier and about 65 km closer than anticipated”!  I can’t get my mind around that, absolutely not even close. What precision over so many years and kms! Even the cost of this adventure sounds pretty low in a day when we calculate our funds by the billions—a “mere” $720 million!  However, during the very moment of this miracle, NASA staff and friends were justifiably celebrating at countdown central in Laurel, Md., hundreds of them, but “the actual flight control room was empty save for a worker sweeping up”!  I regard this last bit of info as humorously amazing, but, true, somewhat downgraded from miracle.

The above paragraph is probably the most amazing one I have ever written; certainly the one with the most exclamation marks! You can’t write about this venture without inundating your story with those “!!!!’s”! It can’t be done.

Of course, some people, including many Christians, associate miracles only with God. It is true that the major miracle for which God is known is that of His love for a fallen people and His surrendering His Son to reconcile Himself to them.  That is an amazing miracle indeed. However, we don’t need to downplay the miraculous in human life in order to glorify God for His. There’s room for both in the realm of miracles. They are both miraculous, though of different nature and import. We may give full credit to humans when they perform what can only be considered a miracle, without detracting from God.

 I have published stuff on miracles. You can find those materials on my website at          

www.SocialTheology.com/boeriana.htm 

One of these days I hope to return to that subject.

Post 61—Persecution of Christians

                                     

I have decided to devote occasional posts on this blog to persecution of Christians. 

Why this decision? My wife, Fran, and I take time almost daily to meditate on the Bible and pray for ourselves, our family and neighbours, the Church and the world. One regular feature of these prayers is to read about persecuted Christians all over the world.  Over time this routine has made us very aware of this persecution not only but also very sensitive, tearful even and sad to think of our brothers and sisters in other countries being beaten, imprisoned and/or killed.  We read of their families getting ripped apart; children being orphaned; churches, homes and possessions destroyed or taken away; authorities like police and judges ignoring the law.  You read about this regularly and it gets to your heart; you become emotional, frequently indignant if not downright angry.

Today I am not going to describe any specific cases or tell concrete stories about persecution. This being our first post on the subject, I want to introduce you to people who monitor this situation and who help persecuted Christians throughout the world. There are a number of such organizations, but the one I am the most familiar with is BarnabasAid and its website < barnabasaid.org  >. They publish bi-monthly daily prayer booklets in which almost every prayer tells a persecution story.  They also publish a bi-monthly magazine that backs up the prayers with stories and other details.  In addition, they continuously publish books on the subject.  However, their main task is to render food and financial or legal aid to persecuted Christians, either individuals or communities. 

I have written quite extensively about BarnabasAid and its Director, Patrick Sookhdeo, in volume 8 of my series Studies in Christian-Muslim Studies and would urge you to check that out on the internet or go to either my website <  www.SocialTheology.com/Islamica.htm > or to <  www.lulu.com  >.   

I largely support him and usually agree with him except for one thing. He is stuck in the traditional western worldview that dualistically separates religion from other affairs and cannot understand how religion can legitimately mix with politics and economics, to name but two aspects of culture.  This makes it difficult for him to understand certain aspects of Islam, for example, especially its wholistic character.

            

There are more such monitoring organizations to some of which I will introduce you in due time.