In a HARDtalk interview broadcast on 10th July, Stephen Sackur talks to (Arch)bishop Greg Venables, Primate of the Southern Cone.

Watch it all (almost 23 1/2 minutes).

People often compare dating to interviewing for a job. In the Orthodox Jewish world, this notion is taken almost literally.

Upon returning from post-high-school studies in Israel, young Orthodox women (such as myself) meet with recruiters, commonly known as shadchanim (matchmakers). After determining whether the young woman wishes to marry a “learner” (a man studying full time in yeshiva), an “earner” (a professional) or a combination of the two, the shadchan collects the prospective bride’s “shidduch résumé,” detailing everything from education and career plans to dress size, height, parents’ occupations and synagogue memberships. The shadchan then approaches a suitable single man or, most likely, his parents — who add the woman to their son’s typically lengthy “list.”

Before agreeing to a noncommittal first date, the man’s parents begin a thorough background check that puts government security clearance to shame. Phoning references isn’t enough — of course they’ll say good things — so they cold-call other acquaintances of the potential bride, from camp counselors to college roommates. The questions they ask often border on the superficial: “Does she own a Netflix account?”; “Does she wear open-toed shoes?” (The correct response may vary depending on how Orthodox a woman the man is looking for.)

Just as the economy is headed to recession, the shidduch system is in crisis mode. Or so the rabbis moan, noting the surplus of women eager to marry and the corresponding shortfall in the quality and quantity of available Jewish men.

Read it all.

John M. Templeton, a Tennessee-born investor and philanthropist who amassed a fortune as a pioneer in global mutual funds, then gave away hundreds of millions of dollars to foster understanding of what he called “spiritual realities,” died on Tuesday in Nassau, the Bahamas, where he had lived for decades. He was 95.

His death, at Doctors Hospital, was caused by pneumonia, said Donald Lehr, a spokesman for the John Templeton Foundation.

The foundation awards the Templeton Prize, one of the world’s richest, and sponsors conferences and studies reflecting the founder’s passionate interest in “progress in religion” and “research or discoveries” on the nebulous borders of science and religion.

In a career that spanned seven decades, Mr. Templeton dazzled Wall Street, organized some of the most successful mutual funds of his time, led investors into foreign markets, established charities that now give away $70 million a year, wrote books on finance and spirituality and promoted a search for answers to what he called the “Big Questions” in the realms of science, faith, God and the purpose of humanity.

My father’s father had a phrase, “you are a gentleman and a scholar,” and I always thought of it when I watched or heard John Templeton. He will be greatly missed–read it all.

I live for baseball. But I had to go to work during an important game, so I asked my wife to tape it for me. After I left the office, I flew through our front door, bursting with anticipation.

“Dont tell me the score!” I yelled to her.

“I don’t know the score,” she assured me. “All I know is your team lost.”

–Michael Bogess in the June 2008 Reader’s Digest, page 61

BISHOPS of the Anglican Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands are in London to attend the 15th Lambeth Conference of Bishops, being held July 16 to August 4. The delegation includes the Lord Bishop, Rt Rev Dr Alfred Reid, Bishop of Mandeville Rt Rev Dr Harold Daniel, Bishop of Montego Bay Rt Rev Dr Howard Gregory and the Bishop of Kingston, Rt Rev Dr Robert Thompson.

This will be the first time at Lambeth for Bishops Daniel, Gregory and Thompson. Bishop Reid attended twice before as a Suffragan Bishop (of Montego Bay). However, this will be his first time in the capacity of Lord Bishop.

Read it all.

WHAT makes a group (of voters, relatives, believers) stick together, even when its membership is varied and quarrelsome? Sometimes deference to a common authority; sometimes fear of adversaries; sometimes common axioms that trump any differences; and sometimes a sentimental “family feeling” that makes people tolerant of eccentricity or even obnoxious behaviour. If none of those factors is present, then break-up looms.

The Church of England may be approaching that point. Matters came to a head at the session this week of its ruling General Synod, which saw more than its share of tears, jeers and cheers. The topic under discussion””or so it was reported”” was whether women, who have served as priests since 1994, could also be bishops.

Actually, that was not precisely the matter at issue; the idea of women bishops had been accepted in 2005, and nobody suggested that this decision was reversible. The furore was over what accommodation, if any, should be made for the minority of the faithful who disagree with the idea of women bishops (and, in most cases, with the idea of women priests). Of these, some say that administering the sacraments (to put it simply, rites in which God’s grace is mysteriously invoked) is a male-only prerogative; others take literally the teaching of Saint Paul that authority in the church is best handled by men.

Read it all.

Fathoming a new Anglican identity will not be easy, because the conference in Canterbury is rigorously designed not to point in any direction or leave any discernible fingerprints.

Business meetings with parliamentary procedure and resolutions that live to haunt another day were scrapped in favor of small group discussions and intense get-acquainted sessions. The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, describes them as conversations that go to the root of the words, “to spend time with.”

Each day, eight groups of five will merge into gatherings of 40 for Indaba, a Zulu word for purposeful conversation among leaders, a suggestion from one of the African designers of the conference.

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.

Read it all.

When it was announced during the House of Bishops’ March retreat that a Lambeth invitation to Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire would not be forthcoming, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said during a media briefing afterward that the bishops would make sure that Bishop Robinson was “at least as present at Lambeth as if he’d had an invitation.”

Toward that end, a number of bishops and others have promised to stop by the exhibit hall where Bishop Robinson has a booth and to keep him informed about activities underway in the indaba listening group sessions. Bishop Robinson also will be supported by a large number of gay and lesbian persons who volunteered as part of an effort to ensure that the bishops of the Communion hear the voices of faithful gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Anglicans.

Read it all.

For a 134-year-old church, Emanuel Lutheran features some unusual worshippers in a model that mixes realistic details with whimsical touches ”” like the Batmobile parked outside.

The church made from more than 12,000 Lego bricks by the Rev. Stuart Dornfeld has little toy people scattered inside, including recognizable facsimiles of SpongeBob SquarePants, Indiana Jones and Batman.

“We’ve had some famous members, it’s true,” Dornfeld deadpanned.

Dornfeld, who is married and has two young daughters, said he was inspired last year when he saw an exhibit of Lego artist Nathan Sawaya’s work at the Children’s Museum of Appleton.

He spent two or three hours a week over six months to create the church model from the toy building blocks.

Read it all.

It looks as if nothing will change radically within the Presbyterian or Methodist Churches on the whole subject of homosexuality, in the near or medium-term future.

In the meantime, the Anglicans worldwide, and the Church of Ireland nearer home, will continue to make headlines in their heart-searching on same-sex relationships which, it must be said, they themselves have made part of their public agenda.

Read it all.

Well worth watching [click on the video link on the first page when you click]–even though it is profoundly disturbing.

Lovely stuff–watch it all.

One of the benefits of being around a long time is that you get to know a lot about certain things. I’m 80 years old and I’ve been an oilman for almost 60 years. I’ve drilled more dry holes and also found more oil than just about anyone in the industry. With all my experience, I’ve never been as worried about our energy security as I am now. Like many of us, I ignored what was happening. Now our country faces what I believe is the most serious situation since World War II.

The problem, of course, is our growing dependence on foreign oil ”“ it’s extreme, it’s dangerous, and it threatens the future of our nation.

Let me share a few facts: Each year we import more and more oil. In 1973, the year of the infamous oil embargo, the United States imported about 24% of our oil. In 1990, at the start of the first Gulf War, this had climbed to 42%. Today, we import almost 70% of our oil.

This is a staggering number, particularly for a country that consumes oil the way we do. The U.S. uses nearly a quarter of the world’s oil, with just 4% of the population and 3% of the world’s reserves. This year, we will spend almost $700 billion on imported oil, which is more than four times the annual cost of our current war in Iraq.

Read it all.

Guess before you watch it all.

The issue has caused a great deal of hurt and pain, on both sides – liberals (pro-women bishops) and traditionalists (anti) alike.

“It feels like a bereavement,” said Canon David Houlding, a vicar in north London, and one of the loudest voices against female bishops.

“The Church of England will never be quite the same again.”

So will he and others now leave?

“We don’t know. We’re still struggling to find a way forward.”

While he believes 500 years of history has been turned on its head, others believe the cobwebs have finally been blown off one of the Church’s most discriminatory laws.

One female priest, the Reverend Miranda Threlfall-Holmes from Durham, couldn’t disguise her relief.

Read it all.

…the real problem is not Iraq. The problem is America. The problem is that 80 percent of Americans believe that their country is on the wrong track, and 75 percent do not believe that the economic situation next summer will be better than it is now. The problem is that of General Motors. The company’s value is now a fraction of Toyota’s. The problem is that Chrysler is on the verge of bankruptcy, Starbucks is in trouble and the Dow Jones is in deep trouble. The problem is that the budget deficit is out of control, the national debt is irreparable and the dollar is worthless. Something about the way the Americans do things is not working. Something is not as it used to be.

Three Rottweilers are now at America’s throat: very expensive energy, badly shrinking credit and a collapsing real estate market. Uncle Sam is bleeding because his dependence on energy is greater than that of other countries. His addiction to credit is more serious than that of other countries, and he is very exposed to the bursting real estate bubble. Cheap energy, cheap money and accelerated construction rescued America from the collapse of the Twin Towers and the high-tech crisis at the beginning of the decade. They enabled America to celebrate as though there were no tomorrow and no bill to pay.

But tomorrow is here. The bill is steep.

The bottom line is cruel and profound: The American century is over. The 40 years (1945-1985) when America was the exclusive leader of the free world are over. The 20 years (1986-2006) when American was in effect the sole superpower are over. The era of imperial America, which dictated the world agenda, is over.

Read it all.

The Most Rev Katherine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the USA, also claimed those who believe women should not be religious leaders do not understand church history.

In a rare British interview, she accused the Church of England of taking far too long to modernise, just days after its governing body voted to ordain women as bishops with no compromise measures for traditionalists.

And she dismissed the threat of orthodox Anglicans who are planning to create a rival structure to her church because of its liberal stance on homosexuality.

Read it all.

With regard to comments, please note carefully: I am going to leave comments open initially, but will turn this thread quickly into email only submitted comments if it degenerates. Feelings are running high at the moment, I know, and I have no desire to add any fuel to that fire. Please focus on the arguments. Any comments which get overly personal or are judged incourteous will be swiftly edited and/or removed. Thanks–KSH.

The head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries warned Thursday that oil prices would see an “unlimited” increase in the case of a military conflict involving Iran, because the group’s members would be unable to make up the lost production.

“We really cannot replace Iran’s production – it’s not feasible to replace it,” Abdalla Salem El-Badri, the OPEC secretary general, said during an interview.

Iran, the second-largest producing country in OPEC, after Saudi Arabia, produces about 4 million barrels of oil a day out of the daily worldwide production of close to 87 million barrels. The country has been locked in a lengthy dispute with Western countries over its nuclear ambitions.

In recent weeks, the price of oil has risen higher on speculation that Israel could be preparing to attack Iranian nuclear facilities. The saber-rattling intensified this week with missile tests by Iran. That has further shaken oil markets because of concerns that any conflict with Iran could disrupt oil shipments from the Gulf region.

Read it all.

A nifty Youtube video–watch it all.

Packages of familiar products ”” cereal, juice, mayonnaise ”” are getting smaller. But supermarkets are charging the same old prices for the new, smaller sizes.

Ben Popken of the consumer advocacy blog Consumerist talks about the trend.

Listen to it all from NPR.

The immense damage done to the Archbishop of Canterbury during Monday night’s debate on women priests [becoming Bishops] is still sinking in. Dr Rowan Williams had not intended to speak, but he was so alarmed by the lack of provision for traditionalists in the code of practice that he appealed to Synod members to reject it. They ignored him.

It was as if a Prime Minister, having quietly supported a piece of legislation in the Commons, suddenly lost his nerve, appealed to the House to change its mind, and was then rebuffed. Even Gordon Brown has yet to chalk up that sort of disaster.

Read it all.

Meanwhile the Bishop of Newcastle, Bishop Brian Farran, who lives right next to the Sydney Diocese says Archbishop Peter Jensen has created difficulties for his relationship with the rest of the Australian church. I asked him what are those difficulties.

Brian Farran: Well I think it’s particularly difficult within the province of New South Wales where the Archbishop is the Metropolitan. I think there’s in fact emerging as he has, probably by default, as a principal leader of the GAFCON movement, and their statement in which they really encourage the formation of what seems like a church within a church. I think it would be difficult for him to come back and operate as if nothing has happened, and that the relationships that we have normally, through say our Primate with the Archbishop of Canterbury, that they’re going to be a bit muddied by his relationship with this secondary movement.

Stephen Crittenden: I’ll come to the Archbishop of Canterbury in a moment, but presumably there would be some conservative Anglicans in every diocese in Australia who might want to join this new Confessing movement, but also many Anglicans in Sydney who’d like to escape it. I mean is this the time when some kind of Episcopal oversight needs to be offered to alienating Anglicans in Sydney?

Brian Farran: Well I personally don’t agree with alternative forms of Episcopal oversight, so I’m finding myself rather constrained in all of this. Certainly I’ve been in contact with some of the Anglicans in Sydney who sometimes flee up to Newcastle actually for a dose of liturgical renewal, and they themselves have said that they’re totally disappointed that the Sydney bishops are not going to be at Lambeth, and they really do feel abandoned in that. So I guess there will be people in Sydney who are looking for some kind of insight from Lambeth and some follow-on.

Stephen Crittenden: Isn’t the primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury actually ended in that these people will be giving their allegiance to apparently a new conciliar body from which they will take their lead?

Brian Farran: This is one of the problems that the Archbishop of Canterbury has signaled in the press release that he’s issued after GAFCON. He’s indicated for example, that the GAFCON’s initiative in establishing a sort of primational council of some of those African Archbishops, will in fact blur the role of our own primates meetings within the Anglican communion, and I’m not sure how GAFCON’s going to operate, because we’ve had these four very significant instruments of unity within the Anglican community, which includes of course the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates’ meetings, the Anglican Consultative Council and the Lambeth Conference. And now there seems to be a rival organisation being established who may well actually be instrumental in developing bishops to move into other dioceses which they regard as unorthodox.

Read it all and peruse the other two GAFCON segments here and there.