An Anglican priest in British Columbia has earned a PhD for his research into the spirituality of snowboarding.

Rev. Neil Elliot of St. Andrews Anglican Church in Trail began his studies 10 years ago in England, pulling together a love of snowboarding, an interest in spirituality and a desire to understand the relationship between spirituality and religion.

It was the word “soulriding” that first captured his attention more than a dozen years ago, while he was living in England and snowboarding in the Alps in Europe. The term made him wonder if there was a spiritual dimension to carving a path down a mountain.

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[STEFAN FATSIS]…Columnists and commentators love to defend righteous acts. But I think there’s more to this conversation.

[MICHELE] NORRIS: More like what?

[STEFAN] FATSIS: Well, these rules, for one thing. We haven’t heard much about whether these rules are applied uniformly across the student body. And it’s also worth noting that Brandon Davies is African-American, and the last two athletes who left their BYU teams for the same reason are of Pacific Island descent. And this is a campus that is overwhelmingly white.

Then you’ve got the stickier subject of whether these rules should maybe be questioned by people outside of the Mormon Church. And finally, I think it bears asking, you know, does BYU’s willingness to shame a 19-year-old in such a public way, is that the best approach, honor code or not?

Read or listen to it all. I happened to catch this yesterday in the car running an errand and what struck me was this phrase: BYU’s willingness to shame a 19-year-old in such a public way. Ah, so this is the university’s fault. Except, hang on now. First, the young man in question signed up for this school knowing the honor code on the front end of his whole undergraduate undertaking. So the possibility of bad consequences is something he already agreed to. Second, the young man is the one who has shamed himself, no?

This reminds me a bit of discussions in the house when I was growing up (with two parents who were teachers). One more than one occasion it was noted that when students do well a person will say “I got an A” but when things go wrong, what happens? The rhetoric changes to “the teacher failed me.” Oh what a tangled web we weave–KSH.

Past examples of state arsenals being looted by civilians ”” whether in Uganda in 1979, Albania in 1997 or Iraq in 2003 ”” have shown that once these weapons slip from state custody they can be sold through black markets, swiftly and quietly, to other countries and groups for use in wars where they can present long-lasting and destabilizing problems. Analysts are particularly concerned about the heat-seeking missiles, known as Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems, or Manpads.

“The danger of these missiles ending up in the hands of terrorists and insurgents outside of Libya is very real,” said Matthew Schroeder, the director of the Arms Sales Monitoring Project at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington. “Securing these missiles should be a top priority of the U.S. intelligence community and their counterparts overseas.”

The principal threat, the analysts said, is not necessarily that the rebels themselves, who want international sympathy and support, might use such weapons against airliners. Rather, the concern is that because these missiles can sell for at least several thousand dollars on black markets, opportunists will gather and offer them to third parties ”” pushing them into the underground trade.

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Please note the above title is from the print edition–KSH.

How might home buying change if the federal government shuts down the housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan, the steady favorite of American borrowers since the 1950s, could become a luxury product, housing experts on both sides of the political aisle say.

Interest rates would rise for most borrowers, but urban and rural residents could see sharper increases than the coveted customers in the suburbs.

Read it all from the front page of yesterday’s New York Times.

In retrospect, I’d say that Huntington committed the Fundamental Attribution Error. That is, he ascribed to traits qualities that are actually determined by context.

He argued that people in Arab lands are intrinsically not nationalistic. He argued that they do not hunger for pluralism and democracy in the way these things are understood in the West. But it now appears as though they were simply living in circumstances that did not allow that patriotism or those spiritual hungers to come to the surface.

It now appears that people in these nations, like people in all nations, have multiple authentic selves. In some circumstances, one set of identities manifests itself, but when those circumstances change, other equally authentic identities and desires get activated.

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Watch it all (at the top)–breathtaking.

(Hat Tip:Al Jazeera Libyan liveblog)

It is rare to find someone in public life who accepts responsibility for a mistake as frankly and cogently as Sir Howard Davies did in resigning as director of the London School of Economics over research money from the Gaddafi clan, and he deserves credit for that.

Here, at last, is someone who recognises where the buck stops and draws the appropriate conclusion.

Sir Howard’s departure, however, must not be used as a pretext for sweeping under the carpet awkward questions about foreign money in British academia….

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Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces have encircled the western town of Zawiya after being pushed back by rebels earlier today, according to reports, while rebels captured the oil port of Ras Lanouf.

“Zawiya is encircled by Gaddafi’s forces, there are a lot of checkpoints. They are tightening their grip on the centre,” a Reuters journalist said, adding government forces were manning checkpoints some two miles from the centre of town.

“Access to central Zawiya is completely blocked,” she said.

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In a colorful and joyous service, the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri today is consecrating and installing the Very Rev. Martin S. Field as its eighth bishop…

Field was rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Flint, Mich., from June 2003 to January 2011. An Ohio native, he served churches in Tennessee, Hawaii, Maryland and Ohio and was a chaplain in the United States Navy.

He succeeds the Rt. Rev. Barry Howe, who had led the diocese since 1998.

“An ordination service typically is one of the happiest occasions in the life of a diocese, and bishop-elect Field’s ordination is sure to be a colorful and joyous event,” said the Rev. Samuel A. Mason of Trinity Episcopal Church in Independence, chairman of the ordination committee.

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Check it out–I disavow any knowledge of who this is .

Deliver us, O God, from following the fashions of the day in our thinking. Save us from the worship of power, whether power over nature or power over men. Save us from the worship of science, and grant that, giving thee thanks for the skill of the scientist, we may be preserved from the abuse of his discoveries. Help us never to confuse any creature with the Creator, or man with God. May we acknowledge man’s reason as thy gift, and, being freed from all false hopes and misplaced trust, find in thee our hope and our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now I know that the LORD will help his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with mighty victories by his right hand. Some boast of chariots, and some of horses; but we boast of the name of the LORD our God. They will collapse and fall; but we shall rise and stand upright.

–Psalm 20:6-8

The Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem and Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, the Rt. Revd Suheil Dawani has been denied the renewal of his “Temporary Residency Status” in Jerusalem. This action was taken when the A-5 permits held by himself, his wife and youngest daughter were revoked by the government of Israel, effective 24 September 2010.

Bishop Dawani was elected in 2007 as Bishop of the Diocese and was recognized by the State of Israel as the head of the Episcopal Diocese in accordance with the decision by the State of Israel in 1970 which acknowledged the Diocese as one of the thirteen recognized churches in Israel. All Anglican Bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem who have not held Israeli citizenship have been granted residency permits (A5) to allow them to live in Jerusalem where the Bishop’s residence, diocesan offices and cathedral are located.

Bishop Dawani, his wife and daughters had successfully renewed this permit, as required, in 2008 and 2009. On 24 August 2010, Bishop Dawani went to renew the permit with the Ministry of the Interior and was informed in writing that permits for himself, his wife and daughter would not be renewed because of allegations pending against the Bishop. The letter, in Hebrew, included the following: “Bishop Suheil acted with the Palestinian Authority in transferring lands owned by Jewish people to the Palestinians and also helped to register lands of Jewish people in the name of the Church.” There were further allegations that documents were forged by the Bishop. The letter also stated that Bishop Dawani and his family should leave the country immediately.

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Central Wisconsin Episcopal churches are one step closer to finalizing a regional ministry that would provide stability amid aging congregations and tight budgets.

Representatives from seven area churches — in Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids, Mosinee, Marshfield, Wausau, Merrill and Antigo — drafted a mission statement and name for the group, the Episcopal Ministries of Central Wisconsin.

The mission statement lays out a commitment for the congregations to work together, but does not bind any one church to the group. Many of the details about how the regional ministry would work have yet to be determined, and not all churches are 100 percent sure of their roles.

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Bible-reading, knitting, Twitter, and atheism are among the activities Christians are being encouraged to take up for Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday next week.

The Bishop of Huntingdon, Dr David Thomson, this week issued a challenge to Christians to join him in reading the whole of the Bible during Lent, as part of the challenge, “Round the Bible in 40 Days”.

“Most people have their favourite Bible passages, but they usually read it in small chunks and often without much sense of continuity,” Dr Thom­son said. “So it’s good from time to time to get to grips with the whole of its architecture and soak ourselves in its big story of creation, redemption, and the coming of the Kingdom.”

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