Hitchens goes wobbly

Even cynical sots are not immune to Obama adoration disorder: Christopher is weak at the knees:

“We will restore science to its rightful place,” is intended, I have some reason to believe, to reinforce or underline the president’s emphasis on religious pluralism and on the inclusion (with a few days to go before the Darwin-Lincoln bicentennial) of the fast-growing number of “nonbelievers.” That this has already drawn fire from the vastly overrated black churches is a good sign in itself.

The president has a better grip on the English language than any of his living-memory predecessors, and it seems certain that he wrote at least 80 percent of this address himself. It’s nice to be able to hold people to claims that they have written rather than read, and I look forward to doing so.

Hitchens also has a better grip on the English language than most journalists; that doesn’t make what he says – however well he says it – correct; although he does get some things right, most notably Iraq.

Obama’s talk of “restoring science to its rightful place” would strike a religious chord in Hitchens even though science’s rightful place is really one of dependence on a metaphysic that Hitchens would deny.

Although  I had not pegged Hitchens as a nascent Obama apostle, it is a match made in Darwinian heaven: sterile, cringingly cool, conformist and devoid of significance.

The First Church of Narcissus

After the dog question is settled, the next question is, where will Obama worship?

Without doubt, here:

Sister Josephine

I have a dear friend who is a retired nun. I’ve just finished reading her recently published autobiography, a fascinating volume that in no way reminded me of Sister Josephine; but here it is anyway:

Canadian Anglican Primate, Fred Hiltz: Financial Wizard

Canadian Anglican Primate, Fred Hiltz is never reticent about telling the Canadian Government how to run the affairs of state, particularly when it comes to money. As a contributor to Kairos, a Canadian ecumenical organisation that agitates for its version of social justice, he has this to say:

KAIROS understands this financial crisis as a systemic failure in global financial markets. Over the last 30 years, governments have increasingly deregulated these markets, allowing them to be manipulated in favour of short-term interests of the wealthiest and most powerful.

“Canadians look to their Members of Parliament for strong leadership to address poverty, adequate housing and affordable health care,” says Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada. “We also call for action in making the eradication of poverty the top priority for our foreign aid policy. Now is the time for the federal government to affirm our place as a responsible neighbour in the global village.”

Obviously the answer is more government intervention in the financial markets.

Let’s see how well Fred Hiltz manages his own organisation:

The Council of General Synod (CoGS) on Nov. 16 approved, but not without dissent from some members, the 2009 General Synod budget. Although pruned by $1.3 million, the budget still projects a deficit of $745,639, with revenues anticipated at $8.6 million and expenditures at $9.4 million.

And:

Major developments in the financial management of General Synod took place in the fall and winter with the resignation, effective Dec. 31, of treasurer Peter Blachford, and the layoffs Nov. 25 of seven staff at the national office in Toronto.

The layoffs were part of a plan to cut the 2009 budget by $1.3 million, reduce the deficit to $800,000 and to try to put an end to what had been a pattern in recent years of incurring deficits.

And we mustn’t forget:

The Anglican Church of Canada has experienced a huge decline over the past 40 years, according to a new independent survey.

Over the period of 1961 to 2001 the Canadian region of the worldwide Anglican Church has lost 53% of its members, with numbers declining from 1.36 million to just 642,000.

An even more worrying sign for the worldwide Church is that the survey suggested that the decline is accelerating. In the period between 1981 and 1991 the Church membership decreased by 13%, however between 1991 and 2001 the numbers reduced by a greater proportion of 20%.

So, Fred, what’s the solution to your mess in the Anglican Church of Canada?

Obviously, more government intervention in the Anglican Church of Canada.