Exemptions and Gay Adoptions

Is it right that religious adoption agencies lose their say as to whom they can give the children in their care? Can the rights of conscience be made subject to legislation?

MSN Reports:

Home Secretary John Reid said the religious objections of some ministers and churchmen must not be allowed to undermine the fundamental principle of equality enshrined in the law.

He was speaking after Prime Minister Tony Blair said he intends to announce a decision next week on whether Roman Catholic adoption agencies are to be allowed an exemption from offering babies to same-sex couples.

Is this the 'New World' we really want?

The Woman at the Well!

With the current hullabaloo over the political aspirations Margaret Wanjiru, her impending marriage, the paternity of her three children and all the other minutiae that seem to be consuming the Kenyan public mind at this time, the story of the Woman at the Well comes to mind.

And I am left pondering as to whether the current media hype surrounding this story is really about whether or not "he" is the husband, or - perhaps the more likely reason - the glee with which the world watches when a believer (especially one with three kids who don't know appear to know who their fathers are) is ridiculed and humiliated!

Without seeking to justify the behaviour of the lady in question, perhaps this is an opportune time to re-examine the story of the Woman at the Well, and consider how it applies to each one of us!

Source:

"The Samaritan woman at the well is no angel. Mixed up with a wrong crowd, this poor woman from Samaria has quite a reputation. .. She had been married five times and was living ... with a man who wasn't her husband.

The story also shows that a well of grace is ready to refresh the soul parched by sin and suffering and that Jesus comes to save the sick and to serve those who still need both physical and spiritual healing — not only the converted.

Her story is also relevant because it becomes an antecedent of Christian practices — that one may seek God's forgiveness for wrongdoing.

The woman at the well had her sins "washed away" by Jesus. The story shows that Jesus offers divine mercy in the living water of grace, which washes away sins and cleanses souls. The woman went to the well to get a jug of water. Instead, she got much more, including a cleansed and refreshed spiritual life.

Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!"

—John 4:16–18

The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."

—John 4:25–26

She repents of her past misdeeds and goes back to tell her family, friends, and neighbors how she met Jesus and how he revealed his knowledge of her sins and his offer of live-giving water, which brings eternal life. She went on to lead many conversions in this area through her zeal and love for God (John 4:39–42)"

Enough said.

"Pay them - then they tell you what they like..."

I don't know about the rest of you but this recent comment gave me the spooks:

"There are 59 million blogs out there, so we know people want to publish," Rosenblatt says. "You give them the tools, you give them an audience, and you pay them; then they tell you what they like - and you follow them to the verticals where they gravitate."
See the full story here!

Its strange and somewhat scary - we are becoming so conditioned to having our movements on the web and elsewhere watched, catalogued, analysed, debated, commercialised... at every turn that it doesn't worry us anymore.

One commentator notes:

The net isn't a directed graph. It's not a tree. It's a single point labeled G connected to 10 billion destination pages.

What's even scarier is that with all the buy-outs and consolidations the power to watch, pigeon-hole and attempt to mold public habits, perceptions, mores... is increasingly being centred in the hands of an ever smaller and select group of incredibly powerful and wealthy people.

That is scary.

James Brown's 5 year old son left out of will

This from CNN:

The 5-year-old child of James Brown and his partner, Tomi Rae Hynie, is not included in the will read Thursday to six of the entertainer's children, attorneys for the late singer say. While the will provides for six children, Hynie's son, James Jr., is not one of those listed in the document, attorney Strom Thurmond Jr. told The Associated Press.

Let the lawsuits begin....

Major League Soccer on the World Stage?

Si.com says:

Mark it down: Jan. 11, 2007 will forever be known as the day that Major League Soccer truly arrived on the world stage.

I'm not so sure that is the case!
But I must admit, with Beckham's pending move, I've suddenly developed an interest in what goes in the American MLS League.
So maybe some of the hype that is sure to surround this move to the U.S. will be justified?
Time will tell!