Now scientists create a sheep that's 15% human
From
The Sunday Mail ...
Scientists have created the world's first human-sheep chimera - which has the body of a sheep and half-human organs.
The sheep have 15 per cent human cells and 85 per cent animal cells - and their evolution brings the prospect of animal organs being transplanted into humans one step closer.
Professor Esmail Zanjani, of the University of Nevada, has spent seven years and £5million perfecting the technique, which involves injecting adult human cells into a sheep's foetus.
I'm all in favor of science and experimentation, but my first reaction to this was that there's something scary about it.
NYT: For Some Black Pastors, Accepting Gay Members Means Losing Others
An
article in the New York Times (registration required) says
When the Rev. Dennis Meredith of Tabernacle Baptist Church here began preaching acceptance of gay men and lesbians a few years ago, he attracted some gay people who were on the brink of suicide and some who had left the Baptist faith of their childhoods but wanted badly to return.
At the same time, Tabernacle Baptist, an African-American congregation, lost many of its most loyal, generous parishioners, who could not accept a message that contradicted what they saw as the Bible’s condemnation of same-sex relations. Over the last three years, Tabernacle’s Sunday attendance shrank to 800, from 1,100. ...
Wow. How Christian.
Peacebang on Nightline
Peacebang, one of our favorite UU ministers, was
on Nightline recently.
Who's unchurched?
The
Barna Group has released a study saying "Unchurched Population Nears 100 Million in the U.S.".
A new survey released by The Barna Group, which has been tracking America’s religious behavior and beliefs since 1984, reveals that one out of every three adults (33%) is classified as unchurched - meaning they have not attended a religious service of any type during the past six months. While that figure is considerably higher than the one out of five who qualified as unchurched in the early Nineties, it is statistically unchanged since 36% were recorded as having avoided religious services in the company’s 1994 study. ...
Liberal religion doesn't always equates to liberal politics, of course, but the study does point out that 47% of political liberals are unchurched.
Albert Mohler: Manipulate the gay gene
Now
here's an idea I have to admit I never thought of ...
The president of a prominent Southern Baptist seminary says he would support medical treatment, if it were available, to change the sexual orientation of a fetus inside its mother's womb from homosexual to heterosexual. ...
Wow. What
will they think of next.
New PR Group for UU Bloggers
Philocrites announces a new mailing list for UU Bloggers to receive information about events, products, or services of interest to Unitarian Universalists.
The list is being moderated by yours truly. If you're a UU Blogger, please join. If you have information to distribute to UUs via UU Bloggers, please read the announcement for information on how to send a press release to the group.
It often comes down to money
The
New York Times reports that money's a factor in the Episcopalian rift With the Anglicans.
As leaders of the Anglican Communion hold meeting after meeting to debate severing ties with the Episcopal Church in the United States for consecrating an openly gay bishop, one of the unspoken complications is just who has been paying the bills.
The truth is, the Episcopal Church bankrolls much of the Communion’s operations. And a cutoff of that money, while unlikely at this time, could deal the Communion a devastating blow. ...
The Episcopal Church’s 2.3 million members make up a small fraction of the 77 million members in the Anglican Communion, the world’s third-largest affiliation of Christian churches. Nevertheless, the Episcopal Church finances at least a third of the Communion’s annual operations. ...
Christian Seniors don't care much for Pete Stark
According to a press release from the
Christian Seniors Assocation regarding Unitarian Universalist Rep. Pete Stark,
... "It is sad but not surprising that the current Congress has produced this historic first – one of its members has denied God," said CSA Executive Director James Lafferty. "The liberals in Congress want to throttle any school child who bows his or her head in prayer, but they want to establish a right for liberals to bash Christians and berate God around the clock." ...
Yikes! I woulda thought that a little compassion, understanding, and tolerance, not to mention wisdom, comes with age. Guess not always.
UU Representative Pete Stark
Inside Bay Area has
an article about Rep Pete Stark.
Rep. Pete Stark believes in democracy and free speech — but not in God.
Stark, who says he's "a Unitarian who does not believe in a supreme being," is the first member of Congress — and the highest-ranking elected official in the country — to do so. ...
Former state Assemblyman John Dutra of Fremont said he might not back Stark next year if he's an atheist.
"I would think long and hard before I would vote for anyone who lacks any kind of religious conviction," he said.
I would think the time should be long past that we'd see discrimination of this type. But I know, by reading the media every day, that it's one of the largest forms of discrimination.
Interview with Pete Seeger
BeliefNet has
an interview with Unitarian Universalist Pete Seeger.
