The spiritual leader of the world’s Anglicans raised questions Monday about the legitimacy of plans to create a global network of conservative Anglicans that would challenge his authority and the teachings of liberal North American churches. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the proposal to form a separate global council of conservative bishops who will train priests and interpret Scripture would create more problems than it solves. A council ‘which consists of only a self-selected group … will not pass the test of legitimacy for all in the Communion,’ he said. The plan emerged from a weeklong meeting in Jerusalem of conservative Anglican bishops, clergy and lay people from Africa and some north American and British churches. In a declaration Sunday, they announced plans for the fellowship as a ‘church within a church,’ stopping short of a complete break with the communion. Conference participants expressed outrage at what they consider a ‘false gospel’ that has led churches in the U.S., Canada and elsewhere to accept gay relationships. Long-standing divisions over how Anglicans should interpret the Bible erupted in 2003 when the U.S. Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the U.S., consecrated the first openly gay bishop, […]
A British woman has made history by conceiving the country’s first ‘designer baby’ guaranteed to be free from hereditary breast cancer. Using controversial screening techniques, doctors rejected six embryos which tested positive for the cancer gene in favour of ‘healthy’ ones to ensure the child would not contract the disease. The 27-year-old, who wishes to remain anonymous, is now 14 weeks pregnant with her first child after she was implanted with two of the cleared embryos. She chose to go through the procedure because her husband had tested positive for the gene and his grandmother, mother, sister and cousin had all battled breast cancer. Only one other woman is believed to have become pregnant after undergoing the same screening technique, called pre-implantation diagnosis (PGD). Critics claim it is unethical because it means viable embryos are destroyed. There are also fears it could lead to the creation of ‘designer babies’ that are chosen for their looks or intelligence. The British woman said she felt she had to go through the invasive IVF treatment even though she and her husband are fertile in order to try and safeguard her child. She said: ‘For the past […]
WASHINGTON — It’s not much of a report card. Half of Americans say U.S. schools are doing only a fair to poor job preparing kids for college and the work force. Even more feel that way about the skills kids need to survive as adults, an Associated Press poll released Friday finds. ‘A lot of kids, when they get out school, are kind of lost,’ said Jamie Norton, a firefighter in Gridley, Calif. ‘When you get out of high school, what are you educated to do?’ The views of the general population echo concerns from business and college leaders, who say they have to spend a lot of time and money on remedial education for people who completed high school but don’t have the skills to succeed at work or in higher education. Education ranks behind the economy and gas prices as a top issue for Americans, the survey said. However, nearly all those polled said the quality of a country’s education system has a big impact on a country’s overall economic prosperity. Education was generally viewed to be as important as health care and slightly ahead of the Iraq war. Among minority parents, education is […]
The broadcast networks have grown older than ever — if they were a person, they wouldn’t even be a part of TV’s target demo anymore. According to a study released by Magna Global’s Steve Sternberg, the five broadcast nets’ average live median age (in other words, not including delayed DVR viewing) was 50 last season. That’s the oldest ever since Sternberg started analyzing median age more than a decade ago — and the first time the nets’ median age was outside of the vaunted 18-49 demo. Fueling the graying of the networks: the rapid aging of ABC, NBC and Fox. The three nets continue to grow older, while CBS — the oldest-skewing network — has remained fairly steady. ‘The median ages of the broadcast networks keep rising, as traditional television is no longer necessarily the first screen for the younger set,’ Sternberg wrote. For the just-completed 2007-08 TV season, CBS was oldest in live viewing with a median age of 54. ABC clocked in at 50, followed by NBC (49), Fox (44), CW (34) and Univision (34). When live-plus-7 DVR viewing is factored in, the nets (except CW and Univision) drop by a year — […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
