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Sunday, August 01, 2010
RANZCOG on trial
Yesterday I commented in another blog on the 'risk' picture presented in this Statement.
The ultimate statistic:
RANZCOG notes an "extremely low but clinically important frequency of adverse outcomes", notably maternal death, for women who have elective repeat caesarean surgery (ERCS). However, RANZCOG deftly attributes the reason for the "apparent association" to "women with complex medical and obstetric problems [who] are much more likely to feature in the ERCS". This statement is dishonest and misleading. Women with no medical or obstetric problems have added to maternal mortality and serious morbidity statistics after caesarean surgery that has been undertaken for non-medical reasons, or after a cascade of interventions that began with medical interference in an otherwise uncomplicated pregnancy.
Homebirth for VBAC
While the 'H' word is not prominent in the RANZCOG statement on VBAC, it is understood from a previous College Statement (C-Obs 2) that RANZCOG "does not endorse home birth". This position has been clear since 1987, and has effectively prevented any useful dialogue on home birth between midwives and most obstetricians. It's a matter of joining the dots.
Having declared its standard for antenatal preparation; intrapartum care; contraindications to Trial of Labour (TOL), and TOL in risk-prone circumstances, the RANZCOG statement on VBAC has defined the option of "TOL" in "risk-prone circumstances" as "sub-standard care" [emphasis added].
"A TOL may become particularly risk-prone where: there is a lack of services for safe provision of emergency care (eg a TOL conducted at home, birth centre or centre without ready access to obstetric, anaesthetic and paediatric support); there is a failure to provide or accept adequate intrapartum maternal and fetal surveillance; and there are clinical circumstances such as outlined above (eg more than one previous caesarean section)"
It is pretty clear to me that RANZCOG's TOL is unlikely to proceed to a spontaneous vaginal birth, with a healthy mother and baby. This statement exposes the lack of recognition of childbirth as a physiological process that is normal and good; a process that is in delicate hormonal balance. Throughout the document the reader is reminded repeatedly of the risk of rupture. It comes up like an advertisement: "remember you might need an obstetrician".
How often is the risk of rupture likely to result in catastrophic outcomes?
About 1 in 2000 labours for planned vbac.
There are many factors to be considered by women who have had one or more previous caesarean births. The Births after Caesarean INFOSHEET, available at the Maternity Coalition website, summarises the choices that these women may face.
Midwives who agree to provide primary care for women planning VBAC, whether the birth is planned for home or hospital, face potential criticism based on the RANZCOG Statement. The Statement advises that before a midwife agrees to "administer care in risk-prone circumstances, that the women agree to counselling by a senior obstetrician who should ... [read on, there's a real sting in the tail of this one! That selfish woman needs to know that she is potentially imposing "considerable demands on the limited resources of the health team, with potential adverse consequences not just for her and her baby, but also for other women and their babies"]
Feeling guilty now?
Why don't you just roll over?
In this RANZCOG Statement on Planned Vaginal Birth after Caesarean Section I have found material for all the bullying and manipulation that is needed to force women into submission to the medical system. While acknowledging a woman's right to make choices, the Statement sets the stage to shackle those who have the ability and skill to recognise and address complications early if they occur, while working in harmony with the natural physiological processes that lead to safe and joyous birthing. Under this Statement the rate of Caesarean births, and all the related complications, is likely to continue to rise in Australia and New Zealand.
4 comments:
Poverty tries friends...................................................................
- 3:35 pm
Subtlety is better than force. ............................................................
- 6:00 am
- Joy Johnston said...
I have accepted these comments, which I read as proverbs, although they do not seem to speak directly to the article.
Over the years I have received many comments from people with names written in Chinese script. The comments have in the past been in Chinese, and therefore unreadable to an English-speaking blogger and audience.
Thankyou to all who take the time to read my blogs, and who find truth and integrity in them.
- 9:25 am
- Joy Johnston said...
The RANZCOG Statement states that
fetal weight >4Kg is a contraindication to 'Trial of Labour'.
The assessment of fetal weight is at best an inexact science, and the use of this RANZCOG guidance is likely to result in many unnecessary elective repeat caesarean surgeries.
A mother who is at present planning a vbac has outlined to me her experience in prenatal estimation of size of two of her babies:
Child #one, sizing scan performed at 38 weeks gestation. Size estimated at over 10 pounds, or 4.53 kilos. Child born at 40 weeks gestation, spontaneous labour, weighing 5 pound 3 ounces, or 2.40 kilos.
Child #four, sizing scan performed at 36 weeks gestation. Size estimated at 9 to 10 pounds, or 4.08 to 4.53 kilos. Child born at 42 weeks gestation, spontaneous labour, weighing 8 pound 1 ounce, or 3.67 kilos.
- 12:16 pm


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Silver Skye is a family business specialising in all forms of Private Tours of any duration throughout Scotland & Ireland, Day Trips from the Edinburgh area, and all forms of Chauffeur Services. We are all passionate about travel in Scotland & Ireland and will proudly show off everything the two countries have to offer. Alex runs 'Silver Skye' ably supported by Tour Guides and Drivers.
Isla, our former office-dog, who recently left us
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In the effort of True Mom Confessions, I must tell you that all I did was drag the bin into her bedroom and turn out the light, and then I carried on with my evening plan of red wine, chocolate ice cream, and the final season of The Tudors on DVD.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
At Least It's Clean Laundry
Near-ish enough to bedtime for little girls to start feeling sleepy, Sydney apparently came across her beloved I Spy quilt, all fresh and warm and fluffy, in the bin of clean laundry ready to be sorted:
3 comments:
- Tina said...
It is so funny where kids will fall asleep.
I would have done the same thing :)
- June 23, 2011 at 1:32 PM
- Homeschool family said...
that is so adorable - and I love your wine philosophy (I'm right there with you!)
- June 24, 2011 at 1:09 PM
- Stephanie said...
An' that is a gorgeous quilt. :)
- June 25, 2011 at 11:45 AM
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Sunday, October 5, 2008
Death Bed & Big Red
And in other exciting news, Tony managed to get a couple of tickets to the Nebraska/Missouri game on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium. Megan was kind enough to come up and watch the kids while Tony and I made the pilgrimage down to Lincoln, had a bite to eat, drove around the 'ole stomping grounds and took in the pre-show. We had such a great time...we have so many wonderful memories of happy times and close friends from our 3 years in Lincoln.
There really isn't anything like the energy in Memorial Stadium on game day. The lead-up, the tunnel walk, the first kick-off, the balloon release at the first TD, throwing the bones for the Blackshirts...it's infectious. Despite the poor Nebraska showing, we had a great time, enjoyed the wonderfully warm evening, and whooped it up with 85,370 of our closest friends. This makes 294 consecutive sold-out games at Memorial Stadium (that's a NCAA record).
This is Memorial Stadium all the start of the game. Crazy. Don't let the occasional yellow confuse you. It might just be a foam corn head and not an actual Tiger fan:-) And despite the loss, it was really fun to get to see Missouri in action (wow) and be a part of the tradition that is Big Red football.
19 comments:
- Jeni said...
You lucky duck! I kept looking for you on the tv last night, whenever they would give a shot of the stands.
I HATE being sick so I feel for you.
My pumpkin cobbler is about to come out of the oven....can't wait.
- October 5, 2008 at 5:27 PM
- Nicole said...
I'm so glad that you are feeling better, it sounds like it was awful. Being a mom and being sick is no fun, there is no one to take care of you, I guess our hubby's do their best. I'm sad I didn't look at your blog sooner for the conference packet from deseret book. My kids would have loved that. I'm sad conference is over, it's always so nice to be brought back into reality of what is really important.
- October 5, 2008 at 5:43 PM
- Kathleen said...
wow! so fun! i've ALWAYS wanted to go to a nebraska game! glad you're feeling better :-).
- October 5, 2008 at 6:45 PM
- Jenn said...
Dave and I, definitely, have going to a Nebraska game on our list of things to do before leaving this area. We were in Lincoln a few weeks ago and were amazed at all the fans in red all over the city. Hope you are back to good health!
- October 5, 2008 at 7:20 PM
- The Brough Family said...
So fun, I'm glad you were feeling up to going! Looks like a great time. Sorry they lost, GO BIG RED!
- October 5, 2008 at 7:41 PM
- Camie said...
What good times! It sounds thrilling. Theres no fans like NEbraska fans!
I was totally just giving you a hard time about OPI...no hard feelings :)
- October 5, 2008 at 8:10 PM
- Sydney said...
I'm telling you, there's nothing like a college football game... especially Division I ball. We made it back to my alma mater, Iowa, last year for a game, and it made me want to move back there just to experience football season!
- October 5, 2008 at 9:41 PM
- Eloise said...
I'm so glad you're feeling better! Sorry about the loss but glad you had such a good time at the game.
- October 5, 2008 at 9:59 PM
- Jandi said...
Ahhhhh, we're so jealous! This is the first year that we haven't been aable to come back for a game, and we miss it! You are so right about the stadium, fans, energy...we love it! We're so glad you were able to go. Hope you get feeling better!
- October 6, 2008 at 2:06 AM
- Lacey said...
I'm glad we didn't get close to you guys at the book fair or I would be worried that I gave you our bug. Darn it! I hate cold and flu season. I went to a Nebraska game back in 2004 when they played USU. I think I was the only one in the entire stadium dressed in blue and man did I cheer the couple of times that USU did something great. It was a very lonely game for me but when you are true to blue what ya do? :)
- October 6, 2008 at 8:24 AM
- Tonia said...
Looks like it was fun...we watched it on T.V. but had a hard time choosing who to root for...seeing as we now have lived in both states! sorry to see that Nebraska got blown out...so by the end of the night I guess we were cheering for Missouri...what else could we do?
- October 6, 2008 at 9:03 AM
- Cara said...
Sorry you were sick. :( So Barry and I went to the last game (Virginia Tech). It was my first Husker game and it is quite the big deal down there. :) We had a great time. Glad you guys had fun too.
- October 6, 2008 at 9:39 AM
- Kristi said...
Glad you guys made it to a game! It is such an experience!
How's your week looking? Have anything going on Wednesday?
- October 6, 2008 at 12:24 PM
- Cheri @ Blog This Mom!® said...
I'm glad you're feeling better.
'Tis the season for flu and football, huh?
- October 6, 2008 at 6:53 PM
- Our Complete Family said...
Oh no. I hope you feel great all week long and no more sickness this winter. Once is way more than enough. Not fun or good. Did your hubby spoil you rotten though? Hope so! Glad you guys had fun at the game! Happy week ahead~ Les
- October 6, 2008 at 6:57 PM
- The Toronto Family said...
glad you are feeling better!
- October 6, 2008 at 8:52 PM
- Walker said...
Glad to see that you are feeling better. I just think as mothers, we are not allowed to be sick!
- October 6, 2008 at 9:30 PM
- Amy said...
So glad you are feeling better. I remember trying to drive through Lincoln on a game day once. Crazy! I love football season! And the picture of all the RED fans!
- October 7, 2008 at 12:10 AM
- Jodee said...
We live in Lincoln and we love Nebraska football! It looks like you had a great time at the game!
- October 10, 2008 at 10:09 PM


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Biotech Vet Gerngross Dishes Out More Details On Latest VC-Backed Startup Arsanis
February 15, 2011
Our immune systems churn out antibodies to fight infections, so perhaps it's about time that some biotech companies started getting in on the action. Arsanis, co-founded late last year by successful biotech entrepreneur Tillman Gerngross, is using the antibody discovery technology from another of Gerngross's startups, Lebanon, NH-based Adimab, to find antibody drugs that might provide a new alternative to antibiotics for bacterial infections.
Adimab doesn't develop drugs. Rather, large pharmaceutical companies—such as Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), and Roche—have hired the startup to use its yeast-based system to discover antibodies for those companies to develop. Now it's got a new way to commercialize its technology—via Arsanis, which Adimab spun out to focus exclusively on applying the technology to the infectious diseases field. And three of Adimab's previous backers—Obimed Advisors, Polaris Venture Partners, and SV Life Sciences—are investing in Arsanis. The new startup—whose $9.6 million financing I reported last week—has now raised about $10 million, according to Gerngross.
"When we find people who really know what they are doing, and we think the Adimab value can make a difference, we are interested in starting companies around that," says Gerngross, who is CEO of Adimab and president of Arsanis.


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Search found 16 matches
- Mon Dec 19, 2016 9:26 pm
- Forum: Sea Stories
- Topic: Coffee For The EDO
- Replies: 0
- Views: 8449
Coffee For The EDO
You know that the Maneuvering Watch is a long one coming into port... I had the midwatch as SRO after a long afternoon/night coming into port and disembarking... Yes, RM1 Brockenbrough tested the brow, hurrying up to Squadron... So, hours later, I'd been on about 15 minutes when the EDO comes aft to...
- Mon Dec 19, 2016 9:03 pm
- Forum: Yardbird Tales
- Topic: Another NNews Memory
- Replies: 3
- Views: 22483
Re: Another NNews Memory
One fine day, I'm talking to Russ Brentnell in ERUL, and he says he's locked the key in his truck. He had a little D-50 Dodge ("Dodge Trucks Are Ram Tough!") parked just up the street, which he could do because it was a weekend and Carl Vinson hadn't really manned up yet. I have some time between jo...
- Sat Jul 02, 2016 3:50 am
- Forum: Whatever Happened to...?
- Topic: Missing Madison Personnel
- Replies: 4
- Views: 12049
Re: Missing Madison Personnel
IC1(SS) Rodney Dickerson retired the summer of 1981 - I was at his party, tending the keg of dark Heineken. Ahhh... what a nice guy!
- Sat Jul 02, 2016 3:39 am
- Forum: Suggestions, Questions and Comments
- Topic: Engineering "Bitch Book"
- Replies: 0
- Views: 17024
Engineering "Bitch Book"
To be clear, this is the green binder with "RECORD" on the cover that was passed around aft clandestinely for people to, err, express themselves. I remember Christmas wish lists, assorted jeers at buddies, etc.
Of course, they would fill up after a couple of months, to be replaced. Who has one?
Of course, they would fill up after a couple of months, to be replaced. Who has one?
- Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:23 am
- Forum: Whatever Happened to...?
- Topic: Identifying Shipmates
- Replies: 25
- Views: 52171
Re: Re: Re: - DJ Smith
The LT was my advocate for at least one, maybe two, of the chats I had with Captain Miller in the wardroom. Uhhh - I didn't know you had to do that. Was one of them when you were asked about re-enlisting and told the Skipper you'd "rather bag grogeries in the Sangaree Bi-Lo than do this shit again"...
- Fri Apr 22, 2016 2:02 am
- Forum: The "Other" Crew
- Topic: Oh those Bluies!
- Replies: 1
- Views: 19324
Re: Oh those Bluies!
Gold had been to sea about two days, and one of the cranks pulled a red Converse All-Star sneaker out of the bug-juice tank. Mmmm, tasty!
- Fri Apr 22, 2016 1:57 am
- Forum: Scuttlebutt
- Topic: Cartoons
- Replies: 0
- Views: 8263
Over the years, several Madison operators have thrilled us with cartoons about onboard and other situations. My favorite - mostly because he's the one I know about - is MM1(SS) Duffey's "Alphie Neutrino", featuring the nifty catchphrase, "I love Alphie -- But Don't Spread It Around". Got any examples?
- Fri Apr 22, 2016 1:46 am
- Forum: Whatever Happened to...?
- Topic: Identifying Shipmates
- Replies: 25
- Views: 52171
I have the Weekly Bohicas* and they have numerous names I can look into. I'll do just that! John Hodges Gold 80-83 So do it, already! It's been ten years... Wow, does time fly. I've been wondering what happened to "Dad", LT DJ Smith. One of the officers Big Steve (and everybody) trusted to know stu...
- Sun Mar 27, 2016 7:52 am
- Forum: The Other Boat
- Topic: USS Batfish (SSN-681)
- Replies: 0
- Views: 12299
USS Batfish (SSN-681)
There are some of you that have served on SSNs as well as SSBNs - you know some of these things. Some of you might wonder... I was transferred to the Batfish in mid-1983. Wow, what a difference! 1. You could get called out to sea with no notice. 2. There were absolutely NO Priority 1 parts. Those we...
- Wed Mar 09, 2016 7:14 am
- Forum: Yardbird Tales
- Topic: Another NNews Memory
- Replies: 3
- Views: 22483
Re: Another NNews Memory
"Hap" McDaniels is stuck on deck watching some damned thing in the summer of '81, so I bring him a pitcher of bug juice. It's hot, and there's no wind, something he brings up. I say, "Hap, why don't you whistle up a wind?" He says he doesn't know what I mean. "Come on, Hap," I explain. "The only tim...
- Wed Mar 09, 2016 7:02 am
- Forum: Scuttlebutt
- Topic: Enough, guys! Who's here?
- Replies: 37
- Views: 58018
Re: Memories???
It has been a long time since the days on the Jolly Dolly. Chief, I am delighted to say and show the planet something you told us newbies over 30 years ago: once upon a time, you were pictured in a national magazine stuffing daisies in the rifles of the National Guard while in college. Here's the p...
- Wed Mar 09, 2016 6:57 am
- Forum: Scuttlebutt
- Topic: Enough, guys! Who's here?
- Replies: 37
- Views: 58018
Re: Enough, guys! Who's here?
Ping! Nice haircut, shipmate! John Culbert here - the last IC Nuke, EM division, reported to the boat at NNews 12/16/80, just in time to freeze solid doing nothing over the holidays. Hated the shipyard generally, didn't "get" that qualifying fast was the easiest way to do things. Ever notice you can...
- Wed Mar 09, 2016 6:39 am
- Forum: Scuttlebutt
- Topic: Enough, guys! Who's here?
- Replies: 37
- Views: 58018
Russ Brentnell, "M Division. Came onboard in 1980 [Feb 19th] while the ship was in drydock in NNews. I was there for the last 27 months of the 18 month refueling and D5 conversion overhaul. While we were on the barge, I spent a lot of time playing cards, drinking and partying. IMHO, I think the har...
- Tue Mar 08, 2016 4:34 am
- Forum: Yardbird Tales
- Topic: Another NNews Memory
- Replies: 3
- Views: 22483
Re: Another NNews Memory
Halloween in 1981 meant the oncoming section was in costume for the turnover brief. Mr. Lowrey got to lead a bum (Gallagher), a monk (Rastberger) and Paul Stanley of KISS (me) in the review of the standing and night orders. He had to stop when I pulled out my lollipop!
- Tue Mar 08, 2016 4:28 am
- Forum: Yardbird Tales
- Topic: Newpie news stories
- Replies: 2
- Views: 12086
Re: Newpie news stories
The same thing happened when USS Carl Vinson started taking on crew in 1981. I was walking to the gate in civvies when a hardhatted 1st class looked just past me and started shouting "Hey there young third-class petty officer!". It got bad for that 3/c. I have always congratulated myself on picking ...


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- Throw Pillow Cover
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This handmade gold pendant is an endless knot made to order. Measuring 2.7cm long and 1.6cm wide with a round ring at the top with a 3.5mm opening to pass a chain or cord. The pictures above are the pendant in sterling silver and bronze which I already offer, but wanted to put up the option in gold for customer. Made during my studies in reproduction, I used a white metal design to copy the pattern and rendered a near perfect copy of it.
All my gold jewellery is custom made per order and is not eligible for returns or refunds. These are not stock items as they are made only upon ordered. So please take this into consideration when you order.
The endless knot or eternal knot (Sanskrit: Shrivatsa; Tibetan Dpal be'u) is a symbolic knot and one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols. It is an important cultural marker in places significantly influenced by Tibetan Buddhism such as Tibet, Mongolia, Tuva, Kalmykia, and Buryatia. It is also sometimes found in Chinese art and used in Chinese knots. It can be found on temple walls, in paintings, even Japanese sword guards. The endless knot has been described as "an ancient symbol representing the interweaving of the Spiritual path, the flowing of Time and Movement within That Which is Eternal."
1-2 weeks
I'll do my best to meet these shipping estimates, but can't guarantee them. Actual delivery time will depend on the shipping method you choose.
Buyers are responsible for any customs and import taxes that may apply. I'm not responsible for delays due to customs.
Just contact me within: 5 days of delivery
Ship items back to me within: 14 days of delivery
Request a cancellation within: 24 hours of purchase
But please contact me if you have any problems with your order.
Because of the nature of these items, unless they arrive damaged or defective, I can't accept returns for:
Buyers are responsible for return shipping costs. If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value.
Most of my items don't have tracking unless to the USA, but those that do will have it written on the listing, such as my custom gold jewellery, bracelets and such. But If you order and you decide you want an upgrade, message me and I'll tell you what the difference is and how to send the balance for it. Also please check to be sure if you pick a shipping upgrade it's for your country! Also note the costs are calculated by the postal service.
Yes I do, and usually it's 1-2 months to do depending on the time of the year and if I already have orders on my plate. I do try to keep you up to date on the progress and send photos. So ask away! Also note I don't take custom orders during the holiday season due to work overload!
I can offer wholesale orders. Message me with your requests and I'll give you a special code for it!
All my sizings are done using the standard US ring sizes. If you order the wrong size, please let me know. You can send it back, and I'll resize it for you. You'll have to cover the shipping costs back to me and return shipping to you, but I'm more than happy to help!
All the items I make are made in solid metal, not plated. The sterling silver, or .925 silver as some know it as, is 92.5% fine silver and 7.5% copper which is the classic sterling silver. No rhodium or nickle plating! The antique bronze is the classic bronze that the bronze age was named for. It contains 90% copper and 10% tin. I also offer to make jewellery in stainless steel or gold on special order and are made to order only.
Sadly no. The cost of sterling silver and bronze chains would end up raising the price of my jewellery, so in stead I sell them separately on my shop section for chains and engraving.
The antique bronze contains 90% copper and 10% tin. The bronze can turn your skin green due to the oxidization caused by the copper to the salt and sweat of your skin, but can be easily rectified with either clear enamel or the classic clear nail polish trick! As for cleaning, use liquid silver cleaner and a jewellers polishing cloth to make it shiny and new again.
I use ChitCats Express for most of my shipping as well as Canada Post, and the prices are based on their prices. They are a courier company that uses USPS, so is cheaper than Canda Post. I rather not use other courier companies like FedEx our UPS because they charge the buyer a brokerage fee on top of duty and that sucks all around! If you would rather use them, let me know and I'll create a custom listing for you.
Because of the copper content in the bronze, it will naturally develop a patina over time. The tarnish, or patina, is caused by a chemical reaction between the various metals in the alloy, and acids or other corrosive materials. Acids in the skin can cause uneven tarnish from contact with your skin. If you want to prevent tarnish, keep your bronze item stored in an area with low humidity and protected from dust and other corrosives and chemicals, like hand cream and house cleaning products. If you are storing the item, make sure it's dry and wrap it in plastic or put it in a plastic bag; the more airtight the better. Bronze can be varnished or lacquered, but this will have to be reapplied over time.
For all orders except custom orders, personalized, & made to order items such as my gold jewellery, I will accept returns only as long as I am notified within 5 days of receiving it and is mailed back within 14 days of you receiving it in the same condition received. There will be a 15% restocking fee for all items returned and shipping & shipping upgrades are non refundable. Customers are responsible for return shipping costs and refund will be sent once I've received it back in my hands. But I must contacted first, or it will be considered a forced return, thus voiding the refund option. Also forced returns, such as orders that the customer has refused to pay the duty & fees and are returned to me are non-refundable.


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July 22, 2002, Section A, Page 1Buy Reprints
WorldCom, plagued by the rapid erosion of its profits and an accounting scandal that created billions in illusory earnings, last night submitted the largest bankruptcy filing in United States history.
The bankruptcy is expected to shake an already wobbling telecommunications industry, but is unlikely to have an immediate impact on customers, including the 20 million users of its MCI long-distance service.
The WorldCom filing listed more than $107 billion in assets, far surpassing those of Enron, which filed for bankruptcy last December. The WorldCom filing had been anticipated since the company disclosed in late June that it had improperly accounted for more than $3.8 billion of expenses.
Few experts or officials expect WorldCom's service to deteriorate noticeably, at least in the near term. ''I want to assure the public that we do not believe this bankruptcy filing will lead to an immediate disruption of service to consumers,'' Michael K. Powell, chairman of the Federal Communciations Commission, said last night.
But industry consultants said they could not imagine how the belt-tightening expected in bankruptcy would improve service that is already, in some respects, sloppy. [Page A12.]
WorldCom's collapse has already reverberated through jittery financial markets, and is likely to be felt in the wider economy, with banks, suppliers and other telephone companies devising strategies to contain their exposure.
WorldCom, built through rapid acquisitions, accumulated $41 billion in debts. Founded in 1983 as LDDS Communications, it became the nation's second-largest long-distance company and the largest handler of Internet data.
Company executives said they intended to remain in business, and have been promised new financing from banks to do so. ''We are going to aggressively go forward and restructure our operations,'' John W. Sidgmore, WorldCom's chief executive, said in an interview last night. ''I think ultimately we will emerge as a stronger company.''
While WorldCom has already cut its work force significantly, Mr. Sidgmore said last night that he did not expect further layoffs for the time being. He said he would remain WorldCom's chief but would be joined by a chief restructuring officer brought in by creditors.
Some creditors, however, have questioned whether Mr. Sidgmore, who has served on WorldCom's board for years, should remain in charge. Mr. Sidgmore took over as chief executive in late April after the board ousted Bernard J. Ebbers, one of the company's founders.
Shareholders, who owned what was once one of the world's most valuable companies, worth more than $100 billion at its peak, are expected to be virtually wiped out. With the bankruptcy filing, control passes instead to the banks and bondholders who financed WorldCom's growth.
Besides its own overambitious strategies and flawed accounting, WorldCom also fell victim to a glut of telecommunications capacity.
Cheap and plentiful financing allowed companies rapidly to build transcontinental and transoceanic fiber optic networks in the 1990's. The additional capacity resulted in lower prices for WorldCom's services, which include basic phone service and the transmission of Internet data for large companies.
Mr. Sidgmore said last night that he was opposed to breaking up WorldCom and selling its pieces, aside from an effort already under way to part with peripheral units like businesses in Latin America and some other operations. This approach would rule out selling UUNet, a large Internet backbone operation, or MCI.
But once the company reorganizes, and investors gain a better understanding of its twisted finances, WorldCom could become an attractive acquisition target, analysts say.
WorldCom's crisis deepened last month when it disclosed that Scott D. Sullivan, the chief financial officer, had devised a strategy that improperly accounted for $3.85 billion of expenses. Mr. Sullivan was fired by the board and David F. Myers, the financial controller, resigned.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged WorldCom with fraud and the Justice Department has begun a criminal investigation of its business practices.
In an attempt to regain its credibility, WorldCom's board elected two new members to replace Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Ebbers: Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, a private attorney who was attorney general in the Johnson administration; and Dennis R. Beresford, a former head of the Financial Accounting Standards Board and a professor of accounting at the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.
The two were also appointed to a special committee to oversee the internal investigation being led by William R. McLucas, the former chief of the enforcement division of the S.E.C.
WorldCom filed for bankruptcy shortly before 9 last night in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
Its international operations, which include companies in Brazil and Mexico, were not included.
The filing will relieve WorldCom of about $2 billion of interest payments in the coming year. Lower debt costs could allow WorldCom to compete on a stronger footing with its rivals, involving a potential price-cutting strategy that has analysts concerned about the wider strength of the telecommunications industry.
''WorldCom probably won't get any new big contracts from its current customers, but it probably won't lose any either, because of the difficulty and complexity involved in switching carriers,'' said Glen Macdonald, a vice president with Adventis, a consulting firm in Boston.
WorldCom, based in Clinton, Miss., scrambled in recent days to secure new financing from its banks after its cash dwindled to less than $300 million from more than $2 billion in May. WorldCom said last night that it had received commitments for up to $2 billion in additional bank financing. Such new loans to companies in bankruptcy receive top priority in repayment.
WorldCom must now deal with holders of $28 billion in bonds as well as 27 banks that loaned the company $2.65 billion last May.
But in contrast with other companies that have recently filed for bankruptcy, including Enron, WorldCom has many more tangible assets, generating actual revenues, lawyers said -- improving the odds that the company could emerge from bankruptcy as a going concern.
The creditors first in line to be repaid will be the three institutions -- Citigroup, J. P. Morgan and General Electric Capital -- that have pledged to arrange a loan of up to $2 billion, known as debtor in possession financing, to WorldCom. The lenders were comfortable pledging the funds in part because of the company's stream of customer payments, such as phone bills, one executive close to the company said last week. Citigroup is leading the new financing in part to protect what it is already owed by WorldCom.
WorldCom's bankruptcy filing, like Enron's last December, came on a Sunday. Companies often prefer to file over the weekend, because the status of any business transactions in process at the time of a filing would be open to question in court.
WorldCom's lenders and its bondholders were taking steps, even before the bankruptcy filing, to protect their claims. Just over a week ago, the banks that participated in the earlier $2.65 billion loan tried, unsuccessfully, to get a court order limiting WorldCom's access to the loan. The banks ultimately reached a settlement with WorldCom that placed few restrictions on the company's ability to use the cash.


text:
Upscale Rice Crispy Treats from Treat House
Your daily dose of something sweet.
In the last few years there's been a proliferation of shops specializing in only one sweet. Some crashed and burned hard like Dolce, who featured variations of Tiramisu. Others, like Rice To Riches (rice puddings), have withstood the test of time and defied the skeptics. The truth is, it's almost impossible to predict what's going to be successful these days.
That's why you should view the Treat House with an open mind. They offer over a dozen varieties of mostly gluten-free, rice crispy treats. They also have a small selection of house-made marshmallows.
Before visiting, one of my biggest concerns was how Treat House would properly distinguish their different flavors given that the overall experience of a rice crispy treat is mostly defined by tooth-aching sweetness.
Treat House does an admirable job in this area thanks in part to pastry chef Wendy Israel's assistance. My favorite treat, the peanut butter and chocolate, has a nice strong peanut butter flavor and a half peanut butter cup on top. The raspberry chocolate has a thin layer of raspberry marshmallow on top that made it fun to eat. It also had at least one real raspberry inside. The salted caramel also sports a layer of caramel flavored marshmallow on top but it's not as salty as the peanut butter chocolate. The chocolate pretzel flavor benefits from the pretzel's salt.
All the treats are densely packed. These aren't the kind of rice crispy treats, as you sometimes see at bake sales, that you can bend or stretch before eating. They are also—and let me be blunt—very, very sweet. There's just no getting around this. If you prefer your chocolate very dark or prefer low-sweetness desserts, my guess is these will be too sweet for you. But if you want to feel like kid again for a few minutes, try one and sit on the swing in the back of the store and pretend you're at summer camp.
Prices run $2.50 for one piece, $8 for four pieces and $22 for 12 pieces. So the Treat House is on the pricy side. But this in Manhattan where six mini doughnuts cost $5 and a frozen s'more costs $7. Too rich for your tastes? You can always travel to Flushing and get eight whole custard tarts for $7.50.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Acta Theologica
On-line version ISSN 2309-9089
Print version ISSN 1015-8758
Acta theol. vol.31 suppl.14 Bloemfontein Jan. 2011
Unexamined faiths and the public place of religion: emerging insights from the law
Iain T. Benson
Professorextraordinary, Faculty of Law, University of the Free State, South Africa. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
The article examines certain key terms, such as "beliefs" and "faith" and how these are understood in relation to the public sphere. It examines some writings of recent popularist authors such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, and is critical of the authors' claims that they do not have faith or beliefs. Drawing on legal decisions in Canada and South Africa the article suggests that this sort of terminological looseness has legal and political implications when it comes to whether or not beliefs of all sorts (religious and non-religious) are treated fairly in the public sphere.
Arguing for a more diverse public sphere, the article cautions that law should give greater attention to principles of modus vivendi rather than "convergence" in which the attempt is to eradicate legally allowable positions from the public sphere and place those who hold them, and their communities, at a disadvantage. The law must not, by inflating its own role, put added pressures on the liberty that accommodation and subsidiarity require.
Keywords: Religion and law, Principles of accommodation, Atheism as a Faith
Trefwoorde: Godsdiens en die, Reg Beginsels van tegemoetkomendheid, Ateïsme as 'n Geloof
The topic of this conference, "Religion, Faith and the Public University" is well chosen because it asks us to consider why "religion" and "faith" are in relation to the "public university" and why "religion" and "faith" are listed separately. It is correct to view religion and faith as different things, though they are often conflated, because while all human beings necessarily have "faith" not all people are religious. This seemingly obvious assertion is, however, one that contains significance for how we discuss religions in relation to the public sphere including public education at all levels.
What is the relevance of faith and religion being discussed in relation to a public university? What is it in the nature of the "public" or how it is currently viewed as "secular" that suggests there is any tension here? Why is religion and/or faith viewed as in any kind of tension with the public university once we have recognized that "faith" (that which we believe in whether scientifically verifiable or not) is part of all human endeavours including higher education? These are some of the questions I seek to address in this paper.
All citizens have beliefs and faith whether or not they are aware what they are. To act is to assume and that assumption is "faith" though that basic insight is often unexamined and missed when faith is used as an equivalent term for "religious belief."1 Another way of putting this is to note that the question is not whether people are believers but what they believe in. There is no good reason to exclude beliefs that come from religious beliefs from access to public goods (such as funding) in favour of those beliefs that come from atheist or agnostic beliefs. For it is prejudice related to the sources and kinds of belief that undergird secularism's attempt to restructure the public sphere on a "material" basis. Yet the hidden assumption in the category of "secular" as it is often used is that somehow religious beliefs are to be stripped out of the public sphere and other beliefs, therefore, are left in.2
A scholar of an earlier generation who spent a good part of his life teaching and working in South Africa, philosopher R.F.A. Hoernlé has also noted that:
every bona fide judgment is characterised by belief... [and] if "faith" is firm belief, conviction of truth, then faith in this context is indistinguishable from knowledge (Hoernlé 1952:55).
For both Newman and Hoernlé, there was a connection between mental judgments and belief and human actions. On a practical level no line should be drawn between belief and actions in terms of faith and all human beings necessarily act out of "faith."
Contemporary atheists such as Richard Dawkins (2007) or Sam Harris (2005, 2007), however, frequently speak as if they "have no beliefs": a position that is nonsensical. The belief that one has no beliefs is, obviously, itself a belief.
Both writers are not alone on their attack on religion and God from what they believe to be a "belief-less" position. Christopher Hitchens, another writer in much the same line has summed up this line of thinking as follows:
And here is the point, about myself and my co-thinkers. Our belief is not a belief. Our principles are not a faith. We do not rely solely upon science and reason, because these are necessary rather than sufficient factors, but we distrust anything that contradicts science or outrages reason. We may differ on many things, but what we respect is free inquiry, openmindedness, and the pursuit of ideas for their own sake. We do not hold our convictions dogmatically (Hitchens 2007:Introduction) (emphasis added).
To claim as Hitchens does, that his belief is not a belief and that the atheistic principles he endorses are not a "faith" is bad philosophy but helpful since it shows rather well how far such thinkers (and they are the intellectual end of what is a very widely representative popular set of misconceptions) have come from their own roots. George Jacob Holyoake, after all, writing in the 19th Century, and the man credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with coining the term "secularism" recognized the more basic truth of the matter when he subtitled his important book on secularism a "Confession of Belief" (Holyoake 1896).
As to "facts" and "reason," well, there again, the new atheists don't really understand what they are writing about. Hitchens cannot prove that God does not exist: he simply takes it as an item of his atheistic faith that God does not. Similarly all the other claims of religion that Hitchens derides. We can say to him: "What, you believe that everything arose from nothing? How can you prove this?" Science can never prove something came from nothing because it cannot measure a change from nothingness to somethingness.
So atheists are men and women of faith in many ways just like the rest of us. Their dogmas are different but they are dogmatic (in that their beliefs emerge from the first principles of their faiths). True, in many things their faiths are different but they are still faiths and their beliefs are still beliefs no matter how much Hitchens and those like him wish it was different. Humans are stuck being believers and that is all there is to it. Being dogmatic does not necessarily mean being rude and it certainly does not equate to understanding what dogma is. That is why so many atheists and men and women on the street, think, like Hitchens, that they don't believe anything: but they do.
An additional insight, relevant here to the observation that human actions are divided now from recognition that human life is necessarily lived with "faith" and "beliefs" is provided by philosopher of science (and language) Michael Polanyi.
Our objectivism, which tolerates no open declaration of faith, has forced modern beliefs to take on implicit forms....And no one will deny that those who have mastered the idioms in which these beliefs are entailed do also reason most ingeniously within these idioms, even while.... they unhesitatingly ignore all that the idiom does not cover (Polanyi 1958:288) (emphasis added).
Perhaps one of the implicit forms or modern "beliefs" is hidden in the idea of the "religious free secular?" That would fit with what the philosophers and theologians have suggested. This is the climate in which people so readily speak and write of themselves being "unbelievers" in a public order characterized by a religion-free (but not, as I have argued, faith-free) public sphere. The public sphere, if the writers quoted are correct, is necessarily a realm of "faith" whether or not such faith draws its inspiration from religious presuppositions.
More recently, philosopher Thomas Langan has written on the idea and importance of the category of "natural faith" which is, as it were, a means of overcoming these dualistic and false constructions to show that everyone is a believer and necessarily has faith of some sort (Langan 1996; Calcagno & Langan 2009). Again, we need to recall that not all faiths are religious faiths.
Law recognizes many things that it does not create though it may, in careful ways, regulate in relation to them. Thus, the fact of the family, of liberty itself and of rights (including religious liberty) is not created by law, they, in a sense, transcend law and are prior to it. This has been recognized by Francis Lyall in the following terms:
As a general statement drawn from the common law, liberty is the basic position in law in Britain. Liberty is not conferred by a legal instrument: it is the normal condition, and infringements on that liberty can exist only as allowed by legislation or case law. Interference with the manifestation of traditional religious belief is therefore something which has to be justified in terms of public order or public good (Lyall 2000:253).3
This realization and the concomitant one that law must recognize its limits, inherent within the ideas of "subsidiarity" and accommodation is currently being challenged in Canada and elsewhere by the idea that law is larger than or prior to what I have described as matters that ought to be immune from complete legal subordination.
Some years ago, a very interesting exchange on this theme occurred between a leading Canadian judge and American political science professor. At a conference co-sponsored by the Centre for Cultural Renewal and the McGill University Department of Religious Studies entitled Pluralism, Public Policy and Religion, the Canadian Chief Justice presented a paper on the importance of conscience and religion. In the course of her remarks, the Chief Justice indicated her thinking at that time with respect to the relationship between law and the "religious citizen". Of particular interest to our examination is how she formulated that relationship:
The modern religious citizen is caught between two all- encompassing sets of commitments. The law faces the seemingly paradoxical task of asserting its own ultimate authority while carving out a space within itself in which individuals and communities can manifest alternative, and often competing, sets of ultimate commitments (McLachlin (2004:16) (emphasis added).4
We need to pay particular attention to the terms "all-encompassing" and "ultimate" here in relation to the law, as well as the fact that it is the law that carves out within itself places for what may be "competing sets of ultimate commitments". In this conception law is "bigger" than religion. The Chief Justice then developed this idea as follows:
I wish to call this tension between the rule of law and the claims of religion a "dialectic of normative commitments". What is good, true and just in religion will not always comport with the law's view of the matter, nor will society at large always properly respect conscientious adherence to alternate authorities and divergent normative, or ethical, commitments. Where this is so, two comprehensive worldviews collide. It is at this point that the question of law's treatment of religion becomes truly exigent. The authority of each is internally unassailable. What is more, both lay some claim to the whole of human experience. To which system should the subject adhere? How can the rule of law accommodate a worldview and ethos that asserts its own superior authority and unbounded scope? ... It is the courts that are most often faced with this clash and charged with managing this dialectic. (McLachlin 2004:21-22) (emphasis added).
Law here is viewed, frankly and openly, as a "comprehensive worldview" capable of competing with and even encompassing religion. Moreover, law is deemed capable of determining not only what is just but what is "good" and "true". It is able to lay claim "to the whole of human experience".
Whatever else one can say of this, it elevates law to the status of transcendent determinations and therefore judges to the role of de facto clerics. It is starkly at variance with earlier decisions of the court that spoke of its inability to deal with "metaphysical" or "philosophical" matters5 and with the common law tradition in which liberty, not law, is the primary condition in sharp contrast to the quotation from Francis Lyall that began this section.
On the other hand, and with respect, the Chief Justice's formulation tends towards a monistic or totalistic conception and is quite contrary to that kind of political pluralism referred to by other scholars, such as William Galston, in which there is a vision of "social space" and "spheres of autonomy" that must resile from claims to be a comprehensive good. On this reading, the Chief Justice's conception of law asks too much when it views itself as larger than the religious and other conceptions alongside of which it must operate as but one of several ordering frameworks within a constitutional democracy recognizing ordered and interlocking liberties.6
This limitation on the role of law was recognized in her response to the Chief Justice's address by the University of Chicago's Jean Bethke Elshtain, who replied:
Surely, where the rule of law in the West is concerned, there is a great deal about which the law is simply silent: the "King's writ" does not extend to every nook and cranny. Indeed, a great deal of self-governing autonomy and authority is not only permitted but is necessary to a pluralistic, constitutional order characterized by limited government. In other words, the law need not be defined as total and comprehensive in the way the Right Honourable Chief Justice claims (Elshtain 2004:36).
That the Chief Justice of the highest court in a country that prides itself on being open to the "evolutionary" nature of rights jurisprudence could so clearly subordinate religion to law is a very clear sign of the times and shows yet another hurdle to the proper characterization of ordered liberties at the heart of the relationship between religions and the public square. It is not out of place to suggest, with respect, that further evolution in the law is needed - but in a direction that respects the historical relationship between law and what is properly prior to it.
I have written in various ways elsewhere about the work of English philosopher John Gray in relation to different versions of liberalism. Gray has identified what he describes as a version of "liberalism" that poses a threat to genuine liberalism because rather than endorsing living together with disagreement (which Gray calls "modus vivendi") there is a risk of moving towards "one size fits all" or convergence (Benson 2008:298-299 citing Gray 2000:105). Gray says that the future of genuine liberalism will involve turning its face away from the assumption that tolerance will eventually bring us all to agreement (using law as the means of effecting convergence).
If one views this insight of John Gray against the conception of law put forward in her McGill address by the Canadian Chief Justice, one can very clearly see the same choice exists within law as within politics - between "convergence" and "modus vivendi."
What Gray says of liberalism applies to legal conceptions of "diversity" and "equality" and I would like us to keep both political liberalism and legal principles in mind as we consider the appropriate nature of religious inclusivity in the public sphere. Canadian and South African jurisprudence tends to favour both a religiously inclusivist conception of the public sphere (which I shall discuss in a moment) and a plural conception of the public sphere along the lines that Gray urges with reference to modus vivendi. Thus, the Constitutional Court in the Fourie decision wrote that:
[T]here are a number of constitutional provisions that underline the constitutional value of acknowledging diversity and pluralism in our society, and give a particular texture to the broadly phrased right to freedom of association contained in section 18. Taken together, they affirm the right of people to self-expression without being forced to subordinate themselves to the cultural and religious norms of others, and highlight the importance of individuals and communities being able to enjoy what has been called the 'right to be different'. In each case, space has been found for members of communities to depart from a majoritarian norm.7
Canadian jurisprudence, as well, has acknowledged the concept of diversity within the public sphere and the risk that rank-ordering would pose to sharing that public space. Yet, as I shall argue below, some of the decisions themselves seem to apply the very rank-ordering the Canadian Supreme Court has said it wishes to avoid.
Thus, in the 1994 decision of Dagenais, then Chief Justice Lamer stated that "When the protected rights of two individuals come into conflict...Charter principles require a balance to be achieved that fully respects the importance of both sets of rights." 8 Similarly, in 2001 in a decision involving whether a Christian University, Trinity Western, could maintain a Code of Conduct banning certain conduct including sexual conduct, Justice Iacobbucci, in giving the reasons of the Court, upholding the conduct clause, stated that: "Neither freedom of religion nor the guarantee against discrimination based on sexual orientation is absolute."9
The theory, therefore, is one of sharing the public square. But is religion "inside" the public or "outside" it? And is the public (including the State with its law and politics) "inside" religions?
The Supreme Court of Canada in a landmark decision without any parallel in other jurisdictions, determined that the phrase "secular principles" and therefore the term "secular" (the latter not mentioned in the Statute at issue) must be understood to include religious citizens and not put them at any disadvantage in relation to the public sphere in relation to those who are not religious.
Mr. Justice Gonthier for himself and Justice Bastarache, who would have upheld the British Columbia Court of Appeal's decision on all points and therefore wrote in dissent on part of the decision, said this about the "secular":
137 In my view, Saunders J. [the trial judge] below erred in her assumption that "secular" effectively meant "non-religious". This is incorrect since nothing in the Charter, political or democratic theory, or a proper understanding of pluralism demands that atheistically based moral positions trump religiously based moral positions on matters of public policy. I note that the preamble to the Charter itself establishes that "... Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law". According to the reasoning espoused by Saunders J., if one's moral view manifests from a religiously grounded faith, it is not to be heard in the public square, but if it does not, then it is publicly acceptable. The problem with this approach is that everyone has "belief" or "faith" in something, be it atheistic, agnostic or religious. To construe the "secular" as the realm of the "unbelief" is therefore erroneous. Given this, why, then, should the religiously informed conscience be placed at a public disadvantage or disqualification? To do so would be to distort liberal principles in an illiberal fashion and would provide only a feeble notion of pluralism. The key is that people will disagree about important issues, and such disagreement, where it does not imperil community living, must be capable of being accommodated at the core of a modern pluralism. (Emphasis added).10
Such an approach is at stark variance with the approaches taken by countries such as France in which "strict separation" notions or ideas framed from secularist presuppositions take the public realm in a very different direction from the one being reached for in decisions like Chamberlain or Multani.
The Constitutional Court of South Africa came to a similar conclusion about the public sphere though one might disagree with the placing of "sacred" and "secular" in opposition in the way it is done in the passage that follows. In Fourie a more careful and nuanced understanding of the public realm as a sphere of "co-existence" is set out in the following passage from the judgment of Sachs J. as follows:
In the open and democratic society contemplated by the Constitution there must be mutually respectful co-existence between the secular and the sacred. The function of the Court is to recognise the sphere which each inhabits, not to force the one into the sphere of the other. ... The hallmark of an open and democratic society is its capacity to accommodate and manage difference of intensely-held world views and lifestyles in a reasonable and fair manner. The objective of the Constitution is to allow different concepts about the nature of human existence to inhabit the same public realm, and to do so in a manner that is not mutually destructive and that at the same time enables government to function in a way that shows equal concern and respect for all. ... It is clear from the above that acknowledgment by the State of the right of same-sex couples to enjoy the same status, entitlements and responsibilities as marriage law accords to heterosexual couples is in no way inconsistent with the rights of religious organisations to continue to refuse to celebrate same-sex marriages. The constitutional claims of same-sex couples can accordingly not be negated by invoking the rights of believers to have their religious freedom respected. The two sets of interests involved do not collide; they co-exist in a constitutional realm based on accommodation of diversity.11
In line with the argument above, however, it would have been a better description of the relationship between the state (law and politics) and the religions and religious believers and their communities to have described these as part of a co-operative relationship in which there is jurisdictional separation but, as the passage correctly noted, co-operation within "the same public realm."
The characterization of the division in the above passage as "secular" and "sacred" at the outset does not assist this later conceptualizing since, for a religious citizen, the public order of the State, too, has its own sacred dimension (everything within creation being, in a some sense, "Graced" or "holy") and such citizens are perfectly entitled to function fully within the public sphere and be accommodated and offer others accommodation there.
In fact, if we wish those who hold public office or positions to act conscientiously, and their consciences are formed by their beliefs and their beliefs may well be informed by what they believe to be true about religion (how can they not?) then such public officials must necessarily bring their religious beliefs into the public sphere with them.
We cannot properly seek to have conscientious public officials whom we urge to act differently than their religions dictate when they are at work. That is why the principle of accommodation exists: because we do not (except in unusual circumstances) want to force people to leave their beliefs at their work-place doors. To argue the opposite is to set the groundwork for a requirement of public hypocrisy. Hardly the thing most people would want who recognize the link many people have (see the quotation at the outset of this paper) between their religious beliefs and their ideas of right and wrong.
If we imagine the accommodation of religious clothing (or such religious or cultural indicators as the nose-ring in Pillay,12 or the wearing of a kirpan in Multani,13 or the erection of suchots on a condominium balcony in Amselem etc.) we see that accommodation is a necessary aspect of life in community (which has public and private dimensions). Where the personal is political the personal religious is in the public political; it will always be a question of principled accommodation not simple exclusion; the co-operation of religious belief and public systems not, as it is sometimes mis-formulated, the "strict separation" of the two.
As already argued, the public might best be understood as a realm of competing belief systems. The public university, therefore, is a microcosm of the wider public realm and must also understand itself as partaking of this elemental belief competition.
It is better to simply say and make clear that the public realm includes believers of all sorts whether atheist, agnostic or religious and the role of the law when certain types of conflicts emerge is to order or reconcile the relationships according to the principles of justice, trying wherever possible to give maximum scope to religious association and participation rather than taking a crabbed and narrow approach.
It is often the case that when most people use the term "secular" they mean "public" and it would aid clear thinking in this area if that term was used in the future.
What we have most recently in this emerging area are general guidelines allowing maximal scope for judicial development. The Supreme Court of Canada, as already referred to, has made it clear that it wishes to, in principle, avoid rank-ordering rights.14 Is this agnosticism, about which rights are weightier than others, sustainable? Is it wise? More importantly, is it real? In a recent decision from the Canadian Supreme Court touching upon the freedom of religion in relation to civil laws, the majority judgment began by affirming that multi-culturalism and pluralism must be protected but noting the fact-specific and nuanced application that defies "bright-line application":
Canada rightly prides itself on its evolutionary tolerance for diversity and pluralism. This journey has included a growing appreciation for multiculturalism, including the recognition that ethnic, religious or cultural differences will be acknowledged and respected. Endorsed in legal instruments ranging from the statutory protections found in human rights codes to their constitutional enshrinement in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the right to integrate into Canada's mainstream based on and notwithstanding these differences has become a defining part of our national character.
The right to have differences protected, however, does not mean that those differences are always hegemonic. Not all differences are compatible with Canada's fundamental values and, accordingly, not all barriers to their expression are arbitrary. Determining when the assertion of a right based on difference must yield to a more pressing public interest is a complex, nuanced, fact-specific exercise that defies bright-line application. It is, at the same time, a delicate necessity for protecting the evolutionary integrity of both multiculturalism and public confidence in its importance.15
Many of the dualisms touched upon cause a great deal of confusion and run against the principles of inclusion, diversity, respect and accommodation that constitutional legal cultues claim to recognize and seek to protect. We should be careful not to bleach diversity out of the public sphere by force of judicial pronouncement or legislation. Inappropriate bleaching occurs, for example, where there is said to be, impilcity or explicitly, "one" conception of marriage or male and female relationships or views about abortion as having singular "public" aspects that admit of no dissent. Accommodation protects not only the ability to express a view but the ability to, in acceptable ways, dissent and give withness by doing so. Dissent can be one of the most effective means of furthering justice - as the history of struggles for such things as civil rights in various countries shows quite clearly.
A variety of viewpoints are publically acceptable where matters have not been closed off (such as they have been in the case of racism but even there most cultures would still allow people to speak publicly in favour of what is unpopular up until the point that it offends public morals or peace and order). In fact, the more important a debate is for the public the more likely it is that differing viewpoints will excite passionate responses. For example, labour relations laws have long recognized that such matters as strikes or lock-outs frequently cause disputes, sometimes vociferous but the possibility of passions and violence provide no pre-emptive power to foreclose debates that may lead to violence. In morally contested areas, we must encourage civil debate and open expression as means of furthering greater understanding between citizens.
Thus, the public sphere should be understood as inclusive of all sorts of belief systems (whether atheist, agnostic or religious) rather than a-religiously "secular" (when by "secular" we mean "stripped of religion"); when the issue is accommodation we ought not to be too concerned about minority/majority viewpoints - and certainly not as a requirement for there to be accommodation.
To wrap up the various themes of this article: we have seen that it is important to recognize that there are unexamined faiths. This is important in order to properly discuss the public place of religion alongside other, non-religious, beliefs in the public sphere. In fact, this recognition is of pivotal importance.
The article also discussed that what we mean by "faith" and "belief"; how we conceive of the nature of the "public"; and how we understand the role of "law" itself, are all of fundamental importance to properly analyzing cases involving the freedom of religion.
The largely unrecognized (it must be said) reconfiguration of the meaning of "secular" in the Chamberlain decision from Canada's highest court heralds a better direction for religious inclusivity. Its philosophical accuracy (with respect to the understanding of "secular" as religiously inclusive) commends it for application in other countries.
Many challenges on University campuses today proceed without an awareness of the need to recognize the public place of religion and the need for accommodation.
In some cases where accommodation of individual or associational beliefs is not respected and is pushed in the direction of what this paper has described, for shorthand, "one size fits all" we see a failure to instantiate an appropriate modus vivendi. Part of the reason for this may well be the "unexamined faiths" the article has sought to clarify (including the misuse of "secular" and "neutral" in relation to the public sphere).
The article has, it is hoped, demonstrated that how we approach key terms goes a long way to what sort of outcomes we can expect in relation to the freedom of religion and the sharing of the public square in all its public dimensions including universities.
One aspect of this terminological clarification is to demonstrate that faith and belief are not simply other words for "religion" and that many of those who believe they possess "no faith" do - they just believe differently and have different "faiths" than other people. These beliefs are often "unexamined" and some of the terms used contain "hidden meanings"16 that need to be made visible. Furthermore, belief in agnostic or atheist assumptions should give no greater access or privilege in the public sphere in such areas as access or funding and the law must not, by inflating its own role, put added pressures on the liberty that subsidiarity requires for the freedoms of associations and the human person to provide genuine alternatives for the exercise of choices and the performances of projects in free and democratic societies.
One further point should be made in conclusion. The affirmation of diversity does not mean that there cannot be any shared programs for civics so as to bolster citizenship and the common good. Thus, to give one example, in the area of public education, a very carefully crafted program on "civics" containing certain minimal requirements for civic recognitions and legal principles of non-discrimination (properly presented) might well be required by the State as the quid pro quo for public funding. Such programs and regulations, however, must be very carefully drawn so as not to smuggle in, say, merit claims about religion ("these religions are all the same") under the rubric of neutrality and "teaching about religions."
Courses on civics and citizenship including an ethical component (teaching, for example, the golden rule of "do to others what you would like them to do to you") are important. The key to the wide acceptance of such programs, however, is not just the course content and how sensitively they are delivered but what scope they allow for the proper recognition of diversity in implementation and allowance of exemptions or alternative means of delivery.
The state may well be entitled to develop a course on ethics and religions but in doing so it must be careful not to make the all too easy claim (especially in relation to religions) that they are all practically equivalent for that itself is a claim about the merits of religions and that is not a valid use of state powers. With respect to religious education outside of a religious or denominational setting, therefore, greater attention should be given to protect the principle that parents are the primary educators of their children and thus delegate this to the state.17
Parental delegation contains within it the right of dissent when the state introduces programs that go against parental beliefs. What may seem "neutral" and reasonable to education authorities may not seem so to parents or their religious communities. Practical accommodation will be an exercise in fine-tuning that attempts to reconcile differing viewpoints to the greatest extent possible while acknowledging that neither the claims of parents nor state educators are absolute.
When objections are raised, one way to deal with them might be to clarify the state objectives (such as knowing the basic teachings of other religions) without making the claims about the religions which parents find objectionable. This would enable state educational authorities the ability to examine on the subject matter without getting "inside" the claims about religions that have been found objectionable. A simpler solution, though it lacks the substantive state goals of exposure to other traditions would be to exempt the student from that part of the curriculum that is offensive to parents. In an integrated curriculum setting (for it may be that objections are towards the religious education component in a denominational setting) the only solution might be to find another sort of schooling since parsing out what is religious and non-religious may prove impossible or unworkable for educational authorities.
Alternatively, as suggested, other means (most likely parental) might be found to teach towards the state goals but within the moral and religious framework of parents and their communities. Given that home-education is allowed in most jurisdictions, and that is a complete removal from state education in all but the examinations, it is not reasonable to claim, as some do, that this sort of accommodation threatens state education. Means of examination as to substance (but not merits) of other religions could be found if it is the substance that concerns the state. These alternatives may not be acceptable to those who wish greater public control and uniformity but it is the price to be paid for the maintenance of freedoms and diversity in mulit-cultural and plural societies. Flexibility in relation to the ordered principles of civil society (such as parental delegation and state requirements for citizenship) is important and maximum attention to alternative delivery and exemptions are key.18
Benson, I.T. 2000. Towards a (Re)Definition of the "Secular". University of British Columbia Law Review 33(3):519-549. [ Links ]
Benson, I.T. 2002. The Secular: Hidden and Express Meanings. Sacred Web 9:125-139. [ Links ]
Benson, I.T. 2008. The Case for Religious Inclusivism and the Judicial Recognition of Associational Rights: A Response to Lenta. Constitutional Court Review 1:297-312. [ Links ]
Benson, I.T. 2010. Living Together With Disagreement: Pluralism, the "Secular" and the Fair Treatment of Beliefs in Canada. Camrose:The Chester Ronning Centre. [ Links ]
Boonstra, K.L. & Benson, I.T. 2008. When Should the Courts Enforce Religious Obligations? Case Comment on Bruker v. Marcovitz. [Online.] Retrieved from: http://www.cardus.ca/lexview/archives/ [2010, 12 November]. [ Links ]
Bruker v. Marcovitz. 2007 SCC 54. [ Links ]
Calcagno, A. & Langan, T. 2009. Human Being: A Philosophical Anthropology. Missouri: Missouri University Press. [ Links ]
Caldwell v. Stuart. 1984 2 S.C.R. 603. [ Links ]
Chamberlain v. Surrey sch. Dist. No. 36. 2002 4 S.C.R. 710, 749 (Can.). [ Links ]
Dagenais v. Canadian Broadcasting Corp. 1994 3 S.C.R. 835. [ Links ]
Dawkins, R. 2007. The God Delusion. London:Bantam Press. [ Links ]
Elshtain, J.B. 2004. A Response to Chief Justice McLachlin. In: D. Farrow (ed.), Recognizing Religion in a secular society: Essays in Pluralism, Religion, and Public Policy (Canada:McGill-Queen's University Press), pp. 35-40. [ Links ]
Galston, W. 2004. Religion and The Limits of Liberal Democracy. In: D. Farrow (ed.), Recognizing Religion in a secular society: Essays in Pluralism, Religion, and Public Policy (Canada:McGill-Queen's University Press), pp. 41-50. [ Links ]
Gray, J. 2000. The Two Faces of Liberalism. London:New Press. [ Links ]
Harris, S. 2005. The End of Faith. New York:Norton. [ Links ]
2007. Letter to a Christian Nation: A Challenge to Faith. New York:Knopf. [ Links ]
Hitchens, C. 2007. God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Twelve:Warner Books. [ Links ]
Hoernlé, R.F.A. 1952. Knowledge and Faith. In: D.S. Robinson (ed.), Studies in Philosophy (Cambridge: Harvard University Press), pp. 55-61. [ Links ]
Holyoake, G.J. 1896. English Secularism: A Confession of Belief. Chicago:Open Court Publishing Co. [ Links ]
Kwazulu-Natal Mec For Education v. Pillay 2008 (1) SA 474 (CC). [ Links ]
Langan, T. 1996. Being and Truth (Missouri: Missouri University Press). [ Links ]
Lauwers, P. & Benson, I.T. 2006. Accommodating Kirpans in Public Schools. [Online.] Retrieved from: http://www.cardus.ca/lexview/archives/ [2010, 11 November]. [ Links ]
Lavallée and Jutras V Commission Scholaire Des Chênes et procureur Général du Québec 2009 QCCS 3875. [ Links ]
Loyola High School et al. v. Courchesne et al. 2010 QCCS 2631, June 18, 2010. [ Links ]
Lyall, F. 2000. Religious Law and its Application by Civil and Religious Jurisdictions in Great-Britain. In: E. Caparros & L. Christians (ed.), Religion in Comparative Law at the Dawn of the 21st Century (Brussels:Bruylant), pp. 251-268. [ Links ]
Mclachlin, B. 2004. Freedom of Religion and the Rule of Law: A Canadian Perspective. In: D. Farrow (ed.), Recognizing Religion in a Secular Society (Montreal: McGill/Queens'), pp. 12-16. [ Links ]
Minister Of Home Affairs v. Fourie (Doctors For Life International And Others, Amici Curiae); Lesbian & Gay Equality Project & Others V Minister Of Home Affairs 2006 (1) SA 524 (CC), 2006 (3) BCLR 355 (CC). [ Links ]
Multani v. Commission Scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys 2006 1 SCR 256, 2006 SCC. [ Links ]
Newman, J.H.C. 1899. Discussions and Arguments on Various Subjects. London: Longmans. [ Links ]
Polanyi, M. 1958. Personal Knowledge. Chicago:Harper Torch Books. [ Links ]
R. V. Audet 1996 2 S.C.R. 171(SCC). [ Links ]
Tremblay V. Daigle 1989 62 DLR (4th) 634 (SCC); [1989]2 SCR 530. [ Links ]
Trinity Western University v. British Columbia College Of Teachers 2001 1 S.C.R. 772. [ Links ]
1 Newman (1899: 295) recognized that everyone who acts must take matters on faith and wrote: "Life is for action. If we insist on proofs for everything, we shall never come to action: to act you must assume, and that assumption is faith." I have developed this theme at greater length in Benson (2000:519-549).
2 I have written of the category of "hidden" and "express" meanings, drawing upon the work of Owen Barfield, in relation to the "secular" elsewhere (Benson 2002:125-139). See also, the reference to the "materialistic" conceptions at the basis of English secularism in references to the work of George Jacob Holyoake referred to elsewhere in this article.
3 The seminal decision of Caldwell v. Stuart [1984] 2 S.C.R. 603 stands for the proposition that a Catholic school board can insist that its Catholic teachers comply with Church teachings in respect of marriage. The decision not to renew the contract of a Catholic teacher who had married a divorced man in a civil ceremony, contrary to Church teaching was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada. The right of religion was found by Justice MacIntyre "at large" in the sense that it was based on the right of religion itself not any piece of legislation or constitutionally "entrenched right at Confederation."
4 This section is taken from Benson (2010:31-34).
5 Tremblay v. Daigle (1989) 62 DLR (4th) 634 (SCC) at 650, (1989)2 SCR 530. The case dealt with whether the Quebec Charter provision saying "every human being has a right to life" provided protection for a third trimester infant en ventre sa mère. Near the beginning of its unanimous (and unattributed) Reasons, the Supreme Court of Canada stated:
The Court is not required to enter the philosophical and theological debates about whether or not a foetus is a person, but, rather, to answer the legal question of whether the Quebec legislature has accorded the foetus personhood. Metaphysical arguments may be relevant but they are not the primary focus of inquiry. Nor are scientific arguments about the biological status of a foetus determinative in our inquiry. The task of properly classifying a foetus in law and in science are different pursuits. Ascribing personhood to a foetus in law is a fundamentally normative task. It results in the recognition of rights and duties - a matter which falls outside the concerns of scientific classification. In short, this Court's task is a legal one. Decisions based upon broad social, political, moral and economic choices are more appropriately left to the legislature. (Emphasis added.)
6 In a recent essay, in the same volume as that containing the article of the Chief Justice discussed in this paper, William Galston succinctly sets out a history of the development of the notion of political pluralism from Aristotle through Hobbes to Rousseau and Rawls, showing the tensions between religious communities and the developed principles of political pluralism (Galston 2004:41-50). He states: "the common good of a pluralist society is not merely the aggregate of individual or group interests, but it is not and must not be a comprehensive good either" (Galston 2004:48) (emphasis in original).
7 Minister of Home Affairs v Fourie (Doctors For Life International & Others, Amici Curiae); Lesbian & Gay Equality Project & Others v Minister of Home Affairs 2006 (1) SA 524 (CC), 2006 (3) BCLR 355 (CC) (Fourie) at paras 60-61 per Sachs J. This decision and the question of associational rights in general have been addressed previously.
8 Dagenais v. Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (1994) 3 S.C.R. 835, at para. 72.
9 Trinity Western University v. British Columbia College of Teachers (2001) 1 S.C.R. 772 at para. 29.
10 Chamberlain v. Surrey Sch. Dist. No. 36, (2002) 4 S.C.R. 710, 749 (Can.) Chief Justice McLachlin, who wrote the decision of the majority, accepted the reasoning of Mr. Justice Gonthier on this point thus making his the reasoning of all nine judges in relation to the interpretation of "secular."
11 Fourie, above, at para's 94 - 98 emphasis added. Justice Sach's conception of differing beliefs co-existing within the public realm is of signal importance and sets the stage, along with the approach of Justice Gonthier in Chamberlain, for a redefinition or, better yet, re-understanding of what might be termed central public terminology.
12 KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Education v Pillay 2008 (1) SA 474 (CC).
13 Multani v. Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (2006) 1 SCR 256, 2006 SCC 6 (wearing of Kirpan in public school allowed, on the basis of freedom of religion; absolute ban overturned). For a comment on this decision see Lauwers and Benson (2006).
14 See the decisions of Dagenais v. Canadian Broadcasting Corp and Trinity Western University v. British Columbia College of Teachers at footnotes 8 and 9 above.
15 Bruker v. Marcovitz, 2007 SCC 54 para's 1-2. See also Boonstra and Benson (2008).
16 For a discussion of Owen Barfield's concept of "hidden meanings" in relation to the "secular" and alternative theological conceptions of time in relation to understandings of the "secular", see Benson (2002:125-139).
17 R.v. Audet, [1996] 2. S.C.R. 171 (S.C.C.) where the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that parents delegate their primary authority over education to the state.
18 A case coming before the Supreme Court of Canada, (May 2011) Lavellée and Jutras v. Commission Scholaire des Chênes et Procureur Général du Québec, 2009 QCCS 3875; appeal refused, 2010 QCCA 346 raises these sorts of concerns. There the Quebec government introduced a mandatory course on ethics and religion and refused to exempt over 2,000 (Roman Catholic) parents who sought exemption from the public school course on conscience and religious grounds. The parent's lost both at trial and before the Quebec Court of Appeal. In a parallel proceeding involving a Catholic Jesuit High School (state-funded) a trial judge overturned the Province's refusal to grant exemption (Loyola High School et al. v. Courchesne et al. 2010 QCCS 2631, June 18, 2010 see: http://www.jugements.qc.ca/php/decision.php?liste=46252591&doc=7FF18D89A2AE5ADB9810CF4B60DAFDFCF774F8F11CE85819B903D21A6CECE9FD&page=1, last accessed February 28, 2011). At the time of this writing the parents' case alone is proceeding to the Supreme Court of Canada as the Catholic High School case is before the Quebec Court of Appeal.


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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has previously denied the Holocaust's existence was the keynote speaker and did not disappoint.
Dozens of western delegates participating in the UN racism conference in Geneva walked out of the forum as an act of protest...as the Iranian president began attacking Israel as a racist nation. Ahmadinejad accused Israel of being the "most cruel and racist regime."(YNET)Unfortunately, Ahmadinejad isn't the only Arab leader to deny the Holocaust's existence.
USA President Obama's primary Palestinian partner (and president of the Palestinian Authority) Mahmoud Abbas wrote his doctoral dissertation specifically denying the Holocaust.
He compiled his dissertation into a book which described the Holocaust as "The Zionist fantasy, the fantastic lie that six million Jews were killed."[35] He also wrote:
"It seems that the interest of the Zionist movement, however, is to inflate this figure [of Holocaust deaths] so that their gains will be greater. This led them to emphasize this figure [six million] in order to gain the solidarity of international public opinion with Zionism. Many scholars have debated the figure of six million and reached stunning conclusions—fixing the number of Jewish victims at only a few hundred thousand."[36][37][38]
Additionally, he claimed that the much smaller number of Jews which he admitted that the Nazis did massacre were actually the victims of a Zionist-Nazi plot:
"The Zionist movement led a broad campaign of incitement against the Jews living under Nazi rule to arouse the government's hatred of them, to fuel vengeance against them and to expand the mass extermination."[39]
Arab sympathy for the Nazis, and hatred for Jews is nothing new. Way before 1967 when Israel "captured" the West Bank, long before Israel was a State, the Nazis and Arabs collaborated together to kill Jews.
For the United States to pressure Israel into negotiating with the Palestinians, led by a published and self-proclaimed Holocaust denier is simply abhorrent.
Yasser Arafat's hatred of Jews, one that animates many Palestinian Arabs today, is traceable to the influence of his uncle, Nazi war criminal Haj Amin Muhammad al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. Husseini was a leader of the 1920 Arab riots where terror against Jews was introduced into a previously peaceful Palestine. British Mandate Governor General Herbert Samuel subsequently appointed him Mufti of Jerusalem. As Mufti, he instigated murderous pogroms against Jews in 1921, 1929, and during the 1936-1939 rebellion. Husseini consolidated his control over the Palestinian Arabs with a campaign of murder against Jews and Arabs, the recruitment of armed militias, and the raising of funds from around the Muslim world by means of promulgating anti-Jewish propaganda. Certainly there are echoes of Husseini today in his nephew Arafat.
Husseini became a supporter of the Nazi "final solution" to the "Jewish question" in the early days of Hitler's regime. In 1939, when his Nazi sympathies came to the attention of the British, he fled to Berlin where Adolf Hitler personally welcomed him. The Nazi's lodged Husseini comfortably, for the duration of the war, in a confiscated Hebrew School and set him up as Prime Minister in exile of a pro-Nazi pan-Arab government. His foreign minister in exile was Iraqi exile Rashid Ali al-Kilani and his war minister Fawsi al-Kaukji. The Nazi Foreign Ministry paid him $10,000 per month and Himmlers SS transferred portions of the "sonderfund," funds confiscated from Jews, for his use in setting up pro-Nazi and anti-Jewish activities in the Arab world.
According to documentation from the Nuremberg and Eichmann trials, the SS helped finance Husseini's efforts in the 1936-39 uprising in Palestine. Adolf Eichmann actually visited Palestine and met Husseini at that time and subsequently maintained regular contact with him later in Berlin. Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, took Husseini on tours of Auschwitz and financed his Moslem academy in Dresden, set up by the Nazis as a training ground for their envisioned Nazi/Muslim puppet government. Husseini recruited Bosnian Muslims in Nazi occupied Yugoslavia in his efforts to ethnically cleanse their country of Jews. When the Red Cross offered to mediate with Eichmann in a trade between German citizens and 10,000 Jewish children being sent from Poland to the Theresienstadt death camp, Husseini directly intervened with Himmler and was successful in canceling the exchange. (FreeRepublic)
To offer Israel security from Iran at the expense of expelling Jews from the Yizhar settlement, ("Buscher for Yitzhar") and converting parts of the historic land of Israel to be Jew-free, Judenrein is the ultimate insult.
President Obama has missed the point completely.
Walking out on Durban II to object over Ahmadinejad is meaningless -- when pressuring Israel to accept a "2 state solution", one being a Palestinian State, ethnically cleansed of Jews.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד


text:
Inspiration flows through me.
Repeat this affirmation through out the day. You might even want to write it down on an index card to keep with you.
Warning: prolonged use of positive thinking may create a permanent positive attitude. :)
If you like this affirmation, try these ipopins. ipopins are one minute affirmations that can be downloaded and listened to from you iPod, mp3 player, or CD player.


text:
Easter Greeting of Serbian Patriarch Irinej to Roman Pope
To His Holiness
Pope FRANCIS
Vatican City
At Easter time 2013
Your Holiness,
On the occasion of the coming Feast Day, the Glorious Resurrection of Christ our Savior, We convey to You fraternal regards and best wishes with the joyful paschal greeting:
The Resurrection of Christ is the Mystery anticipated for centuries, the fulfillment of the Old in the New Testament through the final renewal of the whole creation, for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now (Rom. 8:22) for what is only New under the Sun - the Resurrection of the God-Man Jesus Christ from the dead (Mt. 28:6).
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live (John 11:25), the Savior says to every man. This testimony represents the only hope, comfort, joy and the meaning of life in these difficult times. The God-Man Jesus Christ started the only justified revolution in this world in which He does not take lives of others but lays down his own life for the whole mankind. In the light of divinely inspired teaching of the Orthodox Church, St. Bishop Nikolai of Serbia considers Christ's teaching absolutely revolutionary saying that internal, moral and spiritual revolution is the revolution of Christians. That is the sole justifiable, beneficial, positive and constructive revolution. Everything else that the world termed as a revolution is, more or less, an ordinary heap of wrongdoing. Such an image of the world stained by a multitude of nonsensical revolutions, coups and crimes, can be rationalized only through the truth from the simple wisdom uttered by Saint Bishop Nikolai saying: We Christians are awaiting Christ – not a better time.
The Lord did not bring a new philosophy to humankind, nor some new ethics, but a new life. He Who is the image of the invisible God, born before all things (Col. 1:15), was given to humankind as the pledge of the Resurrection in the Mystery of Baptism (Gal. 3:27). By His Cross and three day Resurrection conclusively and perfectly, He confirmed that He is the chosen Messiah and the Savior of the world, as well as that there is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
With best wishes on this occasion, We also express to You Our sincere respect, and remain in the Love of the Risen God-Man Jesus Christ.


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text: Mittens Romney, ftw! He handily defeated Santorum in tonight's Arizona primary, and Michigan has now been called in his favor too—though it remains possible that he'll win the popular vote there but not the delegate vote. They allocate their delegates on a proportional basis, and the count is still being listed as too close to call. But regardless of that outcome, Mitt's victories mean that Rick Santorum did not manage to pull off the major upset in Michigan that he had been hoping for. He must be positively frothing at the mouth with anger. Of course, there's still Super Tuesday to look forward to next week, but this shift in momentum could just be enough to spell the end Rick "The Sweater Vest" Santorum once and for all.


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The Ferrari F430 GT Experience
When was the last time you were about to do something you knew you'd never forget? Your dream comes true with this complete package including 5-laps behind the wheel of the Ferrari F430 GT Racing Car.
$5495 Laps2 hrs
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- 5 lap driving session
- 3D Simulator session (approx. 12 min)
- Use of racing suit, helmet with intercom and head sock
- Classroom session in the Dream Racing™ Theater
- Round trip transportation from Crystals™ at CityCenter + 1 companion
- Access to Dream Racing™ Lounge + 1 companion
- Open Coffee Bar, Snacks and Wi-Fi
- Merit Certificate of The Experience
- To see how our laps are counted click here
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At the time of your booking, you can choose to either select our Complimentary round trip Transportation from Crystals™ at CityCenter Las Vegas or to make your own arrangements to Dream Racing. If you choose to drive yourself, we are located at the infield of the Superspeedway at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
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When you arrive at Dream Racing, one of our hostesses will greet you and assist you in the registration process. At this time you'll be asked to show a valid driver license.
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After the registration it's time for an educational video in our theater. This video gives you a quick lesson of the mechanics of the race car you are about to drive. It also explains how to properly handle the Ferrari F430 GT using correct driving techniques, as well as safety procedures. An animated motion graphic illustrates the use of the ideal driving lines for each turn of the track.
Step 4 - 3D Simulator Session
The next part of your training will take place in our 3D simulators. Each simulator has been built to specification of the actual Racing Ferrari F430 GT. The simulator boasts a roll cage, the same racing seat, steering wheel, paddle shift, pedals and dashboard as the real Ferrari F430 GT. You will train on an exact laser scanned replica of our track, so if you feel a bump in the simulator, the same bump exists out on the track.
Step 5 - Suit Up
Next, enter into our dressing rooms to get suited up in your professional racing suit and helmet for optimal in-car communication with your instructor.
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Finally, the moment you've been waiting for: get behind the wheel of the racing Ferrari, strap in and start your engine! You're in control, it's time to hit the track for 5 exhilarating laps around the Las Vegas Motor Speedway infield road course.
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After the adrenaline subsides, relax and unwind in our Dream Racing Lounge with its open coffee bar, selection of snacks, and wi-fi. If you have purchased the onboard video prior to your driving experience you'll be able to view it at this time in the lounge.


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