I found this entry on andrewcoyne.com (columnist for the National Post) about sunblock rather interesting:

Take off the sunscreen
Classic. Decades of scare stories about the sun’s evil rays, years of alarmist warnings by politicians and others (“for God’s sake keep your kids out of the sun”), and what do we find is the major cause of cancer in northern countries? Lack of sunshine...:

For decades, researchers have puzzled over why rich northern countries have cancer rates many times higher than those in developing countries — and many have laid the blame on dangerous pollutants spewed out by industry.

But research into vitamin D is suggesting both a plausible answer to this medical puzzle and a heretical notion: that cancers and other disorders in rich countries aren’t caused mainly by pollutants but by a vitamin deficiency known to be less acute or even non-existent in poor nations…

For many reasons, Canadians are among the people most at risk of not having enough vitamin D. This is due to a quirk of geography, to modern lifestyles and to the country’s health authorities, who have unwittingly, if with the best of intentions, played a role in creating the vitamin deficiency…

Only brief full-body exposures to bright summer sunshine — of 10 or 15 minutes a day — are needed to make high amounts of the vitamin. But most authorities, including Health Canada, have urged a total avoidance of strong sunlight or, alternatively, heavy use of sunscreen. Both recommendations will block almost all vitamin D synthesis.

Ok, so this is a blog entry about a blog entry about a news article, but I can’t help wondering what else the scientific community and governments might be wrong about that are driving policy and public education…

The United Church of Canada is a very liberal organization that has questioned the deity of Christ, His resurrection, and virgin birth. It rejects the Bible as being verbally inspired by God. They face “a stunning 18-per-cent free fall in United Church membership” (MacLeans Magazine, Dec 1997 a great article describing a trend that has continued since then). It sees itself as an organization for important social issues (like this past summer’s stand against bottled water), that is tolerant (except for conservative stands on theology and social issues), and open minded.

In light of all this, the United Church of Canada has launched a new advertising campaign. They have a number of controversial ads that they hope will provoke thought and discussion. They cover a number of areas such as parenting, homosexual marriage, how fun sex should be, the Bible, and Jesus.

Here is one of them:

“Want to explore your spirituality in a place that is as open-minded as you? Drop by wondercafe.ca and join in the discussion.”

So I did.

Here is my first post on their Bible forum:

This ad boils down to the question “Did God really say…?”

People have been asking this question for a long time. In fact, it is the oldest trick in the book. Literally.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:1

Satan used this question to plant doubt in Eve’s mind about the authenticity of what God had said. “Did God really say??” She chose to believe Satan rather than God.. with disastrous results. This is a question of the authority and authenticity of God’s Word. Satan has been using this same trick throughout the ages, and now The United Church of Canada is now asking us.. “Did God really say?”

If the answer is yes:
then my disagreement is irrelevant. He is God and I am man. He is the perfectly loving and perfectly just Creator of me and everything else. If yes, then the Bible is God’s Word to man and we must accept the whole thing. If God said it, then our opinion must change to conform to His Word. We can’t change or disregard portions of His Word that do not conform to my opinion.

If the answer is no:
then the book is pointless and so is the church. Go find a secular social club to hang out in because the church has no authority and has nothing to offer but man’s opinions that are constantly changing. There are no real answers and everything truly is relative.

There can be no middle ground. No half and half. As unpopular as it may seem to this age of “tolerance”, it is either yes or no.

2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

I say yes, God really did say..

There have been a few responses and I have posted more replies to their forum over the last few days. I really don’t know why anyone would bother to attend a service at the UCC. It seems so… empty.

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People… having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”
2 Timothy 3:1-5

end rant.

Palestinians wielding guns and firebombs attacked five churches in the West Bank and Gaza on Saturday, following remarks by Pope Benedict XVI that angered many Muslims…

Later Saturday, four masked gunmen doused the main doors of Nablus’ Roman and Greek Catholic churches with lighter fluid, then set them afire. They also opened fire on the buildings, striking both with bullets.

In Gaza City, militants opened fire from a car at a Greek Orthodox church, …. Explosive devices were set off at the same Gaza church on Friday…

Firebombings left black scorch marks on the walls and windows of Nablus’ Anglican and Greek Orthodox churches. At least five firebombs hit the Anglican church and its door was later set ablaze. Smoke billowed from the church as firefighters put out the flames.

In a phone call to The Associated Press, a group calling itself the “Lions of Monotheism” claimed responsibility for those attacks, saying they were carried out to protest the pope’s remarks in a speech this week in Germany linking Islam and violence.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,214128,00.html

Can they not see the irony of carrying out violent attacks to protest being called violent? I wonder what they would do if they had a chance to meet the Pope.. would they hold a gun to his head and force him to say that they are not violent?

The media just reports the events, but I think they are too afraid to actually point out the irony.

As my dad used to say.. “It boggles my mind!”

Update: Some Australian media had insightful editorials here and here.