A soaring American sermon has bemused the royals
Differing trans-Atlantic views about that sermon at the royal wedding. The New York Times yesterday:
Michael Curry, presiding bishop of the American Episcopal Church, delivered a searing, soaring 13-minute speech, imploring Christians to put love at the centre of their spiritual and political lives. Until that moment, the ceremony had been quite staid, stuffy even, with only the mention of “sexual union” to keep us on our toes.
London’s The Evening Standard:
Some members of the royal family appeared bemused, while celebrity guests occasionally stifled laughter during the at-times electrifying delivery. Prince Charles and wife Camilla were caught on camera appearing visibly bemused.
Harper’s Bazaar opined:
While it was expected that the royal wedding would be a little more untraditional than previous weddings, the royal family didn’t hold back their reactions to Curry’s sermon ... Many viewers noticed their reactions to Curry’s sermon that was different to what is normally seen in the Church of England.
The Sunday Times, London:
Many of those present in the chapel were plainly unused to the soaring rhetoric, the extravagant gestures and the rambling asides that accompanied Curry’s increasingly elastic homily on “the power of love”.
Number of times Curry said “love”?
Sixty.
Environment writer for The Australian Graham Lloyd reports on the end of a scientific career:
Peter Ridd has been sacked by James Cook University for speaking to The Australian and breaking a gag order to expose disciplinary action after he criticised the quality of Great Barrier Reef Science.
The Cairns Post, February 8
JCU has form for censuring staff with the wrong scientific opinion. It parted ways with climate sceptic (sceptics are called “realists” in some circles) Professor Bob Carter who held an honorary position in 2013. It should also be noted that JCU’s online bio on Carter simply states he was passionate about climate science “and its relation to anthropogenic influences”, without saying he didn’t actually believe in those influences.
But it is hardly a life or death issue. The ABC reports on the passing of Chinese Nobel laureate and dissident Liu Xiaobo, July 13 last year:
Mr Liu, a prominent participant in the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests of 1989, was jailed for 11 years in 2009 for “inciting subversion of state power” after helping to write a petition known as Charter 08 calling for sweeping political reforms.
Just how seditious was this Charter 08 that the tyrants of Beijing were so frightened about? The BBC explains, December 2010:
Charter 08 advocates a whole series of reforms that would result in a separation of powers, a new constitution and legislative democracy. It says the Chinese Communist Party’s approach to modernisation has been “disastrous”. If its suggestions were introduced, it would mean the end of the current political system that the party has fought so hard to maintain
Nearly a year after her husband’s death Liu Xia, a painter, poet, and photographer who has never faced a court or been charged of any offence, remains locked up. The Times on Saturday:
There are growing concerns for the mental health of Liu Xia, 57, who has been under house arrest for eight years.