In honor of Sister Carol

Sr. Carol Keehan, Daughter of Charity and leader of the Catholic Health Association, earned in many ways her place among those named in the 2010 Time 100.

Her vow to serve the poor brought her to the support of health reform at a critical juncture, writing, “The time is now for health reform.” And answering the tide of false claims that health reform was a path to publicly funded abortion:

The insurance reforms will make the lives of millions more secure, and their coverage more affordable. The reforms will eventually make affordable health insurance available to 31 million of the 47 million Americans currently without coverage.

CHA has a major concern on life issues. We said there could not be any federal funding for abortions and there had to be strong funding for maternity care, especially for vulnerable women. The bill now being considered allows people buying insurance through an exchange to use federal dollars in the form of tax credits and their own dollars to buy a policy that covers their health care. If they choose a policy with abortion coverage, then they must write a separate personal check for the cost of that coverage.

Among the true things Time proclaimed:

Undeterred by her critics, she refused to back down as she fought for reforms that would include prenatal and maternity care and coverage for uninsured children. She fought for those who couldn't fight for themselves.

We turn to the Jesuit magazine America for a practical glimpse of the modesty with which she lives her vows of poverty. Michael Sean Winters writes of the president of the nation's largest not-for-profit network of health care facilities:

Sister Carol then showed me the sisters’ living quarters. She, like all the other nuns, had a small room, like a dorm room, with a small bed, a small desk and one comfortable chair, a devotional book on the table beside it. There was a closet holding half a dozen habits and blouses. This was certainly not how most hospital executives lived. Sister Carol's supreme confidence in discussing any and all aspects of health care management was matched by a complete absence of pride or protocol. You only had to watch her for five minutes as she interacted with the hospital staff to realize that she was as down-to-earth as she was competent, as solicitous of others as she was unafraid to make a decision on her own.

She was also one of some 60 leaders of women religious, representing 59,000 Catholic Sisters, who broke with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to support passage of the Senate health reform bill.

Her clear voice remains an unwavering, truthful answer to those who seek continuously to smear the law as an inroad for immorality, rather than the triumph of Christian charity that it is.

Warning: Civil religious symbols robbed of evangelical force

Regarding the Supreme Court decision about the Sunrise Rock Cross in the Mojave Preserve memorial to those killed in World War I, University of Missouri professor of law and religious liberty expert Carl H. Esbeck cautioned:

I’m not a big fan of religious symbols on government property. I believe there is a detriment because it dilutes the real purpose of the symbol. They’ve taken a symbol of the church and turned it into civil religion. This can be bad for evangelicals because when people look at a nativity scene or a Roman cross, we want people to think of the God of the Bible. If these too become simply civil religion to Americans, it makes the task of evangelism harder for Christians.

Aloha civil unions

Hawaii House of Representatives has approved civil unions and the measure goes to Republican Gov. Linda Lingle for her signature. The Honolulu Advertiser reports:

She has not said whether she would sign or veto the bill. Lingle has 45 days to decide. If she vetoes the bill, the House and Senate can come back in a one-day override session in July.

[H/T: Keori]

Faith healers and mind stealers

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was the window Uffe Schjødt used to peer into the brains of 20 Pentecostalists and 20 non-believers listening to 18 different recorded prayers.

Andy Coghlan of New Scientist writes:

The volunteers were told that six of the prayers were read by a non-Christian, six by an ordinary Christian and six by a healer. In fact, all were read by ordinary Christians.

Among the devout, parts of the brain which play important roles in vigilance and skepticism tended to be markedly less active when they were listening to prayers by someone identified as [but who was not] a Christian with healing powers.

Asked about the speakers, Pentacostalists verified the fMRI findings by giving their highest rankings to speakers identified as Christians with healing powers [note the graph at right]. Thus suggesting, as Schjødt observed, that Pentacostalists effectively handed themselves over to those merely identified as Christian healers.

Schjoedt is not suggesting, and it is unreasonable to apply this and related research to suggest, that the apparent phenomenon is somehow confined to people of faith:

These observations point to an important mechanism of authority that may facilitate charismatic influence, a mechanism which is likely to be present in other interpersonal interactions as well.

Simply that we imperil ourselves and others when we allow our protective vigilance and skepticism to be turned off.

Noah's Ark refound again

Chester Duggit, "retired panel beater from Castle Bromwich," rocked the archeological community on its heels with the discovery of Noah's Ark at Langley Hill [aerial view]:

Duggit informed us that he'd found a load of old rotting wood on Langley Hill, which when strategically placed, appear to form the outline of Noah's Ark, complete with animal cages, water feeders, a broken tropical fish tank, and a rusty supermarket trolley, which Duggit assumes was used by Noah to ferry supplies of animal feed from a local Tesco store to the Ark.

When we pointed out that Langley Hill is a long way from Mount Ararat, Duggit explained that Noah was probably an economic refugee, who set sail in the Ark in search of agency work at the nearby BSA motorcycle factory.

Langley Hill is of course in England [read the entire spoof].

More seriously and similarly credible, an evangelical Christian Hong Kong filmmaker and Turkish scientists say, ABC News reports, that they have found Noah's Ark encased in ice on Mount Ararat.

Crayola thanks tea partyites

From The Full Ginsburg we have a vision of bright, patriotic colors with which to misspell and deface:

Crayola Thanks the Tea Partiers - watch more funny videos

[H/T: Crooks and Liars]

Silsby to be tried; charges dropped agains the other 9: Updated

Southern Baptist Laura Silsby faces up to three years in Haitian prison if convicted of the remaining charge of "organization of irregular trips" under a 1980 statute. That charge was brought to bear against her in mid-March.

Other charges against her and all charges against the remaining nine Baptists have been dropped by Judge Bernard Saint-Vil, according to the Associated Press.

According to MSNBC, Judge Saint-Vil concluded that Silsby "knew she had no right to take the 33 children out of earthquake-ravaged Haiti" and she deceived the other nine by telling them she had the documents required to take the children out of Haiti.

The initial charges resulted from their attempt to take 33 children out of Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake. Silsby faces trial as a result of evidence of a Jan. 26 attempt by her to bus child earthquake survivors to the Dominican Republic.

As we reported earlier, Silsby was warned repeatedly prior to the arrests that her plan was illegal and would be regarded as child trafficking.

The Haitian law under which Silsby is charged restricts travel out of Haiti and was signed in 1980 by then-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier. It carries a penalty of 3-6 years.