大象传媒

That's Madonna performing her song on last year's world tour. The singer took part in a mock crucifixion scene wearing a crown of thorns. She says the performance was in support of Aids charities, but it cost her a prosecution in the Netherlands (of all places). Bizarrely enough, a Dutch priest was arrested after placing a hoax bomb call in an attempt to stop the show.

Which of these statements do you agree with?

(1) Madonna's performance was grossly offensive and she should be arrested if she tries it again.
(2) Madonna's performance may be offensive to some but it's a free country so get over it.
(3) Madonna's performance explored and interacted with religious imagery (and not for the first time) but this is no more offensive than a medieval .
(4) Madonna's performance contained more theological insight than most sermons I've ever heard.
(5) Madonna's performance got us all talking. And that was the point.

As expected, that the new equality legislation -- already in operation in Northern Ireland and soon to be introduced in England and Wales -- will be applied to Catholic adoption agencies.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has expressed his disappointment at the decision, which he sees as the imposition of a "new morality". Last week, the cardinal claimed that the new laws, which ban discrimination against gays and lesbians, could lead to the closure of the church's adoption agencies. This was seen by many as a threat: if the government introduces this law and applies it to our agencies, the cardinal was saying, we would rather close those services than be required to place children with gay couples. Some commentators have criticised the cardinal's strategy here: that kind of apparent threat is the "nuclear option" and it doesn't leave much room for negotiation -- tactically speaking, it's not the best first move.

How then should we read the cardinal's most recent comments. In response to Tony Blair's decision today, he has expressed the hope that

there may well be some way in which, without breaking the law, our Catholic services can continue in their work according to Catholic principles.

That's a little curious, isn't it? The cardinal and Tony Blair went eye-to-eye on this debate last week, one waiting for the other to blink. Now it seems that the equality legislation may not prove to be as insurmountable a problem (vis-a-vis theological principles) as we were given to believe last week. They say a week is a long time in politics. It's apparently a long time in theology as well.

I've heard from 大象传媒 blog central command that some technical problems over the weekend meant that comments were not being published for up to 20 hours. This has now been corrected. I know how frustrating that kind of thing can be -- many apologies.

I'm sure some commenters thought they were being censored and wondered why. No conspiracy, I promise you. Or collusion for that matter.

The DUP leader Ian Paisley has given his response to the Sinn F茅in Ard Fheis resolution on policing. He says today's meeting would be "valueless" if it doesn't lead to real delivery. On the issue of who jumps first, he says: "No post-dated action can take the place of real delivery" in terms of crime reporting, and taking up seats on the Policing Board and the District Policing Partnerships.

The Sinn Fein motion ends with this caveat:

That the Ard Chomhairle [Sinn Fein steering group] is mandated to implement this motion only when the power-sharing institutions are established and when the Ard Chomhairle is satisfied that the policing and justice powers will be transferred. Or if this does not happen within the St Andrews timeframe, only when acceptable new partnership arrangements to implement the Good Friday Agreement are in place.

The DUP, for its part, are arguing that delivery on policing needs to take place in advance of power-sharing. We're back to the traditional political two-step by which the Northern Ireland peace process tends to shuffle forward: who jumps first?

It seems very likely at this point that an Assembly election will be held at the beginning of March with a view to the establishment of a power-sharing executive at the end of March. That last date is the deadline for finding a solution to this new problem. If Sinn Fein join the Policing Board and District Policing Partnerships before this date and call on the public to report crime to the police, it would be difficult for the DUP to claim they have not "delivered" on their promise. In order to take this step, Sinn Fein is looking, at the very least, for a clear statement from the DUP that they would respond to Sinn Fein's practical delivery on policing with a commitment to share power in the Assembly. The DUP, inevitably, will say to Sinn Fein: if you are now in support of policing in principle, why don't you implement this motion immediately and unconditionally rather than use your support for policing as a bargaining chip. In fact, the unwillingness to take this next step independently will be viewed by many within the DUP as evidence that Sinn Fein is not willing to give principled support to policing.

If Sinn Fein do nothing more than quote this motion (as it is, "unimplemented" by their Ard Chomhairle) between now and the end of March, the DUP will argue that the requirements of the St Andrews Agreement have not been met by Sinn Fein and refuse to form an executive. In those circumstances, the governments' "Plan B" will be activated: the Assembly will be dissolved indefinitely and de facto joint rule would continue from London and Dublin with direct rule ministers continuing to run Northern Ireland's affairs.

There's a third option, of course: the DUP could nominate ministers in a power sharing executive in advance of Sinn Fein's "delivery" on policing -- with a view to resigning within a certain period of time if Sinn Fein do not join the relevant policing boards and turn their "in-principle" support for policing into an "in-practice" support.

We've been here many times before in this process, when an "historic" step forward (such as the Good Friday Agreement, the renaming and restructiring of policing, actis of decomissioning and the St Andrews Agreement) seem merely to re-frame the argument rather than end the dispute.

In saying that, I would not wish to underestimate the significance of today's events in Dublin. But have we reached the final stretch in the journey to power-sharing or merely turned another corner? The answer to that question will be revealed in the next two months.

The result has just been announced. By a massive majority, Sinn Fein has voted to support the policing, the courts and the rule of law in Northern Ireland. We wait to see how the DUP will respond.

Imagine this situation. A confidential e-mail comes to light, written by the head of the British civil service, which savages Tony Blair's leadership. We would perhaps expect the civil service to have a new head in fairly short order. He would probably take early retirement in order to spend me time with his filing cabinets.

Now consider this. A confidential e-mail comes to light, written by the of the Anglican Communion, which accuses the Archbishop of Canterbury of "fomenting schism" and derides his leadership skills. That e-mail was published in today's Sunday Telegraph.

Canon Ken Kearon, who was still secretary general of the Anglican Communion when I last checked, is the author of the e-mail. He is, ironically enough, a specialist in reconciliation studies who is highly regarded for his diplomatic skills; he's also a priest of the Church of Ireland and the former director of the Irish School of Ecumenics. He's pictured here meeting Pope Benedict in the company of the man he says is inciting division in the Communion, Dr Rowan Williams.

In fact, I got the first with Ken Kearon shortly after his appointment as head of the Communion's permanent secretariat in August 2004. He was in January 2005. I can't imagine that we'll have much luck securing an interview this week.

Sinn Fein's special conference on policing is meeting at the RDS in Dublin. Our correspondents there are estimating that the party will vote overwhelmingly in support of the -- with something in the region of 80 per cent in favour. The motion will give Gerry Adams and his leadership team the right to publicly signal support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

We will know the final voting by early evening, then all eyes will be on the DUP to see how they respond. Will Ian Paisley choose words that recognise an historic step-forward and acknowledge how difficult this motion will be for many Republicans? Or will he goad SinnFein for taking so long to get with the democratic programme, call them "slow learners" and demand even more from the Republican movement before there can be progress? A response that lies somewhere between those two positions is probably more likely: an acknowledgment that the Republican movement has taken an important step forward, a cautious reception of the movement as a promisory note of sorts, and a challenge to "deliver" action in addition to words. The action required to prove that Sinn Fein is serious would involve, for example, general and specific statements from Sinn Fein leaders encouraging nationalists to report crime to the police and assist the police with criminal investigations.

Meanwhile, the current transitional Assembly is to be dissolved on Tuesday, with a view to an election on March 7th and a new executive in place by March 26th. The clock is ticking.

One of my projects next month is a radio documentary about blogging. I'll tell you more about it as it progresses. The producer is Owen McFadden, who's had terrific success producing the satirical sketch series Folks on the Hill for both television and radio. I'd like to hear some of your views about blogging -- your experiences, stories, frustrations, how blogging has changed the world and your life (positively and negatively) and how you think (or hope) blogging might develop in the next few years. What are your favourite blog sites in the UK, Ireland and internationally? What's the secret of a successful blog? How has blogging changed politics in Northern Ireland? What about journalism? Ideas?

The Europe minister represented the government tonight on and outlined a possible "compromise" in their with the Catholic Church over gay adoption. Geoff Hoon said he thought the should not be granted an But -- and this is the possible compromise -- he acknowledged that not everyone who works for a Catholic adoption agency is a Catholic. If there are non-Catholics working within a Catholic adoption agency, he said, and if these non-Catholics are prepared to handle cases involving gay couples, why can't the Catholic agency permit them to do so? This way Catholic workers would not be required to act against their conscience in assisting gay couples to adopt children, while the equality laws would still be upheld.

This is quite a clever proposal in its own way, since it mirrors the current situation in the Health Service in England whereby doctors and nurses with a conscience-based objection to abortion are permitted to stand aside from those procedures. Ironically, you will recall that the archibishops of York and Canterbury, to the government, appealed to this same NHS example to make a case for a Catholic opt-out.

The archbishops of York and Canterbury have to the Prime Minister. Their letter includes this comment:

It would be deeply regrettable if in seeking, quite properly, better to defend the rights of a particular group not to be discriminated against, a climate were to be created in which, for example, some feel free to argue that members of the government are not fit to hold public office on the grounds of their faith affiliation. This is hardly evidence of a balanced and reasonable public debate.

Discuss.

I've been dashing around again. This time we're in Oxford, where, this morning, we filmed an interview with Richard Dawkins for the TV series (draft titled: William Crawley meets ... ) to be aired in a few weeks. The series will probably begin with Bishop Gene Robinson and the Dawkins interview will probably be the second in the series; each interview runs to 30 minutes. Inevitably, it's all "probably" this and "probably" that at this stage in the production. We decided to film the interview with Dawkins in the chapel of an Oxford college -- St Peter's (named, appropriately enough, after the first apostle), and Dawkins is seated in front of the chancel area with the altar and cross clearly in view behind him.

I'd never been to St Peter's College before (incidentally, it's a new college in Oxford terms -- founded in the 1920s), so I got a tour of the place after the interview. Then we went for lunch at the Eagle and Child, the pub where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein and the other "Inklings" gathered each week to discuss their work-in-progress over beer. They met in a secluded area of the pub called "The Rabbit Room", which, by a nice coincidence, is where we ended up being seated for lunch. On the way in, Stephen Douds, the series producer, pointed out that I'd disgracefully neglected to mention Gary Carville, our cameraman, in my blogs from Princeton. That's a dreadful oversight on my part since Gary is the reason why we have and pictures at all -- and the term "cameraman" doesn't really do justice to his many roles on a shoot. In any case, he is now well and truly blogged.

I'll let you know the transmission dates for the interviews in dure course. Needless to say, Dawkins is a provocative and engaging interviewee. I don't know why he has a reputation for being stand-offish and a little "difficult"; in person, he is charming company, and clearly enjoys having his views challenged and debated.

Right, I'm off ... we've a flight to catch at Heathrow.

It's a question I asked David Irving during a live interview this morning. He wouldn't rule out the idea. Indeed, he recalled talking to a lot of people who worked very closely with Hitler who thought him a decent human being. David Irving's Hitler is more "tragic" than "evil" and was kept in the dark about the Holocaust until 1943.

Mr Justice Gray, the judge in the , concluded that Irving was an apologist for Hitler, a racist, an active Holocaust denier and a writer who has distorted historical truths for his own purposes. When Irving pleaded guilty to holocaust denial in Vienna in 2005, he told the court he'd changed his mind about the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz. Speaking to reporters outside the court before the trial began,

I'm not a Holocaust denier. Obviously, I've changed my views. History is a constantly growing tree - the more you know, the more documents become available, the more you learn, and I have learned a lot since 1989.

You can decide for yourself, on this basis of his comments in this extended interview, just how far he has changed his mind about the Final Solution and Hitler's role in the best documented genocide in history.

A quick update. is confirmed as one of my guests on Sunday's programme. He'll be joined by the German-born historian and Shoshanna Appleton, a well-known member of our local Jewish community.

We'll also be trying to get to the bottom of the racism row on Big Brother. Unfortunately I won't be able to watch Jade's departure live on TV tonight -- she's bound to be evicted, right? Channel Four obviously think Jade's the most likely evictee, since they've just decided to broadcast tonight's eviction without the usual live audience. When was the last time a British TV programme provoked this kind of moral debate across two continents?

I'll be missing the eviction tonighty because I'm off to see tonight -- a real Scottish director's cinematic examinaton of Idi Amin, a dictator who was in turns brutal and bizarre. In some ways, all you need to know about Idi Amin is contained in his official title:

His Excellency President for Life Field Marshal Al Hadji Dr. Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, King of Scotland, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular

This should be good. My companions tonight are Paul and Anne Bailie, who are very good friends of mine -- I was best man at their wedding -- who worked in educational development for a few years in Kikuyu, Kenya, and have an encyclopedic knowledge of east African life and culture. It'll be interesting to hear their perspective on Amin and the film's depiction of east Africa.

It's been a long week, and like many I've been recovering from a bout of the flu (I know, that's male language for a minor cold), so I need a good night out. Yes, that was a plea for sympathy!

Germany will be using its presidency of the European Union to press for an EU-wide law against and a ban on the swatika -- even though that symbol pre-dates its Nazi use by some 5,000 years.

The German proposal to censor the swastika has triggered protests from commentators across Europe. Similarly, the proposal to criminalise holocaust denial has been opposed by some leading Jewish commentators and anti-holocaust denial activists such as (Although some leading Jewish advocacy groups have supported the controversial law.)

Professor Lipstadt famously defeated the holocaust denier in the High Court in London, after he challenged her assessment of his "revisionist" account of the holocaust in one of her books. I interviewed Dr Lipstadt on Sunday Sequence recently and she was adamant that criminalisation is not the way to deal with ideas we find unpalatable. In the past few weeks, David Irving was released from an Austrian prison having served 13 months for holocaust denial. I hope to interview him live on Sunday's programme.

Why is hardly anybody concerned that the minute hand on the has just been to five minutes to midnight? I've heard a couple of news reports which covered the news as though it's a comic relief story.

A Church of England archbishop has just been named as one of the six-person shortlist for this year's Channel 4 News Political Awards. Guess which archbishop it ?

Was the Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty subjected to racism on live television? Channel 4 says there was no overt racism on the programme, but that cultural and class nuances were at the heart of personal difficulties Ms Shetty had with three female white contestants on their Big Brother programme.

The Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain, who first made his name in the UK as a campainger against apartheid in South Africa, was in no doubt today that the programme was "grubby" and contained racism.

On a government visit to India today, found that more reporters wanted to talk to him about Big Brother than about international trade. He was clearly embarrassed at having to denying accusations that Britain is a racist culture on Indian television and to give similar assurances to the Indian government.

Meanwhile, the Big Brother episode has garnered more complaints than any other programme in the history of British television -- and its ratings will no doubt go through the roof. What's the moral of this tale?

book takes its title from an aphorism by the Russian critic and essayist Vasilii Rozanov which, Holloway says, has haunted him for years: 鈥淎ll religions will pass, but this will remain: simply sitting in a chair and looking in the distance.鈥� When it was published in 2004, it marked another important page-turn in the story of Richard Holloway.

After reading Michael Hull's winning credo entry on this blog, I have this image of Michael sitting on his chair in Bardonia, a hamlet in the New York metropolitan area, looking in the distance and reflecting on life. As his prize for winning our 272-word competition, I've mailed Michael a copy of Holloway's book (or, rather, I've asked a bookshop in New Jersey to mail it to him). I'm looking in the distance and hoping to eventually read Michael's reflections on Richard Holloway.

Incidentally, you can hear my interview with Richard Holloway, which dealt with this book, in the Sunday Sequence archive. I hope to talk to him again soon, now that he's published another book, : What's Left of Christianity?

A joke ? Or an argument for a provision in European law to ensure that this doesn't happen here?

After hundreds of comments posted here about whether the Second Law of Thermodynamics is violated by evolutionary biology, I thought you'd enjoy .

The gloves are off. This letter from an Episcopal Church bishop is now doing the rounds across the net. It's author is the bishop of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and it was addressed to his colleagues in the American Episcopal Church. It was originally intended to be a private communication, but it has now become very public.

Anglican bishops, as this letter acknowledges, are traditionally "polite" in their exchanges. All that ends here. Bishop Marshall in effect excoriates the Archbishop of Canterbury for being an "arch bishop" -- patronising, aloof, distant, insensitive, and lamentably ill-informed about the American church. Some commentators say Paul Marshall is speaking for many progressives within The Episcopal Church (TEC), who are infuriated by Rowan Williams's alledgedly anemic leadership.

Money quote:

The situation of the shunning of North American bishops would be painful under any circumstances. The pain is more intense here because it comes from the withdrawal of a human who was friend, teacher, and colleague to many in this church - with no notice that either his opinions or commitments were in flux. The archbishop has appeared to my knowledge only once in the US since 2003, and that was the briefest of visits to raise money for a function of the Communion. He cancelled a date for a joint meeting with Canadian and US bishops with no real excuse, and has made no effort to reschedule what could have been a fellowship-redeeming encounter. Our relationship to the one who is expected to be first in a world-wide college of bishops is distant, confused, and multiply-triangulated. We are ceaselessly told by those who would destroy our church that the ABC endorses this or that crudely divisive action or position. Questions to Lambeth on these occasions are sometimes met with silence and sometimes with stunning equivocation. This distance, confusion, and triangulation ought not to be. One of the basics of episcopal - or parish - pastoral care is that one gets with and stays as close as possible to those who may be seen to be problematic. The Pope went to Turkey. Can the Archbishop of Canterbury not come to meet us just once at a regular or special meeting in any city he would care to name?

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My this morning with the new Archbishop of Armagh, , was always going to be something of a challenge. New episcopal appointees are never keen to say anything controversial in a broadcast interview -- and one can understand why.

Alan Harper was being extremely careful today, hoping not to say anything that could alienate one side of his church or the other, and was working hard to avoid giving rhetorical hostages to fortune by expressing a view that would return to haunt his leadership. The ambitions of the interviewer are clearly different: to pin the archbishop down on certain key questions and elicit a view from him, and (as always) to offer listeners an engaging and revealing interview.

These are clearly competing ambitions, and I think that was reflected in today's interview. I talked to Archbishop-elect Harper about the future of the Church of Ireland, the debate about homosexuality within worldwide Anglicanism and the current impasse in the Northern Ireland political peace process.

Anglicans in Ireland and beyond will have been paying close attention to what the new archbishop had to say about same-sex relationships, given the Anglican Communion's continuing war with itself over the inclusion of gay and lesbian people.

There weren't many revelations. Alan Harper welcomed the appointment of the new Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, was supportive of her full participation in the and confirmed that he will be attending the next Primates' Meeting in February.

When I asked about same-sex relationships, the Archbishop-elect said:

1. He and his fellow bishops have not "done enough" to honour their commitment to listen to the experience of gay and lesbian people.

2. That a person's sexual orientation was a feature of that person's nature ("people are born with the sexuality that they have and I have to wrestle with whether or not that is a sinful situation to find yourself in. I don't believe it is inherently sinful to be homosexual". ).

3. That the church has more work to do in assessing the validity of certain types of same-sex relationships, and whether those relationships are sinful would depend on "how they are conducted". Without wishing to unpack the point any further, he suggested that a couple living in an "appropriately chaste relationship" would not be sinning, and appeared to be using the term "chaste" in this context to mean "faithful and monogamous", rather than as a synonym for "celibate".

4. That the Church of Ireland supports the government's introduction of civil partnership legislation.

5. That the Church of Ireland "is not in a position to decide that it should formally bless relationships that are outside marriage", though he noted that a same-sex relationship "might itself be a blessing or might not".

My impression is that I was talking to a sensitive and thoughtful man who was struggling, in the best sense of that term, to understand the experience of gay and lesbian people, and wanted to reflect on both the science and the theology of sexuality in order to construct a responsible pastoral response. What he didn't say in the interview is perhaps more significant than what he did say. If I had been putting these questions to a conservative evangelical, I'd have been told it was not a sin to be gay in orientation, but that it is a sin to "act" on that orientation. Alan Harper didn't say that; and though he did mention Lambeth 1998's Resolution 1.10 in order to criticise bishops for not reaching out to the gay community, it's significant that he chose not to quote that controversial resolution's clear rejection of "homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture."

What's your assessment of Alan Harper's comments?

On Friday evening, I attended the inaugural Chancellor's Lecture at the University of Ulster. The speaker was one of Britain's best-known QCs, (nicknamed "the nation's favourite Portia"), who spoke about "Law and Democracy in a Changing World."

Just prior to the lecture, I interviewed Helena Kennedy. We talked about her working-class roots in Glasgow, her decision to make a career in the law, and her involvement in new Labour politics. She indicted Tony Blair as the perpetrator of an illegal war, who has harmed international law and human rights; though, when pushed, she said she wouldn't like to see him tried for war crimes in an international court. She also comes to the defence of the embattled former education secretary Ruth Kelly. Helena Kennedy is, as always, extremely engaging, provocative, and candid -- and you can hear that interview in full on tomorrow's Sunday Sequence from 8.30 am.

Our Spirit of Lincoln competition challenged bloggers to write their personal credo in no more than 272 words -- the wordcount of the Gettysburg Address.

This is a perfect weekend to announce the winner, since Monday is in the United States. Dr King was born on 15 January 1929, and assassinated in 1968. He is one of only four individuals to have US federal holidays named in their honour -- along with Jesus Christ, Christopher Columbus and George Washington.

One hundred years after Lincoln gave his address at Gettysburg, on 28 August 1963, Martin Luther King stood at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC and gave a speech, inspired by Lincoln's famous words, which we know today as the "" speech. Dr King's speech begins "Five score years ago". He took much longer than 272 words, but the result is nevertheless electric. You can watch the speech on video . It's one of those few speeches that sounds more impressive with every hearing.

In 272 words or less, visitors to the Will and Testament blog have written their own statements of personal belief. The credo attracting the most comments wins the competition -- and a book prize of my choice. The winner is Michael N. Hull (with 47 comments). Congratulations to Michael -- and thanks to all our contestants for giving us so much to talk about this past week. I now get to choose a book prize inspired by Michael's "address". I'll reflect on that this weekend! Michael's credo gets a lap of honour by being reprinted below.

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The late David Ervine's wife Jeannette embraces Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams after the of her husband today in east Belfast. The other person in the picture is David's older brother Brian, who spoke movingly at the service of David's efforts to "translate the bloodstained tragic prose of violence and hatred [into] the poetry of peaceful co-existence".

I don't think I have ever attended a more inclusive funeral service in Northern Ireland. Secretary of State Peter Hain spoke of David as a "bruiser for peace". Party leaders from Unionism, Nationalism and Republicanism sat together in pews and stood to sing hymns in a service that seemed to unite every section of the community in grief and celebration. And all of this in a church in the heart of loyalist east Belfast. Many remarked on how David died much too young: he was just 53 years old. The truth is, some people could live to a hundred years and not have a legacy as impressive as today's unique gathering.

Becks is looking bronzed and feeling golden as he waves to Madrid. Posh is said to be house-hunting in Beverly Hills. The move will cost : it's estimated that Beckham will be paid a million dollars a week. Not bad for a semi-retirement package, and it won't be too difficult to make a splash in a team that was at the bottom of the league last season. But -- really -- is anyone worth a million dollars a week for kicking a football around a stadium?

According to , this was the daily prayer of the late , the former FDNY chaplain who was killed on September 11, 2001 in the World Trade Center disaster:

Lord, take me where You want me to go;
Let me meet who You want me to meet;
Tell me what You want me to say, and
Keep me out of Your way.

- Father Mychal F. Judge, OFM

A movement seeking the of Father Mychal is gathering support in the United States. He's already been canonised (as "St Mychal the Martyr") by the

What's going on at Exeter University's "Evangelical" Christian Union? the CU was claiming its rights were being abused by the University Students' Union. Legal action under the Human Rights Act was being threatened by the evangelical group. For their own reasons, the CU had refused offers of mediation. Now, it emerges that the CU was protesting against a ban that had by the Students' Union. Does your head hurt yet?

What song is the primate-elect singing?

In all the fuss about the new Anglican primate, I neglected to mention the voting in the Lords debate last night. Lord Eames made a speech in the debate, but did not vote.

Only five Church of England bishops voted (four against the equality legislation, one in favour).

And Richard Harries, the former bishop of Oxford and now a life peer, voted in support of the equality legislation.

You can read the speeches and consult the voting sheet .

The Archbishop of Canterbury is Welsh, the Archbishop of York is Ugandan. Why shouldn't the Archbishop of Armagh be an Englishman? Alan Harper has lived in Northern Ireland for more than 40 years, and has worked in the diocese of Connor for more than 20 years (the last six as bishop), having been born and raised in the north of England.

So far as I can tell, he is the first English-born Archbishop of Armagh since Disestablishment in 1869. I've just been chatting on the phone with Canon Edgar Turner -- who knows a thing or two about these things -- and that's his understanding too.

Alan Harper now faces a big challenge in leading the Church of Ireland during an embattled period for Anglicanism. Every journalist in the country will now be trying to extract a telling comment from the archbishop-elect about gay bishops and the future of the Anglican Communion.

Theologically, Alan Harper is known to be on the left of the spectrum -- towards the liberal end of those debates -- but is also traditional in his approach to liturgy and churchmanship. He'll be considered a "safe" choice by most bishops; he recently acted as spokesman for the bishops in their public challenge to the British government over "oppressive" legislation.

He also enjoys the respect of his predecessor, Robin Eames, and is said to be an excellent administrator, who can focus on an issue and generate reports and recommendations with impressive speed.

The task of leading a major church denomination these days also involves dealing with the media. Eames, of course, not only mastered that task, but seemed to relish it. Alan Harper will have plenty of practice in the next few days.

The eleven bishops of the Church of Ireland have chosen Bishop as the new Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. The election was held at St Patrick鈥檚 Cathedral in Dublin and the decision has just been announced. He will take up office on 2 February.

Alan Harper (62) has served as Bishop of Connor since March 2002. He is an Englishman who has lived in Northern Ireland for his entire adult life. He was educated at Leeds University (studying geography) and Trinity College, Dublin, and worked as an archaeologist before entering the ministry. In 1996, he was appointed an OBE for services to conservation in Northern Ireland.

Bishop Harper has served in parishes in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. He is married to Helen, and they have four children (Catherine, Richard, and twins Emma and Ann).

Following Eagleton's of Dawkins, the is now unparalleled as the venue for the negative review. Christopher Hitchen's "biography" of Thomas Paine's has been given a by John Barrell.

The Church of Ireland's eleven bishops meet tomorrow in Dublin to elect the new Archbishop of Armagh. The announcement is expected from St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, at about 4.00 pm. Meanwhile, I still haven't been able to ascertain whether Robin Eames was in the Lords tonight for the SOR division; and, if so, how he voted. I'll let you know tomorrow morning (and if you hear before that, let me know!).

This just in ...

The Lords have , by a margin of 3-1, to support the new Sexual Orientation Regulations, which will criminalise discrimination against gay people in the provision of goods and services. It's thought that the equality legislation, which came into force in Northern Ireland on 1 January 2007, will became law in England and Wales in April. About a thousand protestors rallied outside Parliament tonight, including gay campaigners and some Christian groups.

The Christian charity has released this statement opposing tonight's Westminster rally. Their director, Rev Malcolm Duncan (pictured) challenges his fellow Christians to follow the example of Jesus, to avoid double standards, and to stand with those who are excluded in society. And the statement asks some basic theological questions, such as:

Would it really be 鈥楥hristian鈥� to refuse bereavement counselling to a gay man, or to exclude a gay person and their child from a parent-and-toddler group?

Your thoughts?

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Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups will in Westminster tonight in opposition to planned new equality legislation to be debated in the Lords. The legislation, which bans discrimination against lesbian and gay people in the provision of goods and services, became law in Northern Ireland at the start of the year. We debated this legislation in Northern Ireland for a good part of last year, and the consultation process which paved the way to the legislation will be judicially reviewed by the High Court in March.

is surprised that these faith groups would come together in support of discrimination, rather than to oppose discrimination. She puts that point more forcefully: it is homophobia, not a sense of injustice, that really fires the faiths.

I recall witnessing some pretty nasty anti-gay protests in the United States, where religious campaigners carried banners declaring that "God Hates Fags". I suspect the English protestors will be a little more circumspect than that, and try to make a point about the collision of rights they perceive in the new legislation. I don't think it would be overstating the matter to say that their opposition to this equality legislation will, nevertheless, be seen as amounting to the same claim by some members of the gay community. That perception should surely concern any Christian, Muslim or Jew taking part in tonight's rally. Shouldn't it?

Senator George Mitchell has added his to David Ervine, who died yesterday. There's a real sense of sadness following the news of David Ervine's death which transcends political difference. That's very unusual in Northern Irish politics.

We'll know on Wednesday the identity of Robin Eames's successor as Anglican Primate of All Ireland. In my extended interview with Lord Eames on Sunday Sequence this week, he joked that he already knew his successor. True, because the Church of Ireland's tradition is to limit the field to the existing members of the House of Bishops.

Thus, there are only eleven candidates. By tradition (though there is no constitutional provision for this), the Archbishop of Dublin is apparently given first refusal. Whether John Neill will refuse is anybody's guess. He already occupies a significant office within southern society, which he may be unwilling to abandon for Armagh. He's also pretty high church (read: Anglo-Catholic), and his mitre wouldn't play terribly well in the north, where he has no experience as a priest or bishop (but, then, Eames had no experience in the south). On the other hand, Armagh opens influential doors within worldwide Anglicanism, which may tempt the archbishop north.

If the job doesn't go to John Neill, who are the likely candidates in an episcopal election? The House of Bishops is a theologically divided house, and the new archbishop would need to be a bridgebuilder. Who's the likely choice?

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The creationist campaigner Andy McIntosh spoke to me on today's Sunday Sequence, following Richard Dawkins's public challenge to his professional status as a scientist and professor at Leeds University. Dr McIntosh has claimed that biological evolution violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which asserts that systems must become more disordered over time.

Critics claim he has failed to recognise that evolutionary biology relates to an "open" system, whereas the Second Law of Thermodynamics applies only to "closed" systems. Andy McIntosh told me he accepts that evolution relates to an open system, but there are nevertheless difficulties in respect of the Second Law.

When I asked him if he shares his view on this matter with students at Leeds University, he said he was happy to speak about his views when students raised questions about evolution. This is possibly significant, since Leeds University has published a statement distancing the University from Dr McIntosh's stance on evolution. Following today's interview, it seems clear that Professor McIntosh is prepared to explore these issues with students in the course of his work at the University.

To test whether he would regard any scientific view as grounds for dismissal from a university position, I asked Professor McIntosh if he believed a "scientist" defending geocentricity (the view that the earth is at the centre of the universe) should be dismissed from a teaching position, even if that person held to that view on the basis of his reading of the Bible. He repeatedly refused to answer that question. I pointed out that some creationists maintain geocentricity -- in opposition to Galileo and Copernicus -- on the basis of their reading of the Bible, just as his view that the universe is only six thousand years old is based on his reading of the Bible. You can hear the entire interview here.

After today's programme, I received the following comment by email from Andy McIntosh. Dr McIntosh has asked me to publish this in full on the blog today, which I am happy to do.

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Tony Blair has about the execution of Saddam Hussein -- if only through an offical spokesperson. The manner of the dictator's execution was "completely wrong", we're now told. Similar comments by the chancellor, Gordon Brown, seem to have painted Downing Street into a rhetorical corner leaving the PM with no option but to make a statement. Now the PM looks like he's only commenting on an execution in order to take the spotlight away from the chancellor. Politics is a funny business.

Tony Blair still hasn't commented on the execution of Saddam Hussein. He can hardly avoid doing so now that Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, has added his view to the debate. "Deplorable" and "completely unacceptable" is how the PM-in-waiting describes the manner of Saddam's execution. The chancellor opposes capital punishment in principle. But, then, so does the unusually taciturn premier.

The best definition I know of a saint is this: a dead sinner, revised and edited. I've a feeling Oscar Wilde would have approved of that definition. And he'd smile at the of his ideas as a journey of faith. His grave in Paris may soon be attracting even more "pilgrims".

Yesterday, he was still the allegation. Today, Stanislaw Wielgush, who's due to be formally sworn in as Catholic Archbishop of Warsaw at mass tomorrow, . Catholic authorities are now satisfied that sufficient documents have been uncovered confirming that the new archbishop, who took up office before Christmas, was a spy for the Polish secret police, and that he informed on his clerical colleagues and others. Historians estimate that some 10-15 per cent of Polish Catholic priests collaborated with the Communist authorities in the 1970s and beyond.

Archbishop Wielgush is now under significant pressure to stand down, possibly even before tomorrow's ceremony. It's even unlikely that the Polish president or prime minister will now attend that ceremony if it goes ahead.

UPDATE: Sunday, 7 Jan, 9.45 a.m. Archbishop , 30 minutes before installation mass.

Iraq's Prime Minister says his country may with any country criticising Saddam Hussein's execution. Presumably, that must include the United States, whose president thought the execution "undignified" and suggested that the US could have done a better job.

I've challenged visitors to this site to submit their personal credo in 272 words or less -- since that's how many words Abraham Lincoln took to deliver his , one of the greatest speeches ever given. Today I post our bloggers' attempts to express their values and beliefs within that word-limit. If you are interested, provoked, challenged, impressed or infuriated by what they have written, add a comment and say why. Exactly one week from now, the credo attracting the most comments wins a book prize of my choice. Needless to say, the views expressed by the entrants to our Spirit of Lincoln competition are their views, not mine or the 大象传媒's. The following is Dubya's credo.

When I was young I stayed with my grandparents a lot in the summers. They lived in Newcastle Co. Down. A seaside town in the old school, donkey rides, slot machines 鈥� you got the picture.

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I've challenged visitors to this site to submit their personal credo in 272 words or less -- since that's how many words Abraham Lincoln took to deliver his , one of the greatest speeches ever given. Today I post our bloggers' attempts to express their values and beliefs within that word-limit. If you are interested, provoked, challenged, impressed or infuriated by what they have written, add a comment and say why. Exactly one week from now, the credo attracting the most comments wins a book prize of my choice. Needless to say, the views expressed by the entrants to our Spirit of Lincoln competition are their views, not mine or the 大象传媒's. The following is The Christian Hippy's credo.

I believe that the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell the greatest of British leaders a man who believed the Bible to be the inspired and infallible Word of God and who lived his life accordingly and believed that others should do the same, was right when he along with others banned Christmas, though it had only limited success.

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I've challenged visitors to this site to submit their personal credo in 272 words or less -- since that's how many words Abraham Lincoln took to deliver his , one of the greatest speeches ever given. Today I post our bloggers' attempts to express their values and beliefs within that word-limit. If you are interested, provoked, challenged, impressed or infuriated by what they have written, add a comment and say why. Exactly one week from now, the credo attracting the most comments wins a book prize of my choice. Needless to say, the views expressed by the entrants to our Spirit of Lincoln competition are their views, not mine or the 大象传媒's. The following is Mark L. Fischer's credo.

In time and space without beginning or end, and suns and worlds beyond number, for a fleeting moment six billion microbes crawling on a floating speck of dust fought and died over which of them was most like the god they imagined created it all. It would be tragic, were it not so very funny.

I've challenged visitors to this site to submit their personal credo in 272 words or less -- since that's how many words Abraham Lincoln took to deliver his , one of the greatest speeches ever given. Today I post our bloggers' attempts to express their values and beliefs within that word-limit. If you are interested, provoked, challenged, impressed or infuriated by what they have written, add a comment and say why. Exactly one week from now, the credo attracting the most comments wins a book prize of my choice. Needless to say, the views expressed by the entrants to our Spirit of Lincoln competition are their views, not mine or the 大象传媒's. The following is George Jelliss's credo.

How do we know what is true and what to believe? We have to rely on reason to evaluate the evidence. All humans have the ability to reason, we need it just to survive from day to day, it is largely common sense. Reason however is not divorced from feeling.

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I've challenged visitors to this site to submit their personal credo in 272 words or less -- since that's how many words Abraham Lincoln took to deliver his , one of the greatest speeches ever given. Today I post our bloggers' attempts to express their values and beliefs within that word-limit. If you are interested, provoked, challenged, impressed or infuriated by what they have written, add a comment and say why. Exactly one week from now, the credo attracting the most comments wins a book prize of my choice. Needless to say, the views expressed by the entrants to our Spirit of Lincoln competition are their views, not mine or the 大象传媒's. The following is PB's credo.

I believe... in the Christ
Who revealed himself to me as knowing me completely yet loving me completely
Whose graciousness forgave and forgives my wrongs
Who helped me from severe depression to professionally honoured for serving the community

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I've challenged visitors to this site to submit their personal credo in 272 words or less -- since that's how many words Abraham Lincoln took to deliver his , one of the greatest speeches ever given. Today I post our bloggers' attempts to express their values and beliefs within that word-limit. If you are interested, provoked, challenged, impressed or infuriated by what they have written, add a comment and say why. Exactly one week from now, the credo attracting the most comments wins a book prize of my choice. Needless to say, the views expressed by the entrants to our Spirit of Lincoln competition are their views, not mine or the 大象传媒's. The following is Alan Watson's credo.

Evolution gave us large brains, imagination, language and an inquisitive nature, but lacking scientific knowledge, we invented gods and holy books to explain our origins, the universe and our place in it.

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I've challenged visitors to this site to submit their personal credo in 272 words or less -- since that's how many words Abraham Lincoln took to deliver his , one of the greatest speeches ever given. Today I post our bloggers' attempts to express their values and beliefs within that word-limit. If you are interested, provoked, challenged, impressed or infuriated by what they have written, add a comment and say why. Exactly one week from now, the credo attracting the most comments wins a book prize of my choice. Needless to say, the views expressed by the entrants to our Spirit of Lincoln competition are their views, not mine or the 大象传媒's. The following is Michael N. Hull's credo.

For three score and four years with full measure of devotion I have lived within the Christian tradition. Christianity abides germane through my growth in understanding the authority of its metaphorical insights.

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I've challenged visitors to this site to submit their personal credo in 272 words or less -- since that's how many words Abraham Lincoln took to deliver his , one of the greatest speeches ever given. Today I post our bloggers' attempts to express their values and beliefs within that word-limit. If you are interested, provoked, challenged, impressed or infuriated by what they have written, add a comment and say why. Exactly one week from now, the credo attracting the most comments wins a book prize of my choice. Needless to say, the views expressed by the entrants to our Spirit of Lincoln competition are their views, not mine or the 大象传媒's. The following is John Wright's credo.

If only it had been possible for people, centuries ago, to look into the future and observe the progress of humanity in developed countries by 2006. Their profound delight and envy would surely astonish some of today's sulky malcontents. The relative peace, abundant prosperity, ingrained order and fundamental sophistication of our society would have been far beyond the imaginations of any human being just a short time ago.

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I'm off to a press screening of John Cameron Mitchell's new film, . no, it's not a movie about transportation. Well, not quite.

We'll review it on Sunday morning.

The Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell speaking today:

"The Prime Minister's silence is more eloquent than anything he might have said. "The shameful scenes at Saddam Hussein's execution should be an embarrassment to everyone. Most of all they reflect the abject failure of the policies of the White House and Number 10 towards Iraq. Sooner or later Mr Blair will have to respond to these events."

I've just recorded an interview with Jeremy Stangroom, co-author with Ophelia Benson of . We were planning to broadcast the interview this Sunday, but it'll probably be the following, since a debate about capital punishment, Andy McIntosh responding to his critics and an hour-long interview with Lord Eames will take up most of that programme. Jeremy deals with various challenges to truth in the interview, including "postmodernism". One difficulty this kind of interview presents for broadcasting is that it is pretty heady stuff. Terms like "epistemology" and "truth" in close proximity ... could be an interesting edit. I am fully committed to challenging radio, though; and I'm lucky to work for a station that encourages intelligent speech. So we'll see how that all comes out in the wash.

Andy McIntosh has been in touch to say he's now willing to be interviewed live on this week's Sunday Sequence. The interview will go out at some point between 8.30 and 9.00 am.

On meeting a young Muslim in east Belfast today, I wished him "Eid mubarak". We talked about whether the execution of Saddam Hussein has dishonoured Eid. He assured me it had not. This, he said, was the perfect day for a "human sacrifice", and Saddam an appropriate offering. He expressed surprise that so many of us in the West should regard the manner of Saddam's execution as "demeaning" or "tawdry".

Christopher Hitchens has a .

An based on Dante's is to be performed at the Vatican. More than any biblical book, Dante's extraordinary epic poem is responsible for popular images of hell and purgatory. Apparently, the Vatican is close to releasing a new document dispatching the idea of -- which was never an officially defined Catholic doctrine -- to theological perdition. I wonder if Hell, as a place of endless conscious punishment, is also doomed. It's already rejected by many leading theologians as an idea that is difficult to reconcile with a divine person conceived as infinitely gracious and loving. What do you think? Does hell have a future?

The Iraqi government says it will execute the two men sentenced alongside Saddam Hussein -- against growing international . A government official has made it clear that the sentence of death cannot be commuted according to Iraqi law, and there is no provision for a pardon. According to the UN, the lack of a commutation provision is inconsistent with international law.

The Iraqi government also says it plans to ensure that none of the chaos surrounding the execution of Saddam Hussein will overshadow the execution of his colleagues. Nevertheless, the lack of a commutation provision must surely leave the of these executions in serious doubt.

International law also clearly prohibits execution following an unfair trial. The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, with the explicit support of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has questioned the of the trial in the case of Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad al-Bandar.

In a responsible democracy, these kinds of concerns might give a government reason to pause for reflection. In the case of Iraq, they are unlikely to halt the scheduled executions. These hangings may now take place without the embarrassment of sectarian verbal abuse, but the long shadow of illegality will be more difficult to remove.

We've a term for executions which take place without due process of law. They're called "lynchings".

That's a pretty horrid expression, but it's been used by some commentators to describe what's happened to "", the nine-year-old girl in Seattle with . She is permanently brain-damaged, cannot walk or talk, and has a "mental age" of three months; so doctors have used surgery and hormone therapies to prevent Ashley growing any bigger or taking on typical features of pubescence or adulthood. Her parents say it's the to care for her; and her doctors clearly agree.

The parents say keeping Ashley smaller enables them to provide her with the personal care she needs: if she grows bigger, it will become difficult for them to lift her and meet her needs. Dr Doug Diekema, a member of the ethics committee who approved the procedure, told the Today programme this morning that it may be appropriate that Ashley remains small since she will never grow to become an adult mentally; and she will always lack basic capacities for social interaction.

Is this an unethical use of medical technology or an example of good parenting under extremis?

Professor Norman Nevin, who was part of our panel on last week's Sunday Sequence, is one of to have written to the Prime Minister and Education Secretary in support of Truth in Science's controversial schools initiative. believe that children and youth people should be exposed to alternatives to Darwinism and evolutionary theory, and, particularly, to Intelligent Design Theory, and have sent teaching packs to every school in the country.

Norman Nevin is professor emeritus of medical genetics at Queen's University and an advisor to the government on gene therapies. He's also committed Christian and lay preacher. Also signing the letter is the former director of the Armagh Observatory, Mart de Groot; the Warwick University sociologist Steve Fuller (who, like Norman Nevin, contributed to our recent Creation Wars special); and Professor Antony Flew.

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The Colosseum was once a venue for execution and barbaric sports. Today, it has become a symbol and a rallying call in the international debate about capital punishment. The city of Rome lights up the Colosseum when an execution order is overturned or a country abolishes capital punishment. And Italy, which this week took up one of the 10 non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council, says it will now use its influence to campaign for a on capital punishment.

The Italian government's opposition to capital punishment accords with the Catholic Church's official stance. The Vatican daily newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has described the execution of Saddam Hussein as a "public spectacle" and a "violation of a fundamental human right".

Iraq and Italy have an interesting common experience in their journeys to democracy. After WW2, Mussolini was also mocked and while being executed -- in his case, he was hung in a public square in Milan after having been shot and his corpse was also subjected to ridicule and abuse. The Iraqi government say this common experience gives Italy no right to criticise their decision to despatch their own tyrant. Italy, on the other hand, may draw on sixty years of moral hindsight.

Should the UN introduce a global ban on capital punishment? What would that mean? In order to have teeth, the ban would need to be accompanied by appropriately stiff sanctions. These can certainly be effective in changing state policies. But it's very unlikely that any ban could be agreed, let alone succeed, without the support of the United States. There's the rub. A certain kind of "theology" of capital punishment holds sway in the American debate which gives supporters the impression that state-sanctioned killing is also divinely-sanctioned. Thus -- much to the chagrin of against capital punishment -- a global ban is being held back, at least in part, by certain patterns of biblical interpretation.

Did you know that Moses was just appointed an ?

Not that Moses.

John Prescott uses the word "". Other commentators have used terms like "tawdry", "obscene", "disgusting", "disgraceful", and "barbaric" to describe the scenes at the gallows which have apparently "overshadowed" the execution of Saddam Hussein. I can't disagree with their word-choice. Those of us who oppose capital punishment on moral grounds may find that those terms apply equally to all state-sanctioned killings.

Nevertheless, the mobile phone footage we've now seen is likely to haunt the new Iraq as it provokes even further civil unrest. That the execution was handled appallingly by the Iraqi authorities seems now almost universally accepted. Critics will ask how a government can hope to run a country when it can't even organize a hanging.

For their part, the Iraqi government now says that the verbal abuse heard in the footage came from one of the hooded guards at the execution, and that was as much a surprise and an embarrassment to them as it was to everyone else. They have begun an investigation. Yet the country鈥檚 chief prosecutor, who was present at the gallows in that dark and cold death chamber, told journalists today that he witnessed a government official filming the execution openly with a mobile phone. Another man was also in view, he said, openly filming the execution. So much for shooting history. It now also emerges that the Iraqi prime minister pressed ahead with the execution against an that it should be delayed for two weeks. It's no wonder that Mr is already ruling out a second term in office.

The political upshot of this botched execution is that Saddam is now crowned a "martyr" by his Sunni followers; and they are, as I type, using their own mobile phones to send images of their hero's final moments, confident that the recipients of those messages will see this as they see it: a Shiite lynching dressed up as a judical act.

He has a great name for the world's leading historian of creationism. Ron Numbers' : The Evolution of Scientific Creationism is an indispensable guide to a fascinating religious movement. The current issue of salon.com features an with him.

Isn't it strange that the boxer has been stripped of his MBE, while remains a peer of the realm. Both committed crimes meriting imprisonment. In fact, Lord Archer was given a longer sentence -- he served two years out of a four year sentence, while Hamed served 16 weeks out of a 15 month sentence. There are other differences which some may observe too: one is a British Asian, the other is a white member of the establishment. Before anyone rushes to judgement on that score, though, we should be clear that there are constitutional and legal obstacles which need to be negotiated before any peer may be removed from the upper chamber. The government has had the opportunity to address these, but the issue of became embroiled in the larger debate about House of Lords reform.

Does fairness -- natural justice -- now dictate that it is time for the government to revisit this question in the light of Naseem Hamed's removal from "the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire"?

Today's the deadline for our Spirit of Lincoln competition.

(BTW: Just a thought on the passing of Gerald Ford, the only unelected president of the US. He was an extremely understated, socially reserved man with a sense of his own ordinariness. He once told an audience, "I'm a Ford, not a Lincoln." However ordinary, it is to his great credit that brought the American troops home from Vietnam.)

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