My brief thoughts on climate change

It is reportedly the coldest Easter on record. It seems an odd time to be thinking about global warming.

Yet that's what many a sceptic is doing, pouncing on the current cold spell as "proof" (sic) that there is in act no global warming and using it to argue we shouldn't bother trying to cut carbon emissions. It just shows how sterile the debate is.

In fact climate change is more complicated than temperatures rising all the time, and prolonged cold spells are a part of the effect due to changing pressures. I don't pretend to understand all the details of the science behind it but I'm more convinced by those who do than by those who simply point at the thermometer in complacency.

And quite apart from anything to do with the climate or to do with improving air quality, in the long run this country (and indeed the world) needs supplies of energy that are cheap, sustainable and secure. We cannot risk being in a situation where our energy supply is ever dependent on a rogue state, nor can we predict which those states will be. We cannot use fossil fuels forever; we may find additional sources and more efficient extraction methods but one day they will invariably run out. And by then energy bills will have spiralled out of control.

The more done now, the safer we will be in the long run. And developing alternate sources is also a way of providing more jobs.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everybody.

The Archbishop's Easter sermon

Yesterday I went to Canterbury Cathedral for the Easter Day Sung Eucharist. Unlike last year (see A Cathedral is no place for a disruption) there was no disruption of the service this year. Instead Archbishop Williams delivered one of the most thoughtful sermons I've yet heard. Here is the first paragraph:

Do you know that God exists? the interviewers ask; or, How do you know Christian faith is true? There are two tempting ways of responding, both wrong. There is the apologetic shuffle of saying, 'Of course, I don't really know; this is just the truth as it appears to me and I may be wrong'. And there is the confident offer to prove it all to the hearer's satisfaction; here are the philosophical arguments, here is the historical evidence, now what's the problem?

The full sermon can be found at The Archbishop of Canterbury: The Archbishop's Easter Sermon.

A Cathedral is no place for a disruption

I've just come back from a pleasant trip to Canterbury Cathedral for the Easter Day Sung Eucharist. As ever it was a wonderful service that I first started attending when I was an undergraduate in Canterbury. Today, despite snow and rain, a huge congregation attended.

But there was one unfortunate note, though so far I'm only aware of the Press Association picking up on the story. Just as Rowan Williams entered his pulpit to deliver his sermon, two men jumped up with placards and started disrupting things, claiming that the Archbishop has never spoken out about the persecution of Christians around the world and against his misreported comments about Sharia Law. They were soon escorted away (see The Press Association: Two held over cathedral protest) and the Archbishop told us all how he does frequently speak out about the persecution around the world. It does not surprise me that you won't find his response in the Press Association's story and for that matter the Archbishop is often ignored when he's speaking out on these matters. Much of the media is only interested in rows within the Church.

The incident brought back memories of the disgraceful protest by Peter Tatchell ten years ago. I doubt there was anyone who was more convinced of his cause because of it, whilst many were turned against it. A church or cathedral is a place for coming together to worship and to follow the Word. Services are a time for reflection and contemplation. Disrupting the service to make a point is highly offensive and never going to win adherents to a cause. There is a place to make a protest - and the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral offer plenty of places to make it outside - but during a service is disgraceful. I hope that we will not see repeats of this behaviour.

On roaming Easters

In my previous post Time to stabilise the date of Easter? I mentioned the Easter Act 1928 which sought to stabilise the date of Easter in the UK to the Sunday after the second Saturday in April (as April 7th is the traditional date for the Crucifixion) but which has never been brought into force. The main reason is that the Churches have been unable to reach agreement on a single date, leaving us with the current situation whereby Easter roams across the months of March and April with little regard for the impact on calendars.

I can remember back in 2000 when Easter fell as late as April 23. The result was we had two Bank Holiday Mondays (Easter Monday and May Day) in a row, schools and universities found that they either had to start the summer term rather later than they'd have liked or incorporate yet another holiday early on. This year we're seeing the same problem at the other end, with the result that many children are still at school and so consequently families have a much shorter period in which they can go away for Easter. In turn this has just compounded the travel chaos this weekend.

Having a fixed date has done no harm to Christmas, but fixing a date for Easter would require agreement amongst the churches (and detaching the holy day from the holiday would be an unwise move) and that may be some way off. However individual churches and states could at least make an effort by encouraging discussion on potential dates and generating pressure for a settlement.

One minor problem that could be solved is the current bunching of holidays in the spring. By replacing the May Day bank holiday with one in the autumn it would better balance holidays across the year, bring some much needed relief in the autumn and reduce the disruption in the spring.

Time to stabilise the date of Easter?

I've just been reading BBC News: Ever been drunk driving a steam engine? and noted the following:

The ones that survive either serve some purpose or to repeal them would be too controversial, like the Easter Act 1928, which deems that Easter Sunday should be fixed as the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April. But to enforce it would require agreement with Christian churches around the world.

Easter is a festival that wanders all over March and April, often playing havoc with other schedules (particularly for schools and universities). When at school I remember a Greek Orthodox friend telling me how Easter was celebrated on a different date that year - maybe it wouldn't be so disruptive if the Church of England were to agree to regularise Easter in line with this law.