The wonders of the universe should move us to praise God

The Universe Is God's

October 13, 2006
Psalm 104:31-35

He touches the hills, and they smoke. —Psalm 104:32

Rising 6.3 miles from its base on the ocean floor and stretching 75 miles across, Hawaii's Mauna Loa is the largest volcano on Earth. But on the surface of the planet Mars stands Olympus Mons, the largest volcano yet discovered in our solar system. The altitude of Olympus Mons is three times higher than Mt. Everest and 100 times more massive than Mauna Loa. It's large enough to contain the entire chain of the Hawaiian islands!

Long ago, David looked up at the night skies and stood in awe at the wonder of his Creator's universe. He wrote, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork" (Ps. 19:1).

But the stars and the sky were not all that stirred the wonder of ancient writers. Earthquakes and volcanoes also inspired awe for the Creator. Psalm 104 says, "[God] looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the hills, and they smoke" (v.32).

As space probes explore more of our solar system, they will continue to discover unknown wonders. But whatever they find is the work of the same Creator (Gen. 1:1).

The wonders of the universe should move us to praise God, just as they moved a shepherd boy long ago as he gazed up at the heavens (Ps. 8:3-5). — Dennis Fisher

I sing the mighty power of God
That made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad
And built the lofty skies. —Watts

All of creation bears God's autograph.

Sin has a way of growing

Pet Sins

November 15, 1999

ODB RADIO: | Download
READ: James 1:12-18

Sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. --James 1:15

For 8 years, Sally had been the Romero family pet. She was only 1 foot long when they brought her home. But Sally grew and grew until eventually she reached a length of 11 feet and weighed 80 pounds.

Then one day Sally, a Burmese python, turned on 15-year-old Derek, strangling the unsuspecting teenager until he died of suffocation. Police said that the snake was "quite aggressive, hissing, and reacting" when they arrived to investigate the young man's death.

Sin is like that snake. When a sin first enters our lives, we think of it as harmless, almost cute. Yet it doesn't stay small. Sin has a way of growing. We think we can handle it, but then it begins to handle us. And it always leads to death--sometimes physical death, and often emotional death. At other times it leads to the death of a relationship.

And if sin is not confessed and forsaken, it will bring spiritual death. That's why James warned us that "sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death" (1:15). His purpose in saying that was not to spoil our fun but to preserve our highest joys.

If you are playing with a pet sin in your life, God urges you to beware. It's a life-and-death matter. — Haddon W. Robinson

Just one little sin, what harm can it do?
But give it free rein and soon there are two,
And then sinful deeds and habits ensue;
So guard well your thoughts or they'll destroy you. --DJD

Toying with sin invites disaster.

The Commodification of Motherhood

Selling Her Body, a Few Eggs at a Time

By Michael Poore
2/20/2008

The Commodification of Motherhood

This article is from the October 2006 BreakPoint WorldView magazine. Sign up today to receive the free online edition 10 times a year!

The women at elite colleges and universities see the ads all the time—WANTED: egg donor, tall, attractive, athletic, good health, under age 26, SAT scores above 1,300, compensation $5,000. A very attractive offer for a busy, cash-strapped college student. At more prestigious schools—Harvard, Yale, or Brown—the offering price can range from $15,000 to $60,000 per donor cycle. A few years ago an ad ran in the Stanford Daily offering $100,000.

Students are not the only respondents to such ads. A recent article in USA Today describes a Virginia attorney who received $7,500 for her first donation of fifteen eggs, and she expects to receive another $7,500 for a second cycle. This money will be used to help pay off her $175,000 college debt. Women with families also sell their eggs. Whether a working mother or stay-at-home mom, these women have a track record—they have already produced children with their eggs.

Even so, the attorney and the Ivy League grad student may have an advantage over the stay-at-home mom in the human egg market—a market in which the highest prices go to those who possess the characteristics most in demand: intelligence as demonstrated by academic achievement, beauty, athletic ability, and a family history of good health.

The demand for eggs is not likely to decline soon. Those in search of eggs are highly motivated, often desperate. Many are career women who delayed having children and are now in their late thirties, forties, and even fifties. At this age, the risk of genetic defects for children born with their own eggs has risen dramatically, and purchasing younger, healthier eggs is a solution.

This buying and selling of human eggs—although thinly disguised as compensation for time and trouble—is controversial. Should women sell their eggs? Should they be allowed to sell their eggs? Yes, according to the libertarian thinking that dominates the fertility industry: Consenting adults should be able to do whatever they want with their bodies as long as no one else is harmed. However, the mental, medical, moral, and social dimensions of egg donation are not that cut-and-dried.

RATIONALIZING AWAY HER EGGS
Julia Derek, a Swedish journalism student studying in the United States, discovered many of the hazards of egg donation the hard way. Desperate for cash and looking for a job, she came across an ad in the Washington Post offering $3,500 for an egg donor.

At first, she was repulsed by the idea: “If I donated my eggs to a woman—or sold actually—I would become the mother to that woman’s child, wouldn’t I?” But her desperation soon led to a host of rationalizations. It would not be the same as giving away a child. It would be like giving away a cell, the same as giving someone a hair. It could not be her child since it would not be in her womb nine months. The real mother is the woman who raises the child, not the one who only contributes her genetic material.

In the end, she started selling her body, a few eggs at a time. After all, why wait tables if you can get thousands of dollars by becoming an egg donor?

From the beginning, Julia knew that “donation” was not donation. No one would provide eggs without compensation for the considerable time and trouble—physical exams, daily hormone injections, frequent blood tests to monitor hormone levels, and ultrasounds to track development of the eggs. Then, there’s the small chance that fertility drugs, used to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs, could lead to serious complications, sterility, or even death. This time-consuming process takes about four weeks and is completed by minor surgery, during which the ripened eggs are suctioned from the follicles of the woman’s ovaries.

All of these burdens and risks were not enough to discourage Julia from donating repeatedly, sometimes providing thirty eggs per cycle—all chronicled in her book Confessions of a Serial Egg Donor. Her lifestyle and dreams demanded an income well beyond what she could earn as a physical fitness trainer. Living off “egg money” became a way of life.

But Julia’s donor career came to a traumatic halt with her twelfth donor cycle. “Another Visit in Hell” is the chapter in which she describes the consequences of a serious hormone imbalance that took months to correct—deep depression, severe headaches, prolonged periods of weeping, and suicidal thoughts. Help came from a reputable gynecologist who provided proper medical care and a six-month prescription of the anti-depressant Serafem. With time, her body regulated its hormones naturally.

EXPLOITING DESPERATE WOMEN
As Julia Derek’s story confirms, egg donation can be dangerous, even though the fertility industry touts its safety. Beyond the short-term dangers to body chemistry, no one knows the long-term effects of the powerful drugs and hormones used to stimulate and control the donor cycle. And the ovaries can be damaged during removal of eggs.

But the problems raised by egg donation go well beyond donor safety.

What about the exploitation of financially strapped young women? At twenty-four, it may be easy to say thoughtlessly that eggs are “just DNA” when anticipating a $10,000 check. At thirty-four, things may look very different when the woman starts her own family and comes face-to-face with the reality that she has other children—in London, New York, or San Francisco—whom she will never know or even see.

The psychological effects of donation, like the physical, are impossible to predict. One poor Ukrainian woman, whose eggs went to couples in England, thinks of the ages and appearances of the children who are half-brother or half-sister to her own two children. Her five donations are a closely guarded secret: “I don’t want anybody to know; for me it’s unpleasant that I have sold a part of myself. That I have sold myself for money.” Her shame springs from the magnitude of what she’s done—sold her genetic heritage, her eggs, some of which have become her unknown children, for money. Her body and her motherhood have been reduced to a commodity, sold at a price established in a competitive market by buyers in search of the perfect baby.

Yes, for prospective parents, the search is for the perfect baby. It’s not just about having a baby, any baby. It is about having a certain kind of baby, a baby that can be designed by selecting the eggs of a woman who is intelligent, beautiful, artistic, athletic, and from a healthy family. But the moral ramifications of this project are rather sinister—they’re eugenic. No, it’s nothing like the Nazi eugenics programs of sterilization, euthanasia, and death camps. Rather, it is best described as “consumer eugenics.”

PEDIGREE CHILDREN
Egg-donor recipients, as they are called, shop for eggs that have a certain pedigree. They talk with egg brokers. They look at pictures of potential donors and at pictures of their children, if they have any. They study the answers to extensive donor questionnaires. They may meet and interview prospective donors. Then, they purchase the eggs that best match their desires, in preparation for creating embryos by in vitro fertilization.

Additionally, they may use genetic screening to eliminate embryos with genetic defects. Screening can also permit them to choose the sex of their child, if that is one of their goals.

All of this destroys the meaning of parenting and family. Children are not seen as a gift and certainly not as a “heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127). These children are “made,” not “begotten.”

At root, this approach to parenting is profoundly gnostic. It rejects the world as it is. It separates who we are from our bodily nature. The human will is the real self, and our bodies and all else are but raw material from which to fashion the satisfactions of our desires.

The human body, kinship, and intergenerational obligations are treated as social constructs rather than essential parts of the created order that, though broken, retains an essential goodness that can be preserved and cultivated to the health and benefit of all generations.

Biomedical technologies are being used, as C. S. Lewis worried, to seize control of human nature. “[T]he power of Man to make himself what he pleases means . . . the power of some men to make other men what they please.” In Lewis’s words, the children of egg donation are “artifacts”; they are manufactured products. The destruction of our concept of what it means to be human—the “abolition of man,” to use the title of one of Lewis’s books—is well underway.

Michael Poore is executive director of The Humanitas Project: A Center for Bioethics Education, located in Cookeville, Tenn. As director of The Humanitas Project, he writes and speaks on a wide variety of topics relating to bioethics and biotechnology, as well as on issues related to Christian discipleship in a post-Christian culture.

I stand in awe of God!

Ps 144:3 O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him?



Earth's size in comparison with some of the planets




Earth in comparison with some of the larger planets






Earth in comparison to the Sun




The Sun in comparison to other stars




Sun in comparison to Betelgeuse and Antares





Earth cannot even be seen in this size, what more about humans?

Yet God is willing to stoop down and care for us - by sending Jesus to die on the Cross for our sins!

Who are we that the God of the Universe should even bother to think about our souls?

And yet we think we should DEMAND from Him! rather than DELIGHT Him as the True Creator!

Malaya, was therefore a derivative from Himalaya?

Contesting Malayness

It's been interesting to read such free-flowing comments on an all "Malaysian" free for all. While we are on the subject, how many of you have read the book entitled "Contesting Malayness"? Written by a Professor of National University of Singapore . Cost S$32 (about). It reflects the Anthropologists' views that there is no such race as the "Malays" to begin with.

If we follow the original migration of the Southern Chinese of 6,000 yrs ago, they moved into Taiwan, (now the Alisan), then into the Phillipines (now the Aeta) and moved into Borneo (4,500 yrs ago) (Dayak).

They also split into Sulawesi and progressed into Jawa, and Sumatera. The final migration was to the Malayan Peninsular 3,000 yrs ago. A sub-group from Borneo also moved to Champa in Cambodia at 4,500 yrs ago.

Interestingly, the Champa deviant group moved back to present day Kelantan. There are also traces of the Dong Song and HoaBinh migration from Vietnam and Cambodia. To confuse the issue, there was also the Southern Thai migration, from what we know as Pattani today. (See also "Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsular".)

Of course, we also have the Minangkabau(s) who come from the descendants of Alexander the Great and a West Indian Princess. (Sejarah Melayu page 1-3.)

So the million Dollar Question: Is there really a race called the "Malays"? All anthropologists DO NOT SEEM TO THINK SO.

Neither do the "Malays" who live on the West Coast of Johor. They'd rather be called Javanese. What about the west coast Kedah inhabitants who prefer to be known as "Achenese"? Or the Ibans who simply want to be known as IBANS. Try calling a Kelabit a "Malay" and see what response you get. You'll be so glad that their Head-Hunting days are over.

The definition of "Malay" is therefore simply a collection of peoples who speak a similar type language. With what is meant by a similar type language does not mean that the words are similar. Linguists call this the "Lego-type" language, where words are added on to the root word to make meaning and give tenses and such. Somehow, the Indonesians disagree with this classification. They refuse to be called Malay. Anyhow you may define it. Watch "Malays in Africa" - a Museum Negara produced DVD. Also, the "Champa Malays" by the same.

With this classification, they MUST also include the Phillipinos, the Papua New Guineans, the Australian Aboriginies, as well as the Polynesian Aboriginies. These are of the Australo Melanesians who migrated out of Africa 60,000 yrs ago.

Getting interesting? Read on.

"Malay" should also include the Taiwanese singer "Ah Mei" who is Alisan, as her tribe are the ancestors of the "Malays". And finally, you will need to define the Southern Chinese ( Funan Province) as Malay also, since they are from the same stock 6,000 yrs ago.

Try calling the Bugis a "Malay". Interestingly, the Bugis, who predominantly live on Sulawesi are not even Indonesians. Neither do they fall into the same group as the migrating Southern Chinese of 6,000 yrs ago, nor the Australo Melanesian group from Africa.

Ready for this?

The Bugis are the cross-breed between the Chinese and the Arabs. (FYI, a runaway Ming Dynasty official whom Cheng Ho was sent to hunt down.) Interestingly, the Bugis were career Pirates in the Johor-Riau Island areas. Now the nephew of Daeng Kemboja was appointed the First Sultan of Selangor. That makes the entire Selangor Sultanate part Arab, part Chinese!

Try talking to the Bugis Museum curator near Kukup in Johor. Kukup is located near the most south-western tip of Johor. (Due south of Pontian Kechil.)

Let's not even get into the Hang Tuah, Hang Jebat, Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekiu, and Hang Lekir, who shared the same family last name as the other super famous "Hang" family member, Hang Li Poh. And who was she? The princess of a Ming Dynasty Emperor who was sent to marry the Sultan of Malacca. Won't that make the entire Malacca Sultanate downline "Baba"?

Since the older son of the collapsed Malaccan Sultanate got killed in Johor, (the current Sultanate is the downline of the then, Bendahara) the only other son became the Sultan of Perak. Do we see any Chinese-ness in Raja Azlan? Is he the descendant of Hang Li Poh?

Next question. If the Babas are part Malay, why have they been marginalized by NOT BEING BUMIPUTERA? Which part of "Malay" are they not? Whatever the answer, why then are the Portuguese of Malacca NOT BUMIPUTERA? Did they not come 100 yrs AFTER the arrival of the first Babas? Parameswara founded Malacca in 1411. The Portugese came in 1511, and the Dutch in the 1600's. Strangely, the Babas were in fact once classified Bumiputera, but discovered that they were strangely "declassified" in the 1960s. WHY?

The Sultan of Kelantan had similar roots to the Pattani Kingdom making him of Thai origin. And what is this "coffee table book" by the Sultan of Perlis claiming to be the direct descendant of the prophet Muhammed? Somehow we see Prof Khoo Khay Khim's signature name on the book. I'll pay good money to own a copy of it myself. Anyone has a spare?

So, how many of you have met with orang Asli(s)? The more northern you go, the more African they look. Why are they called Negrito(s)? It is a Spanish word, from which directly translates "mini Negros". The more southern you go, the more "Indonesian" they look. And the ones who live at Cameron Highlands kinda look 50-50. You can see the Batek at Taman Negara, who really looks like Eddie Murphy to a certain degree. Or the Negritos who live at the Thai border near Temenggor Lake (north Perak). The Mah Meri
in Carrie Island looks almost like the Jakuns in Endau Rompin. Half African, half Indonesian.

By definition, (this is super eye-opening) there was a Hindu Malay Empire in Kedah. Yes, I said it right. The Malays were Hindu. It was, by the old name Langkasuka. Today known as Lembah Bujang. This Hindu Malay Empire was 2,000 yrs old, pre-dating Borrobudor AND Angkor Watt, who came about around 500-600 yrs later. Lembah Bujang was THE mighty trading empire, and its biggest influence was by the Indians who were here to help start it. By definition, this should make the Indians BUMIPUTERAS too since they were here 2,000 yrs ago! Why are they marginalized?

So, in a nutshell, the "Malays" (anthropologists will disagree with this "race" definition) are TRULY ASIA!!! (Main continent and West Asia included)

Here are some comments from Michael in answer to some Malays who have attacked him for penning this commentary.

Greetings. This is Michael Chick. Unlike others who hide behind "anonymous synonyms" I came clear with my real name. The post which I put up was not a figment of my imagination but the end result of 3 years extensive research. As such, the facts presented are clear-cut, straightforward and unassuming. Perhaps you would all like to chat with any anthropologist at UM before sending-off any flaming sparks in my direction again. These Professors should be as Malaysian as any of you.

The subject matter is fact-based. To Bayi, "Contesting Malayness" is available at Kinokuniya at Takashimaya 4th floor, Orchard road. At a cost of S$32. It is also available at National University of Singapore. Why? 'Coz it's their textbook. Let me repeat -"Contesting Malayness" is an NUS textbook, published by NUS Press, written by Professor Tony Milner.

To Achmad Sudarsono, calling the Malays a "race" is akin to calling the Hokkiens or the Javanese a "race". Please do not confuse the term "orang" with "Bangsa". What do I mean? The term 'orang' is used by Malays to describe Orang Bugis, Orang Acheh, Orang Laut, Orang India, Orang Melayu. And here is where the confusion was. Orang Melayu merely refers to the residents of Kampung Melayu near Jambi, near Palembang . Please use Google Earth to find its exact location.

Unless you can say that all "Orang Melayu" are descendants of that village, you simply cannot be called Orang Melayu. In fact the name "Malay" has been traced to Lembah Bujang, where the Indian traders used to call the locals "Malai" (in Tamil) to describe the locals. The locals were animistic pagans at that time, and readily adopted Hindu practices and Indian customs. "Raja" and "Sultan" are Indian titles. The adat bersanding with the pelamin are of Indian origin. Even the "gifts-bearing" walk by the groom has its Indian roots. Please attend an Indian Wedding before flaming me again. Or have a chat with Prof Nik Hassan who is in charge of the Lembah Bujang archaeological excavations.

Malaya, was therefore a derivative from Himalaya. "Sejarah Melayu" therefore was describing the Kampong Melayu origins. But here is where, from pages 1-3, it will tell you that Kampong Melayu are descendants of Iskandar Zulkarnain (Alexander the Great) through the bloodline of a West Indian Princess. This came from Sejarah Melayu. This book is cheap. You can buy it at the University Malaya Bookstore for a mere RM35. It is published by MBRAS (Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society). Its patron member is Tun Hanif (ex-IGP).

Please speak with Datuk Prof Zuraina Majid, who excavated "Perak Man". She will tell you that Perak Man is a descendant of the Australo-Melanesian stock. African National Museum of the Phillipines will verify that they came from Taiwan . And National University of Indonesia will confirm that they came from the Phillipines.

Nik Aziz (PAS leader from Kelantan) will tell you that his grandfather came from Champa. To all Kelantanese, please explain the newly changed name of a Kampong near Bachok (close to the Pengkalan Chepa airport) to "Kampung Champa" to our friends here.

Please also visit Museum Negara to see the exhibits on the "Dong Song" brass drums and Gua Cha in Kelantan near Gua Musang to see the Hoabinhian Caves. Dong Song and Hoabinh are in Indochina. And therefore, the locals are descendants from that region. The entire Northern States also have their roots from the Pattani Kingdom; which today we call Tahiland. In fact, please visit the Kelantan WWII museum to see the article on how Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu was part of Thailand from 1943-1945. Then walk over to the Kelantan State Museum to see the exhibit on Gua Cha to read their explanations of the Hoabinhian Cultures of Early Kelantan settlers.

Malaysian Archaeologists call the early settlers Proto Malay. And the current settlers Deutero Malay. The scientific term is actually, Australo Melanesian (African) and Austranesian (Chinese, or Mongoloid). This is a DNA and bone structure classification. Even the term Negrito transalates from Spanish to mean "mini Negro".

I hope that I've made myself comprehensible enough. Feel free to ask any further questions to help clear the air. The "Malays" are NOT a race. I'm so sorry that you are only hearing this now. The rest of the Academic World has known it for years.

By: Michael Chick on May 30th, 2007 At 2:44 am
To address Hang Tuah, Hang Jebat, Hang Lekir, Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekir and Hang Li Poh. They were all related by the family name of "Hang".

Please visit their graves in Malacca. Their graves are clear-cut Hindu. This was during the "Great Malacca Empire" when Parameswara was supposed to have converted to Islam. Why are the graves of the "Legendary Defenders of the States" Hindu? They do not have the spiral headstones or the Batu Acheh type headstones - instead, they are solid concrete blocks with triangular holes for incense and oil-lamp burning.

Hang Tuah's grave (Kampong Keling) is another "conspiracy". Please read the inscriptions on the side: "they found a large stone marking a grave, and therefore it must be Hang Tuah...". This grave was merely designed to be a tourist destination. Note that there are no names engraved anywhere. Just a big non-descript stone marking that a human body lies underneath it. Lastly, why is a Muslim buried in Kampong Keling - 'Keling' meaning Indian?

The subsequent question is why is Hang Tuah removed from current school history textbooks?

One of two suggestions comes to mind. He was pure fiction (please read Hikayat Hang Tuah before flaming me again), or as the Bugis Museum Curator in Johor will insist, that Hang Tuah was Chinese. So were the rest of his "blood brothers". They were all Chinese; and related to Hang Li Poh.

Let me pose a simple question to you: Why is it, that when you visit Malacca to see the great historical Malaysian City/State, you see the Portugese "A Famosa" gateway, or the Red Dutch buildings like Christchurch, or even St. Paul's Church on St. Paul 's Hill? Where is the evidence of "The Great Malaccan Empire"?

Let me help you with that answer. Published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in a publication called "Melayu Journal" in 2005 - "...we had to look for an icon by which the Malays would be proud of..." Since Majapahit, Acheh, Lembah Bujang (Langkasuka) were either Hindu, on Indonesian soil, or both, Malacca was the only location left. The great Parameswara is, by the way buried on Fort Canning Hill downtown Singapore, for those of you who want to visit it. They call it the "Keramat" and it's immediately behind the National Musuem of Singapore.

Please enlighten me by showing me ONE single piece of evidence of "The Great Malaccan Empire". Even Dewan Bahasa couldn't. Perhaps any one of you could. Evidence, and not mere gut-feeling please.

Also, please consult Prof Khoo Khay Khim before flaming me again; Thank you.

Maxyn Forest

churches should always be looking at how they welcome new people!

‘Mystery worshipper’ scheme could go nationwide

by Jennifer Gold

Posted: Saturday, March 1, 2008, 11:07 (GMT)

Following the highly successful ‘mystery worshipper’ trial in December and January, the researchers behind the pilot project are now looking into the possibility of rolling out the programme nationwide.

The mystery worshipper programme is based on the ‘mystery shopper’ scheme that has become an established tool in the business sector, helping retailers in particular identify their strengths and areas in need of development.

In the pilot project, 13 mystery worshippers, who are not regular churchgoers but paid mystery shoppers for research organisation Retail Maxim, were enlisted to evaluate churches across the Midlands, all of which were unaware of the visits. They looked at warmth of welcome, length of sermon and style of music, among other aspects of the church service.

The inspectors were generally impressed with what they found, with the churches involved averaging a rating of 85 per cent, and five churches scoring a full 100 per cent, reports The Baptist Times.

Evesham minister, the Rev Edward Pillar, told the newspaper that he was “chuffed to bits” with the findings of their mystery worshipper.

Now the researchers behind the pilot project, the Christian Research Organisation and Christian Resources Exhibition, are exploring the potential of a nationwide service which would allow churches to pay for a professional, non-church-going evaluator to join in worship services and return a quality report back to the church, reports Baptist Times.

Benita Hewitt, chief executive of CRO, told The Baptist Times that a national mystery worshipper programme could be in place as quickly as May.

“I come from the commercial sector, where the practice of using a mystery visitor to assess an organisation is normal,” she said.

“I wondered if it could be adapted to churches, to show areas where they are doing well, and to highlight how they can better meet people's needs.

“We found we were able to do that, and were pleasantly surprised by the findings.”

She said that CRO and CRE were in discussions about the expansion of the programme.

“We have a lot of research to do, to see how much churches would consider paying for this, but that is what we are looking at,” she said.

Stephen Goddard is public relations consultant at CRE and co-editor of Ship of Fools, which has already been running a voluntary mystery worshipper service for the last 10 years.

He believes that mystery worshippers could help churches make more tailored preparations for Back to Church Sunday, in which churches across the UK send out thousands of invitations to lapsed Christians inviting them back to church. This year’s Back to Church Sunday takes place on 28 September.

Mr Goddard said, “These are professionally trained researchers from a non-church background looking for things like eye contact, help with directions and other measurable things, while Ship of Fools is much more impressionistic.

“The advantage is that it's using someone who doesn't normally come to church. That person is the eyes and ears of an outsider, and it's sometimes easy to forget the outsider.

“There are possibilities, and at this stage I must stress they are notional, of whole denominations or dioceses paying for a pilot project, and of using it to help churches prepare for Back to Church Sunday.”

Mrs Hewitt said, “We thought the results were astonishing. The researchers had not been to church for several years, and were surprised and excited by what they found.

“I think in many churches, the love of God really shone through. There was a genuinely warm welcome to the stranger.

“I think the trial shows that churches can have more confidence in what they do.”

The Rev Ian Bunce, head of the Baptist Union of Great Britain's Mission Department, expressed his support for the mystery worshipper programme and its possible extension, saying that churches should constantly review how they welcome strangers.

“I think churches should always be looking at how they welcome new people,' he told the newspaper.

“For people who don't go to church, they don't know what's behind that solid door. 'It's as culturally alien as it would be for a Baptist to go into a betting shop. You would get through the door and then would not know what to do.”

He pointed to the use of non-churched people as a particular strength of the mystery worshipper scheme. “And it's very encouraging that they found a great story,” he added.

Evesham’s Rev Pillar added: “The first I knew about the mystery worshipper visit to Evesham was very much after the event.”

“If people in Evesham are to make a spiritual journey with us then surely we can at the very least try to make their first, often uncertain steps, as painless as possible and hopefully as kindness-filled as possible.

“Love and kindness, generosity and thoughtfulness go a long way as we welcome people to make their journey with us.”

Anglican chief sparks debate on sharia law in UK

Archbishop of Canterbury calls for adoption of parts of Islamic law in Britain.

LONDON - The adoption of parts of sharia law in Britain seems unavoidable, the head of the Anglican church said Thursday, prompting Downing Street to underline that British law must remain paramount.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams called for "constructive accommodation" over such issues as resolving marriage disputes.

He told BBC radio that people should approach Islamic law with an open mind, while stressing there was no place for "extreme punishments" and discrimination against women in Britain.

Williams conceded that some people may be surprised by his comments, but underlined the importance of making all communities in Britain "part of the public process" in order to limit any oppression.

The issue of Muslim integration has been particularly sensitive in Britain since July 2005 bombings in London in which four young British Muslims killed themselves and 52 others on the public transport system.

Britain is home to nearly 1.6 million Muslims, representing 2.7 percent of the total population, according to the 2001 national census.

Williams said: "There is a place for finding what would be a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law as we already do with aspects of other kinds of religious law."

It would be "quite wrong" to sanction a system which gave people no right of appeal, he continued, "but there are ways of looking at marital disputes, for example, which provide an alternative to the divorce courts as we understand them."

He added: "It seems unavoidable and, as a matter of fact, certain conditions of sharia are already recognised in our society".

But Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman said British law must be based on British values.

"Our general position is that sharia law cannot be used as a justification for committing breaches of English law, nor should the principles of sharia law be included in a civil court for resolving contractual disputes," he said.

He noted that Britain had made some concesssions to its Islamic community, notably by relaxing laws which would force Muslims to pay taxes twice.

"In general terms, if there are specific instances that can be looked at on a case-by-case basis, that is something we can look at," he said.

But he added: "The prime minister believes British law should apply in this country, based on British values."

Williams called on people to look at sharia "with a clear eye and not imagine, either, that we know exactly what we mean by sharia and just associate it with ... Saudi Arabia or whatever.

"Nobody in their right mind would want to see in this country the kind of inhumanity that has sometimes been associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states: the extreme punishments, the attitudes to women."

Williams, whose comments come ahead of a lecture he was due to give Thursday night entitled "Islam In English Law", has consistently called for Christian and Muslim leaders to work together.

Background of Rowan Williams

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is a former academic who became head of the Anglican Church in 2002.

Williams was born in the Welsh city of Swansea in 1950, the son of a mining engineer, but his prowess rapidly took him into academia, first at Cambridge and then Oxford, where he became the youngest professor at 36.

He was ordained in 1977 and was a chaplain in Cambridge in the mid-1980s, but his clerical career really took off when he became bishop of Monmouth in his native Wales in 1992, and he was enthroned as Archbishop of Wales in 2000.

Two years later, he replaced George Carey to become the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, head of a church which claims to have 80 million followers around the world.

Williams is highly respected as a theological writer, drawing on his adacemic background and supported by his wife Jane, a lecturer on theology with whom he has two children.

Williams speaks seven languages including Welsh