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Did
you ever think to read the words Brazilian, Anglican, and rock group
in the same
So what about these chaps on the right? Rock stars, stockbrokers, or clergymen? You'll need to have a look at the web site for St John the Evangelist, Stansted Montrefichet, in England, to be certain. We're
delighted to welcome parishes from Belize and South Africa, in addition
Trinity College Theological School, in the Diocese of Melbourne, Australia is offering online courses, in addition to its traditional curriculum. The site is well worth a visit. Your help, please: A number of our readers told us they like the addition of graphics in this letter, but a reader from Macau suggested they slowed his download of the site considerably. Would other readers from outside the States (where our primary server is located) please share their opinions? Two weeks ago the Church of England issued a press release entitled 'Internet wake-up call' that announced the publication of a church report three years in the making, called 'Cybernauts Awake'. Since this came out as a news announcement, it was reviewed by our News Centre editor, who found the 'Cybernauts Awake' document to be, well, in his words, 'idiotic'. Naturally its authors do not find the report to be idiotic, or they wouldn't have put their names on it, so a bit of disagreement ensued. The Cybernauts authors felt that the publishing of their report obligated readers and reviewers to issue referee's reports, as for academic papers, rather than opinions about the document. They castigated us for not making constructive comments. We saw no benefit in offering proof or details to support our belief that the Cybernauts document was unsalvageable; we saw some benefit in moving beyond it. So we started over. We didn't have a leisurely three years to spend, but in five days we produced our alternative document, written by AO News Centre editor Brian Reid and issued by the Society of Archbishop Justus. This being the internet, you have full access to primary source materials and can make up your own mind. You can read the Church of England Press Release, the 'Cybernauts Awake' document, the SoAJ Press Release, and the SoAJ tract 'The Church and the Internet', which was written to be an alternative to 'Cybernauts'. You can rest assured that the authors of Cybernauts are as scornful of our document as we are of theirs. Ours is about one-quarter the length. In time we will probably issue a longer and deeper version, but for now our purpose has been met. We said 'walk this way'. You can read either, both, or neither, as you see fit. And you can form your own opinions. If you'd like to tell us what you think, you can send mail or use our feedback form. We don't see that it would be productive to encourage comparison of these two documents; we suggest that you evaluate each on its own merits. We have enhanced the capabilities of our search engine so that it can do a number of useful new things. We hope you like it and find it useful, and we will be adding more new search options during Advent. See you next week.
Last
updated: 21 November 1999 |
