From this link, which is mentioned in the story below as evidence of Dr. Bain's appointment as acting chair, it looks as if she is no longer acting chair -- perhaps as a result of this story. However, she remains on the faculty, of course.
"Apostate Catholic Turned Muslim is "Acting Chair" of Religious Studies at Catholic University: Is same woman invited to address Canadian Catholic Women’s League convention last year," by Hilary White and John-Henry Westen for LifeSiteNews, with thanks to Elizabeth Kantor:
FREDERICTON, January 4, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – LifeSiteNews.com has learned that Dr. Alexandra Bain, the formerly Catholic turned-Muslim who mocked the doctrine of the Trinity at a Catholic Women’s League convention last year, is a professor and acting chairman of the Religious Studies department at Fredericton’s St. Thomas University. (see University website confirmation: http://w3.stu.ca/stu/academic/departments/religious_studies/... )LifeSiteNews.com was tipped by a leader of the CWL that Dr. Bain, even though she was an apostate Catholic, was the keynote speaker at a Catholic Women’s League Ontario convention. Asked why she left the Catholic faith, Bain told Catholic Women’s League members at their 2006 Provincial Convention on July 11, that simple arithmetic had told her the doctrine of the Trinity, the central tenet of Christianity, was nonsense. (see coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06071809.html )
St. Thomas University still bills itself as a Catholic liberal arts school, “whose roots are in the faith and tradition of the Roman Catholic Church.”
The President of St. Thomas University is Dr. Michael Higgins who recently won fame among Canadian Catholics in an article in MacLean’s Magazine when he scolded Pope Benedict XVI for his alleged negligence in his comments on Islam at Regensburg in mid-September. (see coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/sep/06092505.html )
When LifeSiteNews.com reported on his comments, Higgins responded in a column in the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Toronto, the Catholic Register, calling LifeSiteNews.com a “news source of dubious credibility.” (see coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/oct/06101905.html )
Interestingly, Higgins comment closely reflected the language used earlier by the CWL Ontario Provincial President Shirley George. Referring to the LifeSiteNews.com expose of the apostate Catholic speaker at its convention, George referred to LifeSiteNews.com and warned CWL members at their National Convention to “be wary of the truthfulness of your sources of information.”
Subsequently, LifeSiteNews.com learned that Dr. Bain is the daughter-in-law of CWL Ontario President Shirley George. (see coverage: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/oct/06102504.html )
about Apostates converting to another religion:
Ellison sworn in on koran
http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/Articles/Wahabist%20Congressman%20Keith%20Ellison.htmlTalk
Here I am indignant, and wringing my hands.
Obviously, this is the beginning over here, of what has happened in Europe.
How strange that the Black People should turn to this dominic cult! When one can see the slavery and contempt that is brought in to their own race in Africa and by the moslems!
What happens when people are about to fall?
When a person is about to be brought to their knees, it is instinctual to put out the hands to break the fall.
Whatever the future porteins, and it has been prophecied that "America will be brought to it's knees," (Yes, I've heard it from various sources)- and as I said before, the U.S. has not been so "well-behaved" with other Peoples - as an example, I will bring forth the treatment of the American Indians - ans still today the U.S> steals their land - just a couple of yrs ago - the Western Shoshone lands were STOLEN by Congress, which had it's eye on the virginal forests, unmined gold, and water resource there.
And thzt is truth, and the truth as has been said, hurts. And by the way, the Native AMers. have ALWAYS been loyal to these United States - voluntarilty enlisting in ALLL the wars, and serving with honor.
But that is beside the point at this point in time.
What I really want to say, is that it is the Rights of Man that are sacred.
And if we, in the U.S. are heading for a Fall. - It is good, and right tht the people here, such as are in this site - are the "Hands that will Break the Fall."
When the Hands touch the ground, the body is lifted up again.
I absolutely love this saying:
"I will sit me down and cry a bit, THEN get up to fight again."
----
---------------------
"How strange that the Black People should turn to this dominic cult! "
I meant "demonic" cult!
Of course, if she simply objected to the idea of the Trinity, she could have become a Unitarian. She seems to have gone from a doctrine that’s that she found slightly unpalatable to submerging herself into one of the most pernicious oppressive religious ideologies in existence.
To be fair, she may not embrace the harsh warrior aspects of Mohammad’s example just as many Christians don’t embrace Jesus’ example of turning the other cheek. But to embrace a religion that is easily and understandably the source of the irrational violence today and through out its history, must leave a far greater discomfort to any person of honor and conscience than the conceptual difficulties over the exact nature of the Trinity.
Allat, are you wringing your hands over Dubya's choice of a muslim (Zalmay Khalizad) to replace John Bolton as U.N. Ambassador?
Such is more egregious than muslims electing Ellison and his swearing on the Qur'an (which was only a photo op, in as much as he swore in with all of the rest of congress in chambers, in a simultaneous swearing.. saw it myself on MSNBC, no Bibles no Qur'ans in sight...
The Trinity doesn't have much to do with God himself -- who is ultimately One -- but rather how he's revealed to us. We can never fully apprehend him, and this is reflected in the Trinity by the notion of the "Father," the ground of all Being who can only be known through the "Son" and the "Holy Spirit." These in turn perfectly reflect the will of Him. Otherwise it's like cutting a limb off of a tree and still expecting it to hold your weight. There's a very interesting discussion of this by the Russian Orthodox theologian Sergei Bulgakov in his lovely book Sophia: The Wisdom of God. I don't fully ascribe to his ideas since I'm Gnostic; most importantly they don't exactly match up to my own spiritual experiences. But he's quite profound.
I can't help it if you are organically incapable of digesting Mystery, Darlin'!
"Asked why she left the Catholic faith, Bain told Catholic Women’s League members at their 2006 Provincial Convention on July 11, that simple arithmetic had told her the doctrine of the Trinity, the central tenet of Christianity, was nonsense."
because that the earth is flat as written in the koran makes more sense?
I always laugh at the politically correct terminology of "chair". This Muslim woman is of course "acting chairman" but feminazis have tried to obliterate that word. Chairwoman would also be better than "chair" LOLOLOL How silly
If I were a Canadian Catholic, I would be contacting my diocese about this and would encourage as many others as possible to do the same.
Another masochist has stepped up for Allah. BTW, What's the deal w/former Catholic nun Ms. Armstrong? I get that she's a Masochist /Apologist for Allah and company .. but is she also a semi-secret revert? Anyone know?
Also .. anyone know for sure about the long suffering Prince Charles? For some time rumors have abounded about him becoming a Masochist for Allah/Defender of the Faiths .. anyone have the definitive scoop?
What kind of mind could conclude that the moral absurdities of Islam are implied by the logical absurdity of the Trinity? Logical absurdities are treated with distinctions of meaning, bafflement or some other mental feat. But how does one treat a moral absurdity that is believed to one's core?
Mental confusion or sickness of soul and heart? Should one become obsessed with the former and blind to the latter?
The enduring appeal of the moronic and simple-minded! Basic arithmetic informs her, because she has never mastered anything more complex.
I suppose simple arithmetic has also enabled her to explain the conundrum of a light waveform's particulate nature being conjured by mere observation. I'm anxious to hear the answer.
And I'm sure she arrived at her conclusion after a thorough reading of Augustine's De Trinitate and the relevant sections of St. Thomas's Summa Theologica, after a careful study of the meaning of "hypostasis" and "homoousia" and the usage of those terms by the church fathers, and after considering the Orthodox approach to trinitarian ontology as well. I'm sure she plumbed the depths of all of this and found, in the end, that is was just a problem with the maths. Imagine how foolish Thomas must feel as he roasts in infidel hell. "If only I'd stuck to the arithmetic!"
While we're at it, her grappling with euclidian geometry (fraught, we can imagine, with such difficulty), has no doubt enabled her to dismiss relativity. There now, Einstein and St. Thomas in flaming chorus.
It all boils down to very, very simple explanations that anyone can understand. The desire for a banal and facile world makes for strange bedfellows: those damned Catholics and retrograde scientists, always suggesting that there are things about the world we don't yet understand.
It will never occur to her--because such an idea would require an appreciation of irony and other manifold ways of using the intellect--that she has taken Occam's razor and used it to lop off her own head.
'mountainecho' - that is the coolest post I've ever read. You've raised the intellectual level of this blog into the stratosphere. I hope everyone else feels suitably ashamed.
The least one can say about the supreme being is that it goes way beyond Aristotle's simplistic doctrine of non-contradiction.
Here's some simple arithmetic: 1 X 1 X 1 = 3.
Woops! My first post and I screw it up!
1 x 1 x 1 = 1
This gal was never a catholic to begin with. She would rather believe in the moon god allah
This is someone who should move from Catholic University to Esposito's operation at Georgetown. Right next to Haddad, down the hall from John Voll. Fit right in.
LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT
HAND - ARM - BODY
MIND - BODY - SPIRIT
HARDRIVE - MONITOR - KEYBOARD
1 is 3
How can one God be in heaven seated and be yet be 1 and be everywhere? (the spirit is the answer)not have a represensative that speaks when his is in heaven seated and yet on earth (Christ is the answer) and not have a creative centre that is everywhere but processes the information? (the Father is the answer). What is the big deal?
A cube has 4 sides but it is one thing.
"Of course, if she simply objected to the idea of the Trinity, she could have become a Unitarian."
Or she could have sampled from among the thousands of flavors of religion available in the bewilderingly luxuriant and free cafeteria of comparative religions which the West has nourished throughout the past two centuries of unprecedented curiosity and cross-cultural studies in anthropology, archeology, history of religions, philosophy of religions, literature of religions, art and "iconography" of religions, world religions, sociology of religions, "deconstructionist hermeneutics" of religions, etc. In this copious cafeteria of the West, there is even room for a bit of Rumi to go with your side of zen, without having to revert out of your West.
Along these lines there is an interesting apologetic approach that uses mathematics.
I was talking with Ayatollah Jewbaiter the other day about this very thing.
I was like: Is there one God or three?
And he was like: One, of course.
And I was like: So God is always One, always singular?
And he was like: Well duh.
And I was like: Are there ever two, or three, or five, or ninety-nine of Him?
And he was like:
And I was like:
And he was like: Do you have a point?
And I was like: I have another question, dude. Are there laws of nature that make everything happen the same way every time?
And he was like: Everything that happens at every instant is a miracle allowed to happen by Allah.
And I was like: So if Allah wills it anything could happen at any time?
And he was like: Yes.
And I was like: And we can't use a law of nature to predict what Allah will do, or what his nature is? Like we can't say whether he wears a green or black or white turban, or that he's an old man in the sky with a beard like in The Ten Commandments?
And he was like: Sheee-it... No.
And I was like: I heard that Averroes was a Muslim who said that there are laws of nature that govern everything in the world, and that some other guy said he was stupid or something and that that was when some gates closed...
And he was like: Yes, Ghazali closed the gates of ijtihad and afterwards all knowledge was for Allah.
And I was like: OK, so if Allah can make miracles happen at any time, can He suddenly turn me into a cheetah or a hippotamus?
And he was like: Yes.
And I was like: How about you? Could I become you? Could you turn into a cheetah by Allah's will?
And he was like: Where is this going?
And I was like: OK, so I could become you?
And he was like: If Allah wills it, sure thing. It would be an improvement.
And I was like: So then we'd both be you. Cool!
And he was like: Lucky you! Yes.
And I was like: So are there any limits to Allah's power? Can he make us two identical cheetahs?
And he was like: No, there are no limits to Allah's power.
And I was like: So Allah can turn 1 of anything into 2 of anything like he makes two of you?
And he was like: Yes.
And I was like: Or three, or five, or ninety-nine?
And he was like: Yes.
And I was like: Even Himself? Can he make two or three, or five or ninety-nine of Himself?
And he was like not very happy all of a sudden.
And I was like: So are there laws that one thing must stay one that Allah must obey, or can there be three of him? One or the other has to be correct, right?
And he started looking around for his sword.
And I started running for the exit like that cheetah that Allah was gonna turn me into if Ayatollah Jewbaiter didn't carve me up first.
"Apostate Catholic Turned Muslim is "Acting Chair" of Religious Studies at Catholic University: Is same woman invited to address Canadian Catholic Women’s League convention last year," by Hilary White and John-Henry Westen for LifeSiteNews, with thanks to Elizabeth Kantor:
________________
This is why I, as a Catholic, have chosen NOT to attend a Catholic University in the States. As I reflect on Christianity I would say that the three most basic doctrines are:
1.) The Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - God is One, but in Three Persons. This is important because God is community, God is love.
2.) Jesus, is the Son of God and became Man. He is the Word incarnate. Jesus is both God and Man, fully God and fully Man. He is the Lamb of God that takes aware our sins and restores us to the Father and each other.
3.) Jesus truly died on the Cross and rose again and ascended into Heaven. Paul said that if Christ did not rise then our faith is in vain.
_________
Now let us look at Islam.
1.) Trinity - OUT. Muslims consider Christianity as polytheistic.
2.) Jesus is considered to be ONLY a man, not a son of God, and certainly not God himself. He is considered a prophet, and not only prophet but an Islamic prophet sent only to the Israelites.
3.) Although Jesus died, Muslims do not view that he really died on the cross; only that he appeared to die on the cross. Being only human prophet, he stayed dead and did not rise from the dead.
Islam, although perhaps finding common ground in a BROAD monotheistic sense is not any where close to Christianity, whether Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant.
__________
I weep for Europe and America, but perhaps this is our own fault. Not because we have wronged the Muslims, but because we have failed to live Christianity completely. Although I am fearful for the immediate physical future, I am hopeful that this situation will bring great spiritual fruits as authentic Christianity seems to grow under martyrdom.
I have a question.
Dr. Patrick Malcolmson
Vice-President (Academic) - Acting Chair
Did something change?
Dr. Patrick Malcomson is not Dr. Alexandra Bain.
IndyMan,
THANK YOU!
I've been waiting for years to use that one but the opportunity has never presented itself.
I don't mind that you beat me too it though. It shows that someone else has thought of it too. Great minds think alike, I guess ;-)
To everyone, please memorize this response to the simplistic and retarded "arithmetic' rejection of the Trinity and dont be afraid to use it.
1 x 1 x 1 = 1 is not only mathmatically true, it is also a far better mathmatical analogy of the Trinity.
PS. Mountain Echo, God bless you! great post. There is so much more to the Trinity than simple math. Its more like quantum mechanics and the highest physics. I often wonder if it could be considered an important philosophical step in the evolution of human thought and science. Just think about it for a moment. The minds that were able to, is grasp the right word?, this truly sublime concept, must have been truly remarkable for their abilty to see past the merely material into realms of of mind-bending and stretching complexity. I think Greek thought history may have found its zenith there for it represented man breaking away from the thought box that it is all too easy to remain trapped.
Muslims make it a virtue to stay in that safe comfortable box where all you have to worry about is simple arithmetic. Is it any wonder that all th truly epocal advanced in science came among people who also believed in the Trinity? While Muslims were a best tinkers and preservers, it was a culture steeped in Christian metaphysics (could even Jewish scientists avoid that culture on a secular level no matter how pure they kept their own religion?) that produced the real advances.
Athanasius
On the Incarnation
De Incarnatione Verbi Dei
Athanasius stood contra mundum ("against the world") in defense of the biblical doctrine of Christ. He opposed Arius when it seemed all the world would follow Arius's heresy. Athanasius's work remains even today one of the definitive statements of orthodox Trinitarianism.
Monkeywho,
They obviously pulled a switcheroo for PR cover.
The link to the cached vesion listing Bain as Acting Chair is
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:R1pftsOgXIsJ:w3.stu.ca/stu/academic/departments/religious_studies/contact.aspx+w3.stu.ca/stu/academic/departments/religious_studies/contact.aspx&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1
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Dr. Alexandra Bain
Acting Chair
Email: alexbain@stu.ca
Margie Reed
Departmental Assistant
Email: mreed@stu.ca
Edmund Casey Hall Rm. 302
Phone: 506-452-0614
Fax: 506-450-9615
Peggy32 wrote:
"Is it any wonder that all th truly epocal advanced in science came among people who also believed in the Trinity? While Muslims were a best tinkers and preservers, it was a culture steeped in Christian metaphysics (could even Jewish scientists avoid that culture on a secular level no matter how pure they kept their own religion?) that produced the real advances."
That isn't exactly true. The main thinker within 'Christian metaphysics', i.e. Saint Thomas Aquinas derived much of his metaphysical system from the Islamic Arabic philosophers Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and Averroes (Ibn Rushd).
Of course, the Arabic philosophers derived their metaphysics from Aristotle. The Augustinian strain of Christian metaphysics (not influenced by Aristotle via the Muslims) is derived from Plato and pre-Christian Neo-Platonism (Plotinus). Christianity didn't add much of philosophical significance to the metaphysics of pre-Christian 'pagan' Greek philosophers (just some 'tinkering' and 'preservation').
This is unbelievable. She pretty much made the WORST POSSIBLE CHOICE. Okay, she didn't want to be a Catholic any more, but seriously, whatever issues she has with the trinity are infinitely MINOR compared to the problems with Islam.
Maybe she will apostate from Islam too when she learns what the Koran really teaches, but then if she does I highly doubt that any Muslims will let her speak at any Islamic conference or party, as the Catholics did after her apostasy from Catholicism, on the contrary, the Muslims would be religiously bound to kill her.
Christianity teaches mercy and tolerance, Islam teaches bigotry and violence.