My kid’s school is so proud of its faith. They should be ashamed of it.

I’ve been wanting to get this stuff off my chest for a long time. My eldest daughter goes to Archbishop of York Junior School, which was recently subject to an Ofsted inspection, as well as its Statutory Inspection of Anglican Schools. In addition the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, recently visited the school’s Xmas play. In all these events/occasions, public comments were made about the school being good “because it is Christian”.

Secret deep clusters and nebulae: NGC 1807, 1817, 1931, IC 417 and Stock 8.

More deep sky last night, and given the constellations that are prominent at present, this meant open clusters and nebulae. Once again I hunted down some of the Secret Deep objects.

The Rubber Stamp Nebula (NGC 1999), NGC 1245, and Caldwell 50 (NGC 2244)

For Xmas I got a lovely present of Steven James O’Meara’s latest deep sky companion “The Secret Deep“. So I went out to try it out.

December Delights: M42, The Crab nebula (M1), and The Perseus Lenticular (NGC 1023)

This December has not been the best month of stargazing for me: although the weather was OK at times, I was just too tired from work on many clear nights, and I had other competing demands such as sending in my butterfly records before Xmas. So I took the chance last night when, a front having just passed over, the sky was gorgeously clear.

Review of “Rescuing Darwin: God and evolution in Britain today” by Nick Spencer and Denis Alexander.

This essay is a report by “Theos: the Public Theology Think Tank”, and attempts to show that Darwinism and theism are reconcilable.

In compliance with the creative commons license under which the report was created, I link to the original article here and encourage my readers to look at it.

Schickard and the Orientalis impact

A day 12 moon, clear skies and out I went. Schickard, the fourth largest crater on the moon, was right on the terminator, so I sketched that.

The Straight Wall (Rupes Recta) and ancient Thebit

Ahhhhhhhh. First time out with the scope for nearly a month. A bright day 8 moon meant that the moon had to be my target, and the terminator was perfectly positioned to sketch the straight wall, one of my favourite sights on the moon.

Theos: the Public Theology “Think Tank”

Yesterday I was watching the BHA’s CE Andrew Copson give evidence to the joint select committee on Lords reform, and he did so next to the director of Theos, Elizabeth Hunter. I have come across Theos before, but hadn’t investigated it much. I was intrigued to see that they have produced a report to emphasize that faith and Darwinism are compatible, a view I disagree with, so I’m going to criticise that in the near future. In the meantime here are some comments on what they say they are and do.