Mary Beard, who’s blog on the Times Online describes her thus:-
“…a wickedly subversive commentator on both the modern and the ancient world. She is a professor in classics at Cambridge and classics editor of the TLS.”
points out that Obama spelled backward is the greek word for “I shall love.”
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Crackergate is over and dusted. I did my bit by writing to the Dean of The University of Minnesota in support of PX Myers and followed the story avidly. I have to admit to a bit of queasiness simply because it had a faint scent of unpleasantness about it. Not that it was in the same league of a Nazi leaving a pig’s head on the steps of a Synagogue or a Klan member burning a cross - but there was a gentle perfume on the wind that reminded me of them. In the UK many blogs characterized the situation as “The Affair Of The Magic Biscuit” - a rather more literary reflection! So… …There I am seated on the loo with a copy of “Everything You Know About God Is Wrong” and I happen upon the essay by John G. Bourke entitled “Holy Shit - Excrement and Religion” and discover that there is, in the annals of the catholic church, an old argument going on. What happens to the host AFTER you eat it? Stercanorarians thought that “the host was liable to digestion and all its consequences, like other food.” I presume this heresy was defeated but I am not sure what the current belief of Catholics is. I’d like to ask readers for enlightenment. * Googlewhacks are usually 2 word combinations. This word actually appears in the 1841 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica and, together with the word biscuit, was a Googlewhack. Now this post is up it no longer is!
Liberal Christians are, at last, making a little more noise within their own communities… Yet I’m still dismayed that they continue to go and form their own break away churches rather than remain and tackle the wrongness within their congregations.
Smulospace (I was led there by friendlyatheist.com) is a conversational blog that interests me, and many atheists, because the blog is liberal and christian. Yet still the old prejudices remain.
Commenters state that they are for or against gay marriage and go on to say things like:-
People obviously don’t understand what marriage actually is. It is not a natural state; animals don’t marry, and a lot of humans don’t bother. The only reason humans marry is because we recognize there’s something sacred in the permanent commitment that people make to create families (usually with children). Since this commitment is properly understood as being before God, both instituted and sustained by Him, it makes marriage inherently religious.
Notice how this redefines marriage as a solely Christian concept. Marriage, I would point out has ALWAYS been a secular institution that was grabbed by the churches in the fourth and fifth centuries. It was so far removed from the churches that, even up to the fifteenth century, most marriages took place in the porches of churches with the couple only entering the nave for blessing.
I’ve made a general comment of the last blog entry Gay Marriage In California
I’ve looked carefully through all the comments on many pages before I wrote this.
I think you should all be ashamed of actually being either Christians or Christ Followers.
Why? Well… I look at what people do rather than what they say. What I see happening is mouths opening and speeches about love but actions that are hateful. In a lifetimes work as a psychotherapist I became convinced of the damage that churches do to young gay men and lesbians, evidenced by self harming and suicide attempts.
The double standards, cherry picking at biblical verses to confirm personal prejudice, sly undermining of individuals’ self worth had led me to condemn, in full and without exception, nearly all religious statements and the individuals tht make them.
Set at the base of Christians’ philosophy lies the concept of sin and it often seems as if this is what leads to the abnegation of life, love and self, the joyless miasma based on fear of punishment that wafts around the churches.
I realize that this is, to an extent, an overgeneralisation and I’m posting this on my own blog http://www.nobodysthere.com/blog if people what to take me to task about this.
I’ve always thought that the loudest Christians are usually nattering on about things for their own financial benifit rather than concern with spiritual matters. “Make a Mint Ministries.” Now we have proof of one… or at least one that it bases its website on a financial frame. Janet Folger of Faith2action on WorldNewsNet blogs on and on about her willingness to go to prison for her beliefs. The article is written with that desperateness for a jolt of righteousness, so much so that it twists an interpretation from the law like a hobo squeezing Sterno through a sock for a quick cheap drink. Are you ready? Here we go!
The Ku Klux Klan can march. The Nazis can hand out brochures. Skinheads can do whatever it is that Skinheads do. But in the state of Colorado, the only group who is NOT allowed to be heard is … the Christians. They’re the ones who disagree with same-sex marriage, cohabitation, and believe the biblical view that homosexuality is a sin. But if they voice that objection from now on, it had better be inside the four walls of a church. If not, they’ll be staring at the four walls of a prison cell … for up to a year.
… quite incorrect! Then I notice that instead of offering connections to other blog entries that may be of interest the postcript is :-
“Special offer? Point proven?
Thanks to Richard Dawkins for the link to a wonderful series of short videos about the elements from Nottingham university.
Wonderful, enthusiastic people talking about the periodic table.
The Periodic Table of Videos - University of Nottingham
In an amazing statement today Edward Gordon writes on his blog, Christian Cross Talk, that he has given up the argument for the existance of god.
He states that he no longer willing to debate the issue and says,
The arguments for God are on the website, and that’s my token participation in the great debate of the Divine, but I don’t need secular proof of God, and those who do aren’t ready for a discussion of faith and miracles.
Now he’s only willing to debate stuff like “holiness” and “faith” calling the debate “…a satanic distraction.”
This was an interesting site for a while but I would guess that he’s been so unable to counter the strong arguments of his co-debators that he’s given up.
Many Christians do this in order to preserve their faith in the face of real chalenge.
My bet is that it won’t be long before he moves over into another camp.
PS Incorrectly spelled headline corrected thanks to Tommykey!
