Religion – Page 10 – Boadicea's Chariot

Well I’ll be blessed!

Sometimes headlines catch the eye for their sheer incongruity. I mean, what are the qualities usually associated with the Church of Scotland (anecdotally, at least)? Thrift and ascetism perhaps – the antonyms for luxury and lavish living. Then today, there it was:

Scots Hotel: Why the Church of Scotland has a Galilee getaway

On the waterfront at Tiberias no less, where the Sermon on the Mount was preached, stands a multi-starred hotel, created from the buildings previously used as a hospital by a mission (est. 1880), then a hospice, later a guest house.

It’s a nice story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20126585

I wish I was making this up.

But I am not.

Representative Paul Broun (R) Georgia came out recently with this gem “All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell” he is running UNOPPOSED for re-election. Better yet he is a medical doctor and to cap it all he sits on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2012/10/06/paul-broun-evolution-big-bang-theory-lies-straight-from-pit-of-hell/?cxntfid=blogs_jay_bookman_blog

Believe it or not Broun is joined on that committee by Todd Akin (R) Missouri, his most recent claim to fame is that he is telling people that doctors are performing abortions on women who are NOT pregnant.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/02/todd-akin-abortion-providers_n_1934305.html

Where do we find these people?

Why do others vote for them?

But most of all why are THEY put in positions of authority over science and technology?

Gossip makes the best history

I’m reminded of this fact by Christina’s frequent anecdotes which round up all sorts of facts of every imaginable kind. Christina, you’re the Herodotus of the modern age! A strange comparison you may think, but akshully (thanks, Furry) the father of European history displayed an encyclopedic memory for both the valuable and the trivial, be it politics, geography, family life, war or mythology. He called it his ‘enquiry’, a record of his travels around the known world in the middle of the 5th century BC. “Ἡροδότου Ἁλικαρνησσέος ἱστορίης ἀπόδεξις ἥδε” – “This is a presentation of the enquiry of Herodotus of Halicarnassos”.

Midsummer

It’s called Sankt Hans Aften here, the evening before Sankt Hans, 24th June – alias St. John the Baptist whose birthday it purports to be. As usual the locals do it the evening before, like Yuletide, a kind of celebratio præcox, I suppose. And as usual there’ll be no trace of religion, even though it was nicked from the pagans yonks ago.

So we’re going north to stay with friends in Kerteminde on the island of Fynen, to do the hygge thing around a bonfire next to the fjord, although we probably won’t burn the effigy of a witch, the last of whom was so dispatched here in 1693.

And as in North Britain, it won’t be dark until well into the small hours and we’ll skim stones across the water into the setting sun, making a wish or two for the second half of 2012.

Superior captions?

Catholic nuns laughing

A knotty problem?

Both the British and Danish gubmints are still getting in a lather about same-sex couples wanting to be ‘married’, often in buildings dedicated to supernatural events.

IMHO the problem arises because Western politicians can’t throw off the mantle of their ancient predecessors for whom entrails (sometimes of animals) had to be read before decisions could be made. In modern parlance the Cabinet has a Holy Insurance Policy issued by the Pascal Wager Company, which invokes forces beyond their understanding whenever a tricky question is posed – like whether a war is just or a marriage allowable. Continue reading “A knotty problem?”

Why on earth not?

The GCSE exam concerned was Religious Studies. One question was: “Why are some people prejudiced against Jews?” But the Education Secretary, challenged by the Jewish Chronicle, said, “To suggest that anti-Semitism can ever be explained, rather than condemned, is insensitive and, frankly, bizarre.”

Continue reading “Why on earth not?”

Lies, damned lies and statistics

Warning: this is very long. It is a response to a blogger on MyT, who quoted some statistics.

If you are remotely interested in responses thereon, here is the post.

It was intended to explain a little more about the use and misuse of statistics, and how demographic projections are produced and their validity.

Some observations from the Pew Report.

All the statistics and quotations, unless otherwise attributed are from this report entitled “The Future of the Global Muslim Population -Projections for 2010-2030” and from here “Faith on the Move-The Religious Affiliation of International Migrants”

But before I begin, I would remind you of a particularly misleading video clip which has been doing the rounds for quite some time. This is one of the many examples of how statistics, and these particular numbers are wildly inaccurate, are used in an alarmist way.

Continue reading “Lies, damned lies and statistics”

The envy of less happier lands

By way of recognition, nay celebration of the hegemony of this royal throne of kings, this scepter’d isle, this earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, this other Eden, demi-paradise, this fortress built by Nature for herself against infection and the hand of war, this happy breed of men, this little world, this precious stone set in the silver sea (etc.), some wonderfully prescient people in the Politecnico di Milano have decided to adopt our language for the purposes of teaching.

This is but the beginning, in Jubilee and Olympic year, of Britain’s Big Comeback. (No, not flatulence, you fool.) Our Renaissance, our call from the bench of civilisation in extra time, with the World Cup of Cups itself at stake.

Would that the Argentinians and the Spanish might abandon their forlorn attempts to claim our sovereign territories and bow down to a superior race of men (and a few girls these days too).

(The organ sounds a crescendo of chords to lead us in Jerusalem, swell to great, no less.)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17958520