Notes, journal, diary, blog, arguments, beliefs, cogitations, comments, considerations, contemplations, criticisms, daydreams, deliberations, engrossments, musings, opinions, phlogs, poems, points, rantings (occasional), reflections, ruminations, satire, wit, and pensiveness of a thinking man.
Posted in Existential, Faith, Humanity, Religion on Feb 4th, 2010
In 1968 the sociologist Peter Berger famously predicted that in the 21st century, religious believers would only be likely to be in small sects, huddled together to resist a worldwide secular culture. In 1710 Thomas Woolstan predicted that religion would be gone by 1900. And many other thinkers (Voltaire, Jefferson, Marx, Engels, Freud) have all anticipated [...]
Posted in Faith, Literature, Religion, Science on Jan 25th, 2010
Although it is nearly 24 hours since I watched the first in Channel 4’s new series, The Bible: A History, I still find myself annoyed at the mere memory of it. It ended up being more of the aspirational wishful thinking of a romantic presenter than the history deceptively portrayed in the title.
The first quarter [...]
Posted in Faith, Relationships, Religion on Jan 12th, 2010
When you stand back and think about it, it’s really strange. I mean, it may have some side benefits, but the primary activity is odd.
What got me thinking was a wonderful essay (A Deal-Breaker by Ophelia Benson in 50 Voices of Disbelief) in which the author points out that some of the supposed characteristics of god [...]
Posted in Faith, Health, Human Rights, Religion on Dec 11th, 2009
I have long thought that it seems ridiculous that hospital chaplains should be funded by the NHS - not least because all other NHS care is allowed because of its evidence base and scientific sense, and because the religious bodies should pay the wages of their own staff. I recently wrote a piece expressing [...]
Posted in Faith, Government, Human Rights, Isolation, Law, Morality, Religion, Society on Nov 28th, 2009
Local vicars in Winscombe and Sandford in Somerset have been pressing to have prayers reinstated at the beginning of Parish Council meetings, a month after they were dropped.
The reason why they were dropped is not that the Parish Council wished to stop individuals talking to their imaginary friends in the privacy of their own homes, [...]
I thought I knew the answers. Well, perhaps I knew that I didn’t really know, because I had never really thought about it (and certainly hadn’t read about it). But when I was a believer, aiming to base my life and theology on what I believed to be the holy book that had somehow (don’t [...]
If it is not women’s legs and bottoms (see Appropriateness), it is their breasts. Apparently some men, especially some religious men, just can’t leave them alone. It is bad enough that some women in the Sudan are being whipped for wearing trousers, now some in Somalia are being whipped for wearing bras.
According to press reports:
A HARDLINE Islamist [...]
Posted in Education, Faith, Government, Religion on Sep 22nd, 2009
For a long time I have felt very uneasy with the notion of Faith Schools. Having worked in Secondary Modern Schools, and latterly in Comprehensives, and Further Education Colleges, I have a profound dislike of anything that divides young people unnecessarily or that make access to progress a privilege.
My two main objections to them are [...]
The relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux, a 19th-century Roman Catholic nun, have arrived in Britain for a month-long tour of England and Wales. A casket containing some of her bodily remains, which were preserved after her death from tuberculosis at 24 in 1897, has arrived in Kent.
For four weeks from 16 September, Thérèse’s hearse [...]
Posted in Existential, Faith, Humanity, Religion, Society on Jul 23rd, 2009
The Church of England’s liturgical committee (what a way to kill the opening of a blog!) has recently devised a new service which will enable clergy to offer couples who wish to get married in church the chance to get their children baptised at the same time - all for the modest fee of £272.
This [...]
Uncategorized Travel Time Wasting Therapy Terrorism Television Technology Society Science Religion Relationships Psychology Productivity Politics Poems Photography Philosophy Other Blogs Mortality Morality Literature Law Language Isolation iPhone 3G iPhone Internet Humour Humor Human Rights Humanity Health Government Faith Existential Education Creativity Censorship Business Art
Shared Reads