It Shouldn't Happen But It Will

It shouldn't happen but it will, because the SNP Scottish Government has a majority and they will ensure all their MSPs attend the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday, when the final version of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill will be passed into law.

No blogger has illuminated the flaws in this Bill more than this one. Not only has he highlighted the practical elements of the Bill but he has shown how politicians misuse reports/polls/questionnaires to accommodate their objectives.

I hoped, some time ago, that the Scottish Government would avoid a knee-jerk reaction to Scotland's sectarian problem but my hopes are dashed.

The sectarian problem is much more prevalent in the west, yet those of us from the east know it hasn't grown from the sport of football. Sectarianism at football matches is the result not the source of the problem. Attitudes are indoctrinated when we are small children and for our legislators to ignore the religious divisions in formal schooling is unfortunate - to put it kindly.

If Scotland considers itself a tolerant secular country these days (when did Christianity die here?), why does government continue to support religious schools? Even 60 years later, I find I can recall our primary teacher explaining to us why our 'new' classmate couldn't attend Monday morning assembly. It was done tactfully I'm sure, but we were left in no doubt that Dorothy (yes, I remember her name because she became a good pal) should have enrolled at Lawside Academy - the RC equivalent of mine - but there was no space. Her home address was in the catchment area of my school and thus she was thrust into our midst at the tender age of eight or so.

I can't remember our school minister partaking to any degree in assemblies other than to offer a brief prayer at the end, but this was enough for her own religion's leaders to insist she didn't attend.  She was excluded, banned, prohibited - whatever you want to call it - and this action ensured she was 'different'.  Poor Dorothy* had to sit alone in her first Monday class until we all trundled along from the weekly pep talk.  She was eight years old, for goodness sake and adults inflicted this upon her.  To this day I still feel for her and the humiliation she tolerated in her first year at a new school, just because her parents had made the decision to bring her up in the Roman Catholic faith. No child I knew teased her and I think we all went out of our way to avoid mentioning the issue.

But if such a situation had occurred in a west coast school, in all probability it would have been very different, because I've heard of young children, in a similar position, being tormented by their peers. The west of Scotland differs greatly in its religious attitudes and that stems from both home and school and backed by tough religious representatives whose vocation is to ensure that no child is 'afflicted' by other perspectives.

The Scottish government can legislate as often as it likes, but until we have religion removed from schools and left to the care of churches outwith school hours, then sectarianism will continue. The churches complain their numbers have been falling rapidly. Here's their chance to recruit more attendees.

*Dorothy's situation lasted a year or so. She was found to have an excellent musical ear and was encouraged to learn an instrument. (All Dundee children were given that opportunity in those days). Her choice was the flute and she became a talented flautist. As part of our duties as little budding musicians we had to play in the school orchestra each Monday morning assembly. The head of the music department insisted Dorothy participated and that was the start of a friendship which lasted until I left the school. Not many teachers would have stood up to those who insisted a prayer, delivered by an emissary of another religion, took precedence over a child's development.

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Complete Change of Tack

Contributed by TediousTrantrums

Complete change of tack here. Less serious but this might ask questions of you. Yes you. The person sitting reading this on your screen.

Back in the mid seventies I was about to leave high school and set of on my journey into the big wide world. One of the last things I was asked to do, along with the rest of the English class I was part of, was to write a short essay on religion for the Minister of a local church which was about to celebrate a major longevity anniversary. The best essay would win a prize of some description.

Pretty straight forward? Well for me no, not at all. Like most young adults of my age at the time I’d been brought up going to church, Sunday school, BBs, and youth clubs. I’d sort of had enough of that sort of thing by then even although the church I was involved with then was generously allowing me, and my heavy rock band, to practice in the hall as long as we played at the occasional Sunday service. But I digress.

I took my seat in the room with the rest of the A stream 6^th year students in a pretty bored state of mind. A few sheets of blank lined paper were given to each of us and then it was time to be silent and we had an hour to write.

For some reason I decided that I wasn’t going to write about the sort of religion I’d been involved with. I decided I’d write about a wee theory I’d been considering for a few months. I don’t have the original text as it was handed in but I’ll try to re-create it here.

One of life’s perpetual questions is where do we come from and what happens to us when we die. No one has come up with an answer to that. People have had various stabs in the dark based on religious beliefs but no one has tangible evidence, which would provide an answer.

We are born, various things take place and after a number of years we die. Fairly simple to grasp and we look upon this as a journey from A to B all lined up, neat and tidy. It’s like looking at a map. You choose point A where you start and you go along the route which takes your to your destination point Z. There maybe detours, side trips, unintentional wrong turnings etc. but the route is logical and one step leads directly to the next. Understandable? Yes?

At this point I went down, shall we say, a different route. We expect that every second of time is consecutive. That is one is followed by two is followed by three and on and on for all of our lives. We can’t go back, we can’t re-live even a few seconds and we can’t add more seconds in a guaranteed manner. We also believe that once a second is past, it has been used and is gone forever.

What if every second we live is alive forever? That’s loopy? Isn’t it? Can you disprove it though? No. Do I have proof for this? No, but if time travel was possible and we travelled back ten years, we’d find everyone alive and doing things they did ten years ago. Long shot? Yes but the principle is worthy of consideration.

Next step then, is that if every second of everyone’s lives is there forever it would mean that we were immortal. We live forever within the seconds we use. If all our seconds are alive for all of time perhaps our immortality is not lived from A to Z but is lived as our consciousness jumps back and forward to any and all points of our lives in a random order. The timeline or lifeline we inhabit is there forever. The only rule is we can’t step out of it… yet.

Now thinking back to the Minister who was handed the essays. I imagine that he sat down at his desk and started to read through them. Then he comes to mine. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall. I’m sure it must have stopped him in his tracks. Maybe he was annoyed. Maybe he offered up a prayer for the heathen who blasphemed to such an extent. Maybe he laughed. Maybe you are doing one or more of these right now.

And I didn’t even mention quantum physics. But I just might give that a whirl. Soon. Whadda ya think?

What is a “dead” certainty is that we all know we have to make the most of every second we have. So why are you still sitting there. Get up! Go and do something amazing. Remember to write it up and post though even if it is a bit bizarre, or a lot.

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A Lesson In Communication

As a way of encouraging young people to his church, 45-year-old Rev Zoltan Lendavi showcases his skateboarding skills for them outside his church in Redics, a small village on Hungary's border with Slovenia.

Some Church of Scotland ministers could take a leaf out of the Reverend's book.  Their communication skills are fairly limited and usually confined to sermon preaching accompanied by a little small talk with their tiny congregations.

The dour, doom-laden, downtrodden aura they convey does nothing to attract those seeking a spiritual experience. It's little wonder presbyterianism is on the wane.

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The Smoking Buddhist

My sympathy goes to the 23 year old Buddhist monk Sonan Tshering, who is facing three years in prison after becoming the first casualty of a stringent anti-smoking law in the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan - a country which claims to be Shangri-La and considers gross national happiness before gross domestic product - vows to become the first smoke-free nation.

Mr Tshering has been convicted of consuming and smuggling contraband tobacco under a law that came into force in January. In 2005 the sale of tobacco was banned in Bhutan because it was considered bad for one's karma, but it failed to make much of an impact because of the thriving smuggling operation from neighbouring India.

The new law permits the police to enter homes, threaten jail for shopkeepers selling tobacco and smokers who fail to provide customs receipts for imported cigarettes.  Smoking in private is not illegal but the sale of cigarettes is banned, although smokers can legally import 200 cigarettes of 150grams of other tobacco products a month.  They must provide a customs receipt when challenged by police.

The young monk bought the 72 packets of chewing tobacco from the Indian border town of Jaigoan and it was for personal use.  He said he was unaware of the new law and had no tax receipt from the customs department.

Illegal cigarette sales have almost stopped in small shops as shopkeepers say it's difficult to hide tobacco from sniffer dogs.

The leader of the political opposition said the sentence was "very, very harsh.  It's not in line with the character of Bhutan which is based on tolerance, compassion and justice".  This politician certainly lives in Shangri-La.  In the early 90s, many thousands of ethnic Nepalese who lived in Bhutan were stripped of their citizenship and forced into exile, apparently in a bid to ensure a homogenous culture.  Up to 100,000 Nepalese had to live in camps in Nepal and an international attempt to resettle them in third countries is ongoing.

I'm surprised the monks haven't introduced a little tobacco growing/processing system within their hallowed walls. Religious institutions are historically renowned for bridging such gaps.

source

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Something Doesn't Add Up

Eunice and Owen Johns are members of the Christian Pentecostal Church.  Between August 1992 and January 1995 they were approved as short-term, respite, foster carers by Derby City Council.  They last fostered a child in September 1993 when they did so for one month.[4]  In London's High Court on Monday it was their application, made in January 2007, which they wished clarified. Shortly before the case was to be heard the Equality and Human Rights Commission decided they wanted to take part.

I've no intention of going into the ecclesiastical issues of the case because they have been well covered here (do read the paragraph regarding 'secular' judges), but there are a few points which concern me.

Mr and Mrs Johns attend church services twice every Sunday.  Part of Derby Social Services defence was that when asked about church activities Mrs Johns stated she felt she could not give up going to church.[9]  Nowadays I know few attend church services on Sundays - or any other days - but this ruling would appear to bar any church going person from fostering.

In paragraph [6] it's stated 'They are also recorded as telling Mrs Shaw [social worker] that they would not feel able to take a child to a mosque'. If they weren't Jewish they wouldn't be able to take a Jewish child to a synagogue, so the church service issue doesn't bear scrutiny.

The Johns' specifically wish to foster children up to the age of 10, so why are matters of sexuality relevant to such young children?  Or is it being suggested they should be?  With sex education now being a legal requirement in schools to children from the age of 5, it would seem the latter is the case and I foresee all future foster carers plus those applying to adopt, having to attend compulsory sex education training.

It was my belief that equality laws were supposed to uphold the rights to religious belief yet the High Court ruled that laws protecting people from discrimination because of their sexual orientation 'should take precedence' over the right not to be discriminated against on religious grounds.  Why has it been left to judges to decide whose rights trump those of others when this should have been decided by the Westminster Parliament?  Some say this is yet another sloppily drafted measure which will have far-reaching consequences for freedom of conscience in this country and I can't disagree.

Only last week Michael Gove announced reforms to the adoption regime which will remove barriers that plague the system.  Currently there are 64,000 children in care in England and adoption rates are falling.  Good foster carers are very valuable to our society - it's not a job I would consider.  Years ago short-term foster carers and respite carers were greatly cherished because they were the people who would give love and tender care to a frightened child and often at very short notice.

It must be noted that Derby CC stated (although there was no evidence filed) that it 'has approved foster carers who are very committed Christians who hold to orthodox beliefs - whatever that means - and devout Muslim carers who are similarly committed to their religion, but who in both instances are able to value diversity notwithstanding their strongly held religious beliefs...' [22]

It is my understanding that the Jewish and Muslim faith do not accept homosexuality, so how do Derby CC manage to recruit Muslim foster carers?  Are Muslim foster carers asked to care only for Muslim children?  If so that's surely discrimination.

As far as I'm aware sexuality is not defined by religion any more than the colour of our eyes or hair so why must the two be intertwined unless by individual choice?

The Court judgement appears to criticise the legal submissions, particularly that submitted by Mr and Mrs Johns' lawyer Paul Diamond.  Even so, something doesn't add up.  Is it because the more liberal we are said to have become, the more illiberal we have become?

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A Unique Sound

The video was recorded on the Isle of Lewis and is part of a Free Church of Scotland service. The Youtube uploader describes it as 'a unique sound in the world of music'.

Many years ago I worked on the Isle of Lewis for a few weeks.  Attending the strictly Calvinist church was the only acceptable activity on a Sunday. Even cooking was frowned on and many women prepared the Sunday dinner on a Saturday. Television and radio were prohibited and the island just seemed to be shrouded in an oppressive gloom.

Listening to a few seconds of this video reminds me of my one attempt to join the local churchgoing tradition.  Actually I felt rather obliged to attend as I'd been in the company of the precentor and his wife earlier in the week.  His parting words were, "We'll be seeing you on Sunday morning then."  I nodded meekly in agreement, completely unaware of what was in store for the Sabbath.

The unaccompanied metrical singing assaulted my eardrums like a group of tone-deaf inebriates attempting The Road and the Miles to Dundee at Hogmanay.  For me the haunting, pitch-lag style is an acquired taste in music and not one I would willingly wish to hear again in large, or even medium, doses.

However, it's all about to change and I could perhaps be persuaded to attend another service because, after two days of debate, about 200 ministers and elders voted - by 98 to 84 - to use 'instruments and other items of praise'.  The choice will be left to the patriarchal elders, (no women yet allowed), but it will certainly be interesting to hear how the church hierarchy drag themselves into the 21st century now that their exclusive psalmody is no longer to be the only 'pure' way of worshipping God.

Somehow I can't see any of the 100 congregations in Scotland rushing to purchase organs or - heaven forbid - tambourines, but the 5 congregations in North America may be more adventurous.  At least there is now choice involved although I think it will take some years for melodious, uplifting music to be pouring out of church doors on the Outer Hebrides.  Who can blame them? It would be a cultural loss to Scotland if this unique musical tradition were to cease altogether and be replaced with happy clappy hymns.

source

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Choosing My Religion

Thanks to Aangirfan

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'Hitler was a Roman Catholic' - Guest Post

I thought it appropriate to publish Edward's guest post this morning as it extends the discussion regarding religion. May I thank all of you who contributed to the last post. Several readers have emailed me and mentioned the high quality of the comments, while others wished to express their sympathy with wisnaeme.

“Hitler was a Roman Catholic”

One often hears this bandied about in Protestant circles but nobody ever says “Stalin was Russian Orthodox” although he actually was a seminarian. Hitler seems to have cast off all religious belief whilst still at Linz grammar school where, he claimed, he first felt a sense of his special destiny.

To understand his formation it is necessary to understand something of the political attitudes amongst the German-speaking people in the racial pressure cooker of the old Austrian Empire. Whilst these were complex, they fell roughly into three groups -

The Clerical Party

traditional Roman Catholics, loyal to the Emperor and to their role in the multi-racial Habsburg state where the Imperial anthem was available in fourteen official languages.

The Social Democrats

ranging from Marxists to people more like today's Social Democrats, not unwilling to co-operate with fellow socialists from other racial groups.

The German Nationals and Pan Germans

This is the grouping to which Hitler adhered from an early age. They wanted the German-speaking territories to secede and join the German Reich, ruled from Berlin. Much of their ideology was distinctly anti-Roman Catholic. Some were New Age style pagans advocating a “pure” German religion. Others started a “Los von Rom” (free from Rome) movement, encouraging their members to become Lutheran, so that they would get on better with the Prussians.

Hitler was greatly influenced by a group led by a man called Schoenerer who called himself “Fuehrer” and introduced “Heil” as the German greeting to do away with the usual polite Austrian greeting “Gruess Gott” (God greet you) precisely because it was Christian. He also wanted to dispense with the commonly used expression “Servus” (at your service) because it was Latin – and, in any case, Germans shouldn't be anybody's servants!

Whilst they intended to do away with all forms of Christianity, the Nazis were marginally more keen on Luther who had objected to the German people being the “milch cow of Rome” in the 16^th century scandals of indulgences and collections of “Peter's Pence”

Their chief ideologue, Alfred Rosenberg, made things very plain in “The Myth of the 20^th Century”

“The idea of honour – national honour – is for us the beginning and the end of our entire thinking and doing. It does not admit of any equal-valued centre of force alongside it, no matter of what kind, neither Christian love nor Free-Masonic humanity, nor the Roman philosophy”.

As a supra-national organisation the Roman Church entered into a Concordat with the Nazis which, like all their other treaties, they promptly dishonoured as fast as the ink dried. With no outside base the Lutheran Church, grounded in the Reformation settlement of “cujus regio, eius religio” (the religion of the ruler is the religion of the state), was even less institutionally able to withstand the storm. The blood of many martyrs, lay and clerical, of both confessions bears witness to great individual faithfulness.

Translations of original documents in my possession show a very determined campaign to destroy Church influence, particularly among young people in the name of “inclusivity” and “non discrimination” between members of the German racial community. These have rather a topical ring amongst today's determined official attempts to banish religion to a purely private sphere and dictate the school curriculum, even in Church schools.

“We cannot recognise that the Church has a right to ensure that the individual should be educated in all respects in the way in which it holds to be right. We must leave it to the National Socialist state to educate the child in the way it regards as right”.

( Church Affairs Minister Kerrl, Speech at Fulda 27 November 1937)

The propaganda war was vicious indeed and the most scurrilous and vile cartoons and lampoons were directed against the Roman Church, particularly against Cardinal Pacelli, later PiusXII.

A German friend, who read Protestant Theology with a view to the Ministry, tells me he is now convinced that Roman Catholics on average were more steadfast in their witness than average Lutherans but he adds “I'm still not sure about the Vatican”.

Edward Spalton

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The Vatican and Generations of Damaged Children

It has taken me some days to write about the Pope's attitude to many years of child abuse within the priesthood. My memory sped back to the 60s when I worked with a lovely Irish woman. We became friends and I was invited to her wedding in Co. Waterford.

During an evening out prior to the wedding her husband-to-be disclosed he was not continuing with his 'conversion' to Catholicism. We were a small group and knew each other well, so he was comfortable enough to say his wife-to-be and himself had decided not to have children. None of us questioned their decision as I suspect we acknowledged they had their own private reasons.

A few days before the bride-to-be set for her family home in Co. Waterford, where she had been brought up with three sisters and two brothers, we had a quiet night out for dinner. Both of us had quite a bit to drink and suddenly the conversation came round to why my friend had decided she didn't want children. The reason was along the lines of "I'm not having any Father interfere with my child if I have a son and I'm not prepared to take the chance to have one."

It seemed, as she was the closest to the younger boy, he had taken her into his confidence not so long before and told her the local Father had interfered with him. My friend immediately told her mother and father only to be rebuked for 'bringing the Father's good name into disrepute'. The consequences for her and her younger brother were severe. This was the 60s remember and to Irish Catholics it was a great sin to speak ill of any of the clergy.

The wedding was as festive as most weddings I've attended although there was a distinct coolness between the bride, the bridegroom and her parents, who appeared quite disinterested in the whole affair.

We kept in touch for quite a few years and often she would mention how badly treated her younger brother was by her family. He was more or less shunned and finally joined the Navy. As far as I know my friends never had children. She couldn't break away from the Catholic church because the religion was so ingrained.

Until the 60s I was quite unaware of the differences between catholics and protestants; I had little interest as religious bigotry didn't exist in the east of Scotland - it still doesn't to any degree.

But the story of one of the Vatican's employees, reputedly said to be the biggest business empire in the world, causing so much pain to one child, made me wonder just how much pain these hundreds of not thousands of children have suffered for decades. These men and women who inflicted unbelievable suffering and hid behind the cloaks of the Vatican are abhorrent, yet the Vatican protects them.

Last week the present Pope said sorry - such an easy word. Generations of children had their childhoods destroyed by perverted adults in the pay of the Catholic church and most have escaped scot free.

It's time the Catholic church did away with mandatory celibacy and permitted its employees to have a normal life. It never ceases to amaze me how priests can advise their flock in all aspects of family life when they've had no experience themselves.

Of course there are men and women within the Catholic church who are good law-abiding people, but there were also far too many used the church to fulfil their sickening objectives. The Vatican has some of the most intellectual brains within its walls. None was able or interested in exposing these disgusting individuals. Like all big business, one couldn't be seen to rock the boat, could one?

Reuters reports a Polish priest is now fingerprinting children when they attend church. The reason given is that if they attend 200 masses they will be free from the obligation of having to pass an exam prior to their confirmation. "It saves standing in a line to get the priest's signature in our confirmation notebooks," said one child. I agree with Michael Baumann, while this all seems harmless enough, it is pretty creepy.

The German Catholic church has set up a help line for those who are concerned about abuse past and present. I don't see Ireland or the UK making, what I consider a long overdue effort to make amends. The whole matter shows how much the Vatican cares for the welfare of their flock. Not one iota. Their flock are there to generate money and for no other reason.

That's why I detest organised religion. It does as much harm as good.

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Ethics and Religion

Have you been to church today? No need to answer. It's none of my business.

A study published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences found that people who had no religion know right from wrong just as well as regular worshippers.

Dr Marc Hauser, from Harvard University and one of the co-authors of the research, said that he and his colleagues were interested in the roots of religion and morality. The team behind the research found that most religions were similar and had a moral code which helped to organise society.

"For some, there is no morality without religion, while others see religion as merely one way of expressing one's moral intuitions." he said.

"The research suggests that intuitive judgements of right and wrong seem to operate independently of explicit religious commitments.

"However, although it appears as if co-operation is made possible by mental mechanisms that are not specific to religion, religion can play a role in facilitating and stabilising co-operation between groups."

There we have it - atheists are just as ethical as churchgoers. Right or wrong is intuitive and my years of perfect attendance at Sunday school were a waste of time. I know others in my family said that 50 odd years ago!

source

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Be Warned - Don't Dare Discuss Religion

The Bounty House Hotel, Liverpool is a small boutique hotel with a swimming pool (pictured above) and a sauna. No, this is not an advertisement because I've never stayed there, never even heard of the place until today, but I do know it's owned by a couple called Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang who are practising Christians.

The Vogelenzangs have been charged with breaching Section 5 of the Public Order Act - causing harassment, alarm or distress. If convicted they face fines of £2,500 each and a criminal record.

Merseyside Police can confirm that Benjamin Vogelenzang and Sharon Vogelenzang were charged with a religiously-aggravated public order offence on 29 July 2009.

It appears the hotel owners had a conversation with a Muslim woman who was a guest in their hotel. It is understood that among the topics debated was whether Jesus was a minor prophet, as Islam teaches, or whether he was the Son of God, as Christianity teaches.

Among the things Mr Vogelenzang, 53, is alleged to have said is that Mohammad was a warlord. His wife, 54, is said to have stated that Muslim dress is a form of bondage for women.

The conversation, on March 20, was reported by the woman to Merseyside Police and the couple were interviewed over the incident. Three months later they were interrogated again before being charged and they appeared in court on 14 August and are now awaiting trial.

Was the woman physically injured? Was her life put at risk?

What a country we have become when police and the judiciary system spend time and taxpayers' money on this politically correct nonsense.

Be warned - don't dare discuss Islam. In fact play it really safe and don't discuss religion.

Source: Telegraph

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Beguiling Blair

This is the man who sent our fathers, mothers, sons and daughters to war on a lie. His lie - and he has no regrets.

Now he's been lecturing Roman Catholics at a conference in Rimini, Italy where he told people of all faiths around the world that their own conflicts and decisions "allow aggressive secularism in part of the West to gain traction" when the faiths should be united in standing up for justice and solidarity.

"This is surely the role of faith in modern times. To do what it alone can do. To achieve what neither a person, nor a state nor a community, on their own or even together, can achieve."

What does that mean? I'm sure some of you will understand it and will be kind enough to explain.

Blair stopped off in Rimini to grace it with his presence during his family summer holiday in the Mediterranean where he is a guest on Rising Sun, the five-deck yacht of American software billionaire Larry Ellison.

The pace of modern life and the restless search for short-term material gain in a globalised economic system constitute a threat both to the planet and to human identity,

He of all people should know about short term material gain. This man is now selling religion to earn his millions and I'm always suspect of those who do. Mind you, if all else fails he can buy his own American TV channel and preach to the vulnerable and needy on a daily basis. He's certainly not camera shy.

His final comment to the conference was:

Ever since I began preparations to become a Catholic, I felt I was coming home; and this is now where my heart is, where I know I belong," he said.

I know where you belong too Mr Blair and it's certainly not as President of the EU.

Source: Guardian

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Europe's Demographic Realities

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