Meanwhile, in the West Country, a nurse has been re-allocated to other duties for refusing to remove her gold crucifix. At the same time, a Christian couple who run a B&B have been arrested on some trumped up charge for arguing with a Muslim and allegedly suggesting that her headware was a form of "bondage". My take on this, as a Christian is, hey guys, it is no big deal to remove jewelery, and secondly, if you open a B&B and then insult the guests you are not the perfect host. What pisses me off of course is that the public authorities in these cases, seem hell bent on discriminating against Christians. This being the West Country, and a hot bed of Witchcraft, it would not surprise me at all to learn that someone in the Police or the Health Services is a member of the local coven and is pursuing a vendetta. Far fetched? I don't think so. If you don't believe in Evil, watch Gordon Brown or read what Philip Pullman (recommended reading in all our schools) has said about the Lord Jesus Christ. Funnily enough, Pullman is strangely silent on Islam. Now I wonder why that might be?? (By the way, Pullman need not fear for his life, we Christians do not issue Fatwahs. No, Pullman should fear for his soul.)
UPDATE:
Cranmer has reported on the emergence of a Pagan Police Association:
PC Andy Hill of Staffordshire Police, a practising Wiccan (basically, a witch) has founded the Pagan Police Group UK
7 comments:
Sorry, Weasel, but what exactly is wrong with Philip Pullman's books? They were written based on a Christian culture, so it is hardly surprising they take that as the religion of the antagonists rather than Islam.
What exactly is wrong with being a Pagan? It is no more or less valid than being a Christian, and the only reason it might prejudice a Pagan against Christianity is the violence historically shown by Christians against Pagans. The most common Pagan sects are very broad-minded about personal beliefs.
You can certainly criticise these cases of the targeting of Christians, and I have done so on my own blog for one of them, but your argument will have much more force if you do so on the basis of that prejudice without referring to outside influences with no apparent connection.
Those connections also assume that Christianity is better than Pullman's atheism and a police officer's potential paganism. That simply suggests you are willing to be as prejudiced as the people you criticise.
Thank you for your comment Richard. I can hardly begin to answer the issues you have raised. This really is not possible for me. For people with a true belief in Christianity, it is not something you chose as a lifestyle choice, or something that is on a par with other "beliefs".It is only in the last 100 out of 2000 years that people have become pluralistic to the extent you evidently are, and by that I mean your belief, for example, that Paganism "is no more or less valid than being a Christian".
You do not pick belief off a shelf with your other supermarket shopping. Christianity has informed Western thought and culture and art since its beginning. To lump the Son of God in with Paganism, which I have to say has not had much influence on things over the last two Millenia, is a bit disingenuous.
The "Christianity is violent" argument is such an old chestnut, that I am amazed you have dragged it up. People are violent. That is all there is to it. As it happens, the majority of violence in the world is due to a different belief altogether which is that one person has a right to determine the life of another - something with which I heartily disagree.
Pullman is a mischief maker whose self confessed aim is to make outlandish claims and then back them up with pure fantasy and not facts. He says of his latest book,"Parts of it read like a novel, parts like a history, and parts like a fairy tale"
Hardly academic rigour is it? More like an easy pop at something that is clearly unfashionable at the moment.
As I said, thanks for your comment, the valdiity of which I recognise, but I am not here as a Christian apologist, so this will have to do.
You are right - the parents are the ones who should take responsibility for the infections. Few modern children seem to know (a) how to wash their hands thoroughly, (b) why they should do so before eating & (c) how to eat with a knife & fork. The upside is that such snivelling sub-humans may well die out as a direct result of their poor hygiene - result!
May I first send you all Christian Blessings.
You will find, via tinternet, that one of the non executive directors of the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust is on the Cathedral Diocese Finance Committee..!
But, perhaps the gold cricifix the woman wore around her neck was one that used to be on the alter! Rather large.
I often wonder why Bishops and Archbishops always wear very large crucifix's as if they are saying we are bigger christians than you...similarily at Remembrance Day why some people wear very large poppies (The Queen has a posy on her lapel of four or five large poppies) IS it a class thing. Their grief is greater etc?
I notice the Italians have a state funeral for their war dead..ours go without the ghsatly Brown or Col Blimp anywhere to be seen.
Hey Ho! such is life. I suppose we should all give in now and become muslims, it will just hasten the inevitable.
Incidentally The UK Police Formation Ballroom Dancing Team will be holding their next rehearsal at Fyfe Community Hall. Fyfe. 7.30pm.Wednesday 30th September. Please bring dancing shoes.
They are rehearsing for the World Police Formation Ballroom Dancing Championships to be held in
Munich, Germany in November.
Strapworld. The UK Police Federation Ballroom Dancing Team is a disgrace. I much prefer the break-away faction, the UK Police Federation Real Ballroom Dancing Championship, which promotes the correct and authentic style of Police Paso Doble, among other things.
Weasel
But your religion was picked in a remarkably similar way to a choice of product off a shelf. Religion like preferences in the supermarket is usually determined almost entirely by parents' preference and cultural upbringing and by the products on offer locally.
That in no way makes it superior to anyone else's. Of course you argue that it is, but they would also argue that there's is superior so that has no relevance at all. In fact as an atheist I am the one with the advantage. I agree with every one of you on the vast majority of religions, that they are wrong. I only disagree with any one religious person on the status of one out of thousands of religions, cults and sects. We are in 99.99% agreement.
I did not bring up the old "Christians are violent" chestnut, and would not for that very reason. What I brought up was the fact that specifically the Christians in the UK have targeted Pagans for violence and cultural suppression, and in fact the point I was making was that modern Pagans, who have no real connection with those prehistoric and historical cults, tend to have no prejudice against Christians.
Plurality has been around far longer than Christianity. In fact Christianity derives from Judaism, a tribal religion in a pluralist region. Ever wonder where the names of all the fallen angels in Milton came from? They were the gods of other tribes, rivals to Yahweh who had to be beaten and (quite literally) daemonised.
It is only in the last 2000 years of 4.55 billion of Earth and 500,000 years of human existence that Christianity has been a concept, far shorter that it has dominated. Pluralism of the last century could be a good thing, as it might lead people to think for themselves, instead of using 2000-year-old superstition to run their lives.
I have not read Pullman's latest work, so cannot comment on it. Have you read it?
I have read his Dark Materials trilogy, which starts out as a wonderful story, beautifully told. The language and style holds up throughout, and although I think the tale weakens slightly in parts it is still very fine, just not as good as the first book.
What possible relevance has any of this to the story in question?
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