Saturday, February 09, 2008
Archbishop defends Sharia remarks. But can Rowan Williams survive The Sun's frothage?
Arch enemy: Bash the Bishop.
Nearly 15,000 Sun readers rang our You the Jury hotline urging him to go.
That phone number being 1111 1111111.
Meanwhile our phone lines and email queues were flooded by furious responses.
Brian Fuller, 46, of Luton, said: "This is the guy who leads our country’s religion and it sounds like he’s given up. He’ll soon be asking us all to face Mecca when we say our prayers."
That sounds like someone who has his finger on the pulse of current debate. Williams wants a discussion on letting Muslim courts decide things = Turning this country into an Islamic state.
Fiona Jones, 38, from Lincoln, said: "I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I thought we were a Christian country."
Wherever did you get that idea from? And if you'd like to believe it is, why are you reading The Sun, which surely breaks any number of the Christian God's laws?
The Sun bus visited the Archbishop’s Lambeth Palace residence in South London with Page 3 girls Mel and Peta — and blasted out Rule Britannia.
Again with the whole turning Britain into an Islamic state thing. And when will The Sun do a media stunt of which the main part of it doesn't involve their page three girls?
We got honks of support from drivers, but Dr Williams stayed firmly indoors.
I don't know, maybe he only wanted to talk to people who understood what he'd said the other day?
As it is, I think Williams is wrong, but I'm not standing with the mentally challenged halfwits whose idea of political debate begins with The Sun speak your brains phoneline and ends with the words of an ancient Australian put into the mouth of some girl who has taken her top off.
This is much the same as when Williams threw the Church of England behind the Catholic Church's attempts to get an opt-out for their homophobia from equality laws. Williams is playing the long game, he doesn't mind a religious plurality, he just wants more religion in the country. If we have Sharia courts dictating what Muslims do (and there are also Beth Din courts that work in a similar fashion in Jewish communities) then we can have the courts for the rest of us getting back to good old fashioned Christian values, abolishing gay marriage and gay rights, rolling back womens rights, abolishing divorce.
I'm not claiming that Rowan Williams wants society to go back five hundred years but I am rather dubious of the claims I've heard from some quarters that just because he looks like Great Uncle Bulgaria he's cuddly and friendly and would just love to let gays live openly in Anglicanism if only those horrid African bishops wouldn't cause a fuss.
I tend to think we could do with less religious jurisprudence rather than more, but then I'm the godless atheist so I would think that wouldn't I?
Arch enemy: Bash the Bishop.
Nearly 15,000 Sun readers rang our You the Jury hotline urging him to go.
That phone number being 1111 1111111.
Meanwhile our phone lines and email queues were flooded by furious responses.
Brian Fuller, 46, of Luton, said: "This is the guy who leads our country’s religion and it sounds like he’s given up. He’ll soon be asking us all to face Mecca when we say our prayers."
That sounds like someone who has his finger on the pulse of current debate. Williams wants a discussion on letting Muslim courts decide things = Turning this country into an Islamic state.
Fiona Jones, 38, from Lincoln, said: "I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I thought we were a Christian country."
Wherever did you get that idea from? And if you'd like to believe it is, why are you reading The Sun, which surely breaks any number of the Christian God's laws?
The Sun bus visited the Archbishop’s Lambeth Palace residence in South London with Page 3 girls Mel and Peta — and blasted out Rule Britannia.
Again with the whole turning Britain into an Islamic state thing. And when will The Sun do a media stunt of which the main part of it doesn't involve their page three girls?
We got honks of support from drivers, but Dr Williams stayed firmly indoors.
I don't know, maybe he only wanted to talk to people who understood what he'd said the other day?
As it is, I think Williams is wrong, but I'm not standing with the mentally challenged halfwits whose idea of political debate begins with The Sun speak your brains phoneline and ends with the words of an ancient Australian put into the mouth of some girl who has taken her top off.
This is much the same as when Williams threw the Church of England behind the Catholic Church's attempts to get an opt-out for their homophobia from equality laws. Williams is playing the long game, he doesn't mind a religious plurality, he just wants more religion in the country. If we have Sharia courts dictating what Muslims do (and there are also Beth Din courts that work in a similar fashion in Jewish communities) then we can have the courts for the rest of us getting back to good old fashioned Christian values, abolishing gay marriage and gay rights, rolling back womens rights, abolishing divorce.
I'm not claiming that Rowan Williams wants society to go back five hundred years but I am rather dubious of the claims I've heard from some quarters that just because he looks like Great Uncle Bulgaria he's cuddly and friendly and would just love to let gays live openly in Anglicanism if only those horrid African bishops wouldn't cause a fuss.
I tend to think we could do with less religious jurisprudence rather than more, but then I'm the godless atheist so I would think that wouldn't I?
Labels: Christianity, courts, Islam, law, religion, Rowan Williams
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Harsh but fair, The Guardian Digested Read on John Humphrys' In God We Doubt: Confessions of a Failed Atheist .
I did find this book rather disappointing when I put it down. I suppose I was hoping for the Agnostic The God Delusion but instead I got one-third 'If there's a God then why do bad things happen?', one-third 'If there isn't a God then how did the universe start then huh?' and one-third 'We've got a letter from a Mrs Thoughtful of Middle-Englandshire'. Perhaps all that this book demonstrates is that rational sensible argument is unlikely to change the phase-state of a person's belief, that can only occur when they think for themselves. Humphrys largely skirts religion to concentrate on belief, which allows him to put his impartial boot into the Dawkins and Hitchens of the world but the problem is there's no sense of a journey, after a vaguely religious upbringing he lost his faith as a young man and is now an old man and it hasn't come back. In the end he makes Agnosticism seem like the Liberal Democrats of theology, able to stand on the sidelines and take pot shots at the other two positions but not doing much to convert others to the cause.
I did find this book rather disappointing when I put it down. I suppose I was hoping for the Agnostic The God Delusion but instead I got one-third 'If there's a God then why do bad things happen?', one-third 'If there isn't a God then how did the universe start then huh?' and one-third 'We've got a letter from a Mrs Thoughtful of Middle-Englandshire'. Perhaps all that this book demonstrates is that rational sensible argument is unlikely to change the phase-state of a person's belief, that can only occur when they think for themselves. Humphrys largely skirts religion to concentrate on belief, which allows him to put his impartial boot into the Dawkins and Hitchens of the world but the problem is there's no sense of a journey, after a vaguely religious upbringing he lost his faith as a young man and is now an old man and it hasn't come back. In the end he makes Agnosticism seem like the Liberal Democrats of theology, able to stand on the sidelines and take pot shots at the other two positions but not doing much to convert others to the cause.
Labels: Agnosticism, atheism, atheists, books, Christianity, ethics, Islam, Judaism, Richard Dawkins, Rowan Williams
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Prominent single man describes marriage as a boon to society, though only if it's between a man and a woman of course, because any other combination would be yucky . Oh dear. I do actually have some time for Rowan Williams, when I heard him in conversation with John Humphrey's he did an admirable, if not entirely successful, defence of why bad things happen in the Christian God's universe (if only Humphrey's would shut up a bit more, as his interruptions allowed Williams to avoid answering some difficult questions fully).
Tories warn any companies still interested in being involved in the Government's ridiculous ID Card scheme that they'll scrap it if they get in at the next election. More a statement of their exiting policy than anything new, I think it worth pointing out as a rare example of a Conservative party having a conservative policy. It does unfortunately allow John Reid the chance to talk about something other than the Government's ridiculous plan to lock everyone up and sort out the mess later:
"The Tories' ill-considered opposition highlights their lack of leadership on security issues - they can't be trusted with Britain's safety. David Davis has shown that he and David Cameron talk tough while acting soft. They are more interested in political point-scoring than backing Labour's tough and necessary measures to keep the country safe."
Yes, yes, we've heard it all before and it was bollocks the first time. The Tories have the same problem as Labour, in that they seem to think the danger to this country is from outsiders attacking inwards and ignoring the evidence of most terrorism in the last decade, but as Labour's stated reasons for why the ID Card will be great don't stand up to the mildest scrutiny it's ridiculous to claim that Labour's ineffective policies are better than the Tories for keeping people safe from a mostly illusory danger.
And I saw that Hazel Blears on Saturday. She was standing outside the TUC Congress. I almost wanted to ask her to move on the grounds of 'loitering around the TUC might give people the false idea that New Labour give a shit about the opinions of people in trade unions'. I didn't of course, I just walked past and wished I had some condoms filled with purple powder and a good throwing arm...
Tories warn any companies still interested in being involved in the Government's ridiculous ID Card scheme that they'll scrap it if they get in at the next election. More a statement of their exiting policy than anything new, I think it worth pointing out as a rare example of a Conservative party having a conservative policy. It does unfortunately allow John Reid the chance to talk about something other than the Government's ridiculous plan to lock everyone up and sort out the mess later:
"The Tories' ill-considered opposition highlights their lack of leadership on security issues - they can't be trusted with Britain's safety. David Davis has shown that he and David Cameron talk tough while acting soft. They are more interested in political point-scoring than backing Labour's tough and necessary measures to keep the country safe."
Yes, yes, we've heard it all before and it was bollocks the first time. The Tories have the same problem as Labour, in that they seem to think the danger to this country is from outsiders attacking inwards and ignoring the evidence of most terrorism in the last decade, but as Labour's stated reasons for why the ID Card will be great don't stand up to the mildest scrutiny it's ridiculous to claim that Labour's ineffective policies are better than the Tories for keeping people safe from a mostly illusory danger.
And I saw that Hazel Blears on Saturday. She was standing outside the TUC Congress. I almost wanted to ask her to move on the grounds of 'loitering around the TUC might give people the false idea that New Labour give a shit about the opinions of people in trade unions'. I didn't of course, I just walked past and wished I had some condoms filled with purple powder and a good throwing arm...
Labels: Conservatives, ID cards, Labour, religion, Rowan Williams
