Religious ironies abound

The thing I love is the irony.......and it's lost on them all. So the Pope quotes a 14c Byzantine Emperor saying that Islam is all about violence and destruction.
Irony number 1 - Muslims howl threats of violence in protest about being called violent..... ummmm....
Irony number 2 - at the same time as this Byzantine Emperor was speaking, the Catholic Church, under the order of the Pope, was BURNING people for being heretics.... just stop for 1 minute and think how it must feel to be burnt alive.... what the pain must be like... and all in the name of God. In 1209, near where we live, at Beziers, a crusade of 20,000 knights, summoned by the Pope, rampaged through Languedoc to seek out the heretics called Cathars. On July 22nd they stormed into the city of Beziers. The Abbott who was leading the crusade on behalf of Pope Innocence II, when asked how the knights would distinguish Cathars from the Christians, replied " kill them all - God will recognise his own". In 2 days the Catholic Host murdered over 20,000 men. women and children - all on the order of the Pope. What was that that the Pope was saying about violent Muslims?
Lets face it - religion has murdered more people than any other cause - including the industrial killing of Hitler and Stalin.
And it still continues..... Africa is being devastated by AIDS. The use of condoms stops the spread of AIDS. The Pope and his followers strictly forbid the use of contraceptives. Whole nations are dying because an old man in Rome is promoting some ancient superstition. It almost makes you want there to be an afterlife so that these guys can be punished for the suffering they cause on the human race.

Opps

...Opps... bad timing with that last posting:)..... here's hoping Richard recovers:)

Quality, Quality, Top Gear TV

Why all the debate when the answer is already there? All this about "quality TV" v "Popular TV". Everyone seems to think they are mutulally exclusive. Life on Earth v Big Brother. Where is TV going? But they don't have to be mutually exclusive. You can be quality TV and you can by popular TV - at the same time.

Listen, just watch - I BEG YOU - just watch the programme that BBC 2 has just shown. It's alchemy - base turned to gold. I think every budding TV executive should be forced to watch this. No, not just watch it - have its script tattooed on the insides of their eyelids so that they see it every time they close their eyes. Every night, the last thing they see is this.... hopefully in big, multi-coloured, gothic letters -

WATCH JEREMY CLARKSON IN TOP GEAR.

Its alchemy. I'm proof. I hate cars. I'm gay. We don't have the car gene. I don't know the make of my car. It's red. I don't care if an audi nissan has a greater torque factor warp than a bmc shooting-break. Its not important.

But this programme is. It's not often I cry laughing. But this does it for me.

Pure magic.

And for all you gays out there - the little one's quiet do-able - they all feel the same size when they are lying down.

I BEG YOU - watch this programme. BBC and TV at its best. How to take a niche subject and make it SO entertaining that even gayboys will break away from their drugs and non-stop sex to watch it.

Btw - I chose the pic to appeal to an even smaller niche - those of you that fantasise about middle-aged men, men in uniforms, and whipped cream - don't thank me, its just my duty x

We should be encouraging sin

I think we need to make a very clear distinction between doing wrong and sinning.
It's easy to define what is wrong. It's something you do that causes harm, or could cause harm, to others. It must be wrong to murder, rape, steal or drive at 70mph in a 30 mph zone. Similarly it's wrong to pollute the sea or be rude to your parents. This all seems very sensible to me.
What seems very unsensible is the concept sin. Sin harms nobody else. It just offends the sensitivity of easily offended people.
Who cares about gluttony? Why is this a sin? If someone wants to eat so much that they get obese; are the subject of ridicule; and find it uncomfortable to walk, then that's totally up to them. The only time that a glutton can possibly be wrong is when they get the seat next to you on a trans-atlantic flight.
Why is homosexuality wrong? Who possibly gets harmed by it? No-one. It's just the fact that its in the bible as a sin.
And even adultery. If the partner is hurt by it then it must be wrong. But if both partners agree to having an open relationship, as many do, then who gets harmed? No one. So why is it wrong?
It strikes me that sins are all those things that make life fun.
In 1789, the philosopher Jeremy Bentham launched his thesis on utilitarianism - basically saying that all actions should be judged on whether they added or detracted to the greater happiness of human beings. He was so right. And wrongs detract from human happiness but sin adds to it.
I think this must be the winning ethos for any political party wanting to run our country. Let's see Mr Cameron's new Conservatives entering the 2009 Election with the slogan - "Thou shalt sin" - I'd vote for that.

....and the sky didn't fall in (2)

It made me smile to see last week another story for my book "...and the sky didn't fall in" (see august posting below)
Some years ago I was an advisor to The National Trust when it was being critisised for banning deer hunting on its land. As the vitriolic attacks from the hunting fraternity rained down, one of their most constantly used arguments was that banning deer hunting would lead to a drastic decline in deer numbers. Apparently they had checked with local farmers who said they allowed deer to breed on their land because it kept the hunting tradition alive, but if hunting was banned, they would shoot these pests. Ergo, the collapse of the deer population.
Last week the RSPCA published a report on the deer population and, surprise surprise, the number of deer in the areas covered by The National Trust have risen from 12,000 5 years ago to over 20,000 now. Exactly the opposite of what the angry huntsmen assured us was going to happen.
The sky, once again, did not fall in.

Gay Catholic Fantasies

I sometimes wonder what planet some people live on..... listen to this, in The Times today.

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow has condemned the local fire authority for discipling 9 firemen who refused to hand out fire safety leaflets at Glasgow Gay Pride. Apparently the poor guys felt threatened by being around gay men. That in itself is laughable, but listen to what the spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, one Peter Kearney, said :
"It is a matter of fact that members of the fire service have been the subject of unwanted attention and sexual harassment. I have heard of gay bars where the clientele make hoax calls and clamber on the engines. Whoever manages to kiss a fireman on the lips gets a free drink"
A spokesman from the fire authority said that there no such incidents have ever taken place.
Is this guy just a liar, or maybe he's voicing some latent sexual fantasy of his.
This would just be laughable but actually its a bit rich the Archbishop leaping to the defense of these poor weak firemen who might be goosed at gay pride, when his church actively conspires to protect pedophile priests who have been proven to ruin the lives of thousands of young people. Once again, a total bunch of hypocrites.