Theological wisdom: Rowan Williams on debt

It's been suggested[1] that theology isn't actually a subject at all. But if that's the case it has a huge advantage over many other disciplines: being qualified in theology gives you the authority to speak out on subjects that have nothing whatever to do with the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin.

On Friday's Today Programme, Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, spoke to John Humphrys about debt. The audio is available on the BBC's listen again service here.


Download RealPlayer here

The muddle-headed cleric was interviewed for about eight minutes in advance of a debate in the House of Lords. The essence (indeed the whole) of his thesis was "something must be done."

I've nothing against people having opinions, but when they appear on national media to speak on a particular topic, I expect them to have some established expertise, authority or at least relevant experience that will add to the debate. But just because Dr. Williams is a nice chap with a posh voice - that's not a good enough reason to put his views on the nation's premier morning news radio programme. If you listen to what he said in those eight minutes, you'll find he said nothing new or useful.

1. Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (London: Bantam Press, 2006), 57

Blazing a trail for Podiobook authors: Scott Sigler & Seth Harwood (repost from other blog)

Look what just arrived!



A package from Amazon.com outside my door yesterday evening contained these two new releases:

• Infected by Scott Sigler, (hardcover) published by Crown
• Jack Wakes Up by Seth Harwood (paperback) published by Breakneck Books

Congrats to both of them, and thanks for drawing the mainstream spotlight onto new media - both of these titles were originally released as free podcast novels.

Baby Bible Bashers - did they have a choice?

When I was very young I asked my mother about the Holy Trinity. I wanted to know how three persons, beings, entities, whatever, could all be one single thing, and at the same time three separate things. "There are some things we're not meant to understand," she said. To a little child, that's tantamount to saying, "Don't worry about it. That's just the way it is."

Only in later life have I reflected on the effect such pronouncements may have had. Vivid in my memory is the story of Abraham almost sacrificing his son, Isaac, only for God to call it off at the last moment. Thinking back now, I remember feeling distinctly uneasy about the story. This is a loving God? But it's in the Bible, and I'd been told the Bible was true. A small child, however, doesn't dwell long on such matters, and I had other things claiming my attention.

But a child's mind is a clean slate; what is first written thereon is likely to endure, colouring the worldview taking shape in that putative personality. Even seemingly insignificant snippets of inculcation can have profound effect. How much greater effect, then, if you immerse a young child in an alternative reality, to the exclusion of everything else?

I've held off writing about the recent Channel 4 Cutting Edge TV documentary Baby Bible Bashers until it was available to view uninterrupted. You can see it as a series of short clips on YouTube, but now BitTorrent-enabled users can find the whole thing here:

http://thepiratebay.org/tor/4051646/

YouTube:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP-s3AV9Kzs


Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klZXuytDtrk
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGoMfrOSLAY
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zAHEn3UbSw
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9PBb2ef4JM

There's been plenty of discussion over at RD.net, but I particularly want to mention that the film made a point about the manipulation of these kids by their parents. Whether or not the film's slant accentuated this, it can't be denied that all three of these young 'preachers' have been influenced (to put it mildly) by their parents, who appear to believe that their god-filled worldview is real. The children, however, had no choice in the matter.

The three families, overly fundamentalist, are by no means typical - otherwise film-makers would not want to document them. But recent polls have shown that there are vast numbers of people who, though less extreme, have similar values, and are raising a similarly skewed generation of faith-head offspring.

It's clear that seven-year-old Samuel lives in fear of going to Hell - his responses direct to camera contained references to descending into Hell and being eaten by worms. This idea came from his father, who admitted telling his son (then only three) about eternal damnation. Samuel's only option, apparently, was to be baptised and have his sins washed away. At that point he began his 'ministry', preaching his first sermon in church, standing on an upturned plastic crate, still aged only three. (Samuel's fire-and-brimstone performance was captured on home video.)

This film pressed a lot of buttons. It was sad, and enraging. Watch it.

Goodbye Sir Arthur, and thank you (repost from other blog)

Sad news.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7304004.stm

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, the world's best science-fiction writer, died today, aged 90.

See also, here.

Truth in medicine: FairDeal Homeopathy

If I ever feel the need for homeopathic remedies, this is where I'll go:

http://www.fdhom.co.uk/

Earthquake in England - divine retribution?

The BBC is reporting the damage:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7267567.stm

According to reports, tremors were felt as far south as Hampshire (where I am), and I was awake at the time (about 1 am) but I don't remember anything unusual.

Nevertheless it was the strongest quake for a quarter of a century, at 5.2 on the Richter scale, though that's hardly a murmur compared with those often experienced elsewhere on the globe.

But how long will it be before some religious 'authority' declares this as God's punishment for the UK's stance on homosexuality, on abortion, or on embryonic stem-cell research?

Fantasy holiday: The End of the World Bus Tour

The BBC's recent run of five TV documentaries in the Wonderland series ended a week ago with this film about about a group of fundamentalist Christians on a tour of Armageddon. For many it was their last chance to see significant locations that will apparently figure in the Rapture, and in the end of the world, as foretold in the Book of Revelation.

Here's a link to the BBC's trailer on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGjvQD0c_4k

It's nice to have a theme for a holiday - it provides focus for sightseeing and other jolly activities. Don't fancy traipsing round a musty museum? Try helping out with menial labour on an Israeli military base. Bored with rubbernecking at old buildings? Then how about viewing the actual site of the nuclear apocalypse? When did that happen, you ask? Not yet, but just you wait - it will, we're told, be bloody. Don't worry, you won't be affected, not if you're a believer. You'll be raptured into Heaven with the other believers, disappearing from Earth in the blink of an eye, while the rest of us are left behind to perish (after which, of course, we have the small matter of an eternity of damnation to endure).

These are, by any rational standards, kooky beliefs, based on ancient texts of dubious authority. But they're beliefs held by a not insignificant minority of US citizens, this sample of whom appeared from this film to be decent (if deluded) people. Mostly they were pensioners. One teenager, however, on the trip with her parents, might have been tagging along simply for the chance to get way from her studies for a while. But no - she appeared to be as fundamentalist as the rest of them.

She said she was studying A-levels (in England, as it happens, quite close to where I live), photography (she was using the trip as part of a photography project), and - get this - critical thinking.

When explaining to the interviewer why she held her particular beliefs, she used Pascal's Wager. Perhaps when she actually gets around to that final part of her studies she'll learn what a false dichotomy is.

UPDATE:

This wasn't actually the last in the present run of Wonderland, but there was a two-week break.

And for those who missed the broadcast, but can use BitTorrent, try here, here or (recommended) here.

Another gem from the broadcast: after seeing Armageddon, contemplating the end of the world, and looking across the landscape towards the 'enemies of God', our little group of devout tourists assembled at the airport for their trip home. Naturally they prayed. For world peace? An end to conflict? Relief for the afflicted?

No, they prayed that their flight would not be delayed.