as Private Eye readers will be aware
I saw Heretic last night. Knowing a bit of where it was going I expected it to be an Omen-style pushing of Catholic apologia, only targeted at aging atheists rather than child prodigies.
What I came away with was that it was a valuable turnabout on the problem of hypocritical religious nutjobs holding people hostage until they conform.
The key point of divergence is when the baddie dismisses disbelief as something along the lines of âOr are we to believe that we are all ants in a universe with no divinity and no meaning? Thatâs horrifying.â and then moves on.
My answer to that is, âsure, why not? Because the one true religion for religious nutjobs (control) is manifestly horrible as opposed to the problem that reality just feels horrible to you, and lack of belief in divinity and âultimate meaningâ isnât that bad, it makes it easier to just get on with life"
ETA
Appoint Rachel Treweek as Archbishop of Canterbury, you know you want to.
I know, itâs not going to happen. The CofE still have those special bishops for misogynists, they arenât going to risk a schism by putting a woman in charge. Maybe the Bishop of Durham, which is currently vacant?
The Bishop of Sodor and Man is a woman though.
What is Sodor? I thought the Isle of Man stood alone?
Its an archaic reference to SuĂ°rey, which are the islands on the west coast of Scotland.
The bishop has no power there, if Scotland has a national religion it is the presbyterian Church of Scotland.
sarcastically boasting about the weather.
Honestly, you should have been here at the start of November. It was unseasonably warm.
Also, since Iâve got your attention, have you heard how good our tap water is?
Which are SOME of the islands, right? Or were all of the many, many islands once referred to under only one title?
TILâŚ.thanks!
It includes Rum and Eigg and everything!
Ohh, eggnog!
Iâm very, very sorry
There were a number of categories where I could have filed this.
âHeretics and foolsâ would be a good one.
Iâve never been Mormon, but if we had as much evidence of the early history of other religions, I wonder if the early histories of most religions would be just as troubling, and the theological and scriptural retcanons would be just as far-reaching.
John Hamer is from the Community of Christ, which traces its origins through Joseph Smith III and the anti-polygamist Mormon factions, rather than through Brigham Young.