Posted in Faith, Government, Religion, Society, tagged astrologers, churches, mediums, prosperity gospel, psychics, sermons, snake handlers, spiritualists, Trades Descriptions Act on June 3, 2008 | 3 Comments »
In An Unclear Future, I wrote:
Those who defend horoscopes as harmless fun never explain what is harmless or funny about promoting a con trick which preys on ignorance and fear. Any pharmaceuticals manufacturer that promoted a birth control pill with no demonstrable effect on fertility would be prosecuted in the UK under the Trades Descriptions [...]
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Posted in Education, Existential, Government, Morality, Religion, tagged Church of England, clergy, ordinands, training, vicars on May 25, 2008 | 7 Comments »
What would you do with £1.5 million?
I suppose if I were given it to spend just on myself and not feel bound to give it away, I could quite happily think of things. In order of priority - a new phone with all the latest gizmos (yes, I really am that shallow), a visit [...]
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Posted in Government, Human Rights, Religion, tagged abortion, Bishop Demetrio Fernandez of Tarazona, blasphemy, Constitution, Federico Trillo, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, monarchical primogeniture, Opus Dei, reform, Roman Catholic Church, secularism, Spain on May 24, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Spain is courageously seeking to follow a difficult path of modernization.
The Spanish government has announced plans to secularize the constitution and remove privileges that have been granted uniquely to the Roman Catholic Church.
When the Spanish government was sworn in last April, the Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero decided to take his oath [...]
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Posted in Government, Human Rights, Humanity, Morality, Relationships, Religion, Society, Terrorism, tagged Tony Blair, Northern Ireland, John Reid, Ireland, review, Bertie Ahern, David Trimble, Ian Paisley, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness, Peter Hain, John Major, Margaret Thatcher, Jonathan Powell, Lord Mountbatten, IRA, Unionists, Unionism, Sinn Fein, Scottish Country Dancing, book review on May 5, 2008 | 3 Comments »
There were some events that I just never expected to happen during my lifetime - the ending of Apartheid in South Africa and the decline of Communism in Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall, for example. Thankfully, sometimes seemingly impossible things do happen, though I never thought the ‘Irish Question’ would ever [...]
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Posted in Government, Human Rights, Morality, Society, Uncategorized, tagged women, torture, rape, Congo, DRC, arrest, Coqueete Nsinga on March 2, 2008 | 6 Comments »
I have reprinted below an appeal by Amnesty International on behalf of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Abuse and arbitrary detention of women political activists
Politically motivated arrests in the country have been particularly high since the first democratic elections in 2006. There have been widespread reports of supporters from [...]
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Posted in Government, Law, Politics, Religion, tagged taxes, Caesar, church, tax, state, taxation, Thomas Jefferson, Televangelist, Kenneth Copeland, Senator Charles Grassley on February 28, 2008 | 5 Comments »
I have written before about how churches sometimes want to use tax laws to their unreasonable advantage, and how in Italy at least, this is costing the state millions.
A recent case has occurred in America, where one rich Televangelist is being asked by the state to account for his expenditure. Instead of opening the [...]
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Posted in Faith, Government, Health, Human Rights, Morality, Religion, tagged hospital, British Medical Association, BMA, Roman Catholic, abortion, Cardinal Murphy O'Connor, St John and St Elizabeth, contraception on February 26, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, has been criticised by the British Medical Association (BMA) after he dramatically increased pressure on the private Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, in St John’s Wood, North London, to implement a new code of Roman Catholic ethics. Members of [...]
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Posted in Censorship, Government, Internet, Morality, Philosophy, Technology, tagged ISP, broadband, Internet Service Providers, downloads, piracy, music, illegal downloads, creation-without-reward, theft, stealing on February 25, 2008 | 5 Comments »
There are press reports in the UK that the government is seriously considering legislation to force Internet service providers (ISPs) to take concrete steps to curb illegal downloads. It is estimated that 6 million broadband users illegally download files each year.
I don’t, for a minute, doubt that piracy is responsible for a slump in the [...]
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Posted in Education, Government, Human Rights, Religion, tagged London, Wiltshire, bible, paganism, Stonehenge, pagan, wicca, druid, Newington Green Primary, Islington, Avebury, solstice festival on February 18, 2008 | 6 Comments »
There has been mild to mad outrage in the UK press over the past couple of days about the primary school pupil from London whose parents wanted him to go to Stonehenge. Nothing outrageous about that, you might think. However, it was during term time, so there is at least a prima facie [...]
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Posted in Education, Government, Religion, tagged Church of England, clergy, clerics, degree, degree courses, higher education, ontological, priests, theology, training on January 28, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Senior clerics within the Church of England are protesting that trainee priests will be brought to their knees because of UK government plans to reform university funding and raise tuition fees for second degrees.
Three quarters of the 1,500 students training to become Church of England clergy at any one time are taking second university [...]
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