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POPSImagine no religion! Imagine no religion! Enver Hoxha did, and for 27 years worked to turn what he imagined into reality. From 1967 to 1991 Albania was the first (and only) atheist state in the world. It actually doesn't take much imagination. We don't need to imagine no religion We just need to look at the history books.
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POPSKill the bastards! After urging the police to shoot to kill, Deputy Minister of Safety and Security has now advised ordinary citizens to do the same if they are threatened by criminals pointing guns or other lethal weapons at them.
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POPSWitchcraft-related crimes
The recent arrest and appearance in court of three men accused of ritual killings in the Eastern Cape has highlighted the problem of so-called muti murders, one of which is that they are rarely highlighted. In another country one or two murders would be sensational. Eighteen murders in a small town within a few months should rival the Virginia Tech killings in the USA for newsworthiness -- at least in South Africa. But no, things like the Virginia Tech killings got more coverage in the South African media than serial killings in our own back yard. Why is this? Is it because many of the Virginia Tech victims were white, and the Mzamba victims were black? Are deaths of white people more newsworthy than the deaths of black people? And what happens to these case? So often it is reported that someone has been murdered, and that muti killing is suspected, and then no more is heard. If someone charged, that may be reported, and no more is heard. Is anyone ever convicted?
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POPSPeople brunt to death in Kenya church This incident, one of several in widespread violence reported following Kenya's disputed election, has been reported quite widely, but this report provides details often missing in other reports.
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POPSThe church has a duty and a right to evangelise A Document by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith denies the value of relativistic theories which claim there is no need to announce Christ, as well as those which exalt the pluralism of faiths in leading to salvation. The relationship between the missionary mandate, respect for freedom of conscience and religion has ecumenical implications: respect towards non Catholic Christians must not negate the possibility of conversion, which is not proselytism.
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POPSThe martyrdom of the Iraqi Church Let this be a kind of postscript to the Blogswarm post of the 5th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraqui-American War, to which there is no end in sight. Did the neocons think about this when they unleashed the dogs of war in Iraq? Do they care?
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POPSLiberation theology I never thought I'd ever see eye-to-eye with a US Southern Baptist. This one's rhetoric almost convinces me, but not quite.
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POPSExraordinary Rendition With shrinking space for burials, and cremations being environmentally unfriendly, theres a new proposal for getting rid of corpses by rendering. In ordinary rendering a body is boiled until the various parts separate, but in a new process, which could be described as "extraordinary rendition", chemicals are added to speed up the process. It's not clear whether it uses less energy than cremation.
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POPSDorothy Day's diaries published Dorothy Day's diaries are to be published. They were sealed for 25 years after her death in 1980, and should provide an interesting insight into her life and ministry. Dorothy Day was a Catholic anarcho-pacifist, and is a good illustration of the principle that theological conservatism leads to political liberalism, and vice versa.
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POPSRemoving the state from Dr Rowan Williams Church, State, Law and the Enlightenment: I think that this article is rather condescending, and demeaning of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in suggesting that he did not know what can of worms he was opening in his discussion of Sharia law in Britain. I don't think he is that thick. As the article does point out, however, he has questioned one of the core assumptions of modernity -- that "religion" (itself a "modern" concept) belongs exclusively to the private sphere. In doing so, it seems, he has thought the unthinkable, spoken the unspeakable, and questioned the unquestionable. Nasty man -- a bit like Galileo and Copernicus, perhaps, except that he's questioning the secular authorities rather than the ecclesiastical ones. Though I don't agree with everything in Janet Daley's article, I think it's worth reading because she does put her finger on the main issue raised by the Archbishop.
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POPSBritish double standards on WMD and terrorists The recebnt revelations about British double standards on the question of WMD in the Middle East also highlights other double standards as well -- denouncing Hamas as "terrorists", but recognising the UDI by the UCK (Kosovo Liberation Army).
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POPSThe Archbishop and the Beast There's been a sudden increase of blogging about liberation theology since Barack Obama's pastor hit the headlines. It has brought forth some very strange comments and perceptions, such as that those, who like Archbishop Romero were crushed by the power of the state for opposing the abuse of power actually supported what they opposed.
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POPSOur great Mikado, virtuous man Our great Mikado, virtuous man when he to rule this land began resolved to try a plan whereby young men might best be steadied. So he decreed in words succinct That all who flirted, leered or winked Unless connubially linked Should forthwith be beheaded.
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POPSHoly Fools Frank Schaeffer's book about his evangelical upbringing and his father's legacy.
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POPSANC's Thatcherism responsible for Eskom load shedding -- Cosatu Cosatu has drawn attention to one aspect of the electricity supply crisis that hasn't received much attention in the media. Cosatu does not blame Eskom management, but the government's mania for privatisation. And if that is true, then the heads have already rolled -- at the ANC conference in December. And then it is just a question whether wiser heads replace them.
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POPSPeace symbol - 50 years on Jerry Horton's now-famous peace symbol is 50 years old. It's first public appearance was at the Aldermaston March in 1958, organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament to protest against nuclear weapons. Later it was widened to a general peace symbol, and not simply against nuclear weapons, and has been used by people protesting against wars in general, such as the Vietnam War and the current Iraqi-American War.
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POPSComputer illiteracy rife among British civil servants Over the last few months British news media have been reporting that government agencies have been losing computer data regularly. The mind boggles at such a level of computer illiteracy -- have the civil servants in so many different government departments and agencies not learned of the need to make backups of important data?
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POPSThe unexpected monks We've been talkibng about having a synchroblog on the new monasticism, and suddenly it seems to be popping up all over the place. Hat-tip to Paul Grabill for this link.
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