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January 31 'Save Our School' Swanage First School, Dorset, UK. http://www.sos-swanagefirst.co.uk/index2.php
News 2/9/2009
BHA welcomes withdrawal of plans to close the only non-religious primary School in Swanage
The BHA has given a cautious welcome to news that Dorset County Council has withdrawn its plans to close Swanage First School. Alison Stephens, a parent governor at Swanage First School who was involved in the campaign to save the school, commented, ‘We are pleased that Dorset County Council are reconsidering, but it is very early days and we are hoping to work closely with other Swanage schools to ensure a positive solution for all and the very best educational future for our children.’
Last year the Council put forward proposals to close the Community School, as part of plans to re-organise education in the area. Had the plan been accepted it would have meant that the nearest non-denominational Community primary school to Swanage would have been over 15 miles away, forcing many families in the area to send their children to a faith school. The BHA assisted the community led campaign against these plans, including by attending meetings in Swanage itself to support local efforts. You can find out more about our ‘faith schools’ campaign here
Barack Obama - Inaugural Speech: the tolerance of 'no-belief' or 'non-believers', is not available in (primitive) Education UK.The only other choice is a Church or Faith School.
Parents: reported, and shown, on BBC TV, 'Object to sending their children to a proselytising Church or Faith School', which is the only choice - if the secular Swanage First School closes, by a silly government order. P.N. 67% of British parents 'don't want Church or Faith Schools' and 83% think that, 'religion does more harm than good'!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/where-faith-schools-are-the-only-schools-1332019.html
Ref, Stanley Milgram.
"Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
'Lying To Children' http://stephenlaw.blogspot.com/2007/11/lying-to-children.html Stephen Law.
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/humphrey/amnesty.html "What Shall We Tell The Children?"
British Humanist Association http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentViewArticle.asp?article=1590
BHA facebook http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/British-Humanist-Association/26806660922
http://luckyme0.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!A18BF3FCC5E126A2!2473.entry
"The children of today will have a totally different 'mental' world from ours - it may be completely unrecognisable". A friend who teaches physics to the brightest at a Grammar School.
"History proves that mental worlds differ through the ages - completely". Notes of Grandpa (Jim) Anthony.
'The Ascent Of Man' DVD - 'The Long Childhood' http://www.bbcshop.com/History/Ascent-Of-Man-DVD/invt/bbcdvd1608
Schools breaking 'admissions law' (should they have to be told everything? As if, they are the little children, and with all the stress that they have caused parents, esp - from the so called 'moral and religious communities' involved with schooling in the UK) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7661554.stm
Selfish 'adults'...The aggressive pursuit of personal success by adults is now the greatest threat to British children, a major independent report on childhood says. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7861762.stm
"Living with our modern day jesters". http://luckyme0.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!A18BF3FCC5E126A2!1919.entry
Accord Coalition Launches Early Day Motion
Accord supporter Ashok Kumar MP has tabled an early day motion (number 530) in parliament to back our campaign and urge the government to change rules on faith schools. Early day motions are used by MPs to draw the attention of the public and other politicians to important issues.
The more MPs that we can get to sign the EDM the higher its profile will be. One way that you can help is by writing to your MP to ask them to sign the motion. To see the text of the EDM and to send an email to your MP please follow this link:
http://tinyurl.com/dkg3oc
All you have to do is add a short personal message, fill in your details and hit send.
Campaign 'Against Faith Schools' http://www.justgiving.com/faithschools
My ref : Church Schools and Faith Schools UK (Schools UK) Compulsory Worship. Quango's of Religiosity. Religion in Schools REBT and (public) Disconnection. President Barack Obama - Inaugural Speech, tolerance - "and non-belief" or 'non-believer'. The 'Proper Structuralised View of The World' or 'The Proper Structuralized View of The World' - Erich Fromm (proper = scientific) - 'Structural World View' - Richard Dawkins. (is missing)
Example, for our Children and the Vulnerable of Christ and God's - 'unconditional - love for all'.
"The Paranoia - In Inclusion" and "Maintaining - The Power Of A Church" and "The Maintenance Of Sectarianism" (At All Cost) “Defending and Promoting Faith Based Schooling, against an - 'Aggressively Hostile' (paranoia) Secularism”.
"Two one-day invited conferences are in process of development: at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge and at Liverpool Hope University. The first of these events is already scheduled for 10 March 2009. Both will be led by Professor Gerald Grace, Director of the Centre for Research and Development in Catholic Education at London University’s Institute of Education. The working title is, “Defending and Promoting Faith Based Schooling against an Aggressively Hostile Secularism”. Invitees will include CU members, head teachers and others in the East Anglia and North West areas with an influence / active interest in Catholic education". ('Secret sessions' of the - part - public funded faith schools?)
Self-harm and 'irrational beliefs' http://selfharm.atticmedia.com/Article.aspa?PageId=255&NodeId=249
Education UK - 'bordering on disgraceful'!
I asked my 9 (nearly, 10) year old children, "Had they heard of Charles Darwin or understood the 'evolution of species and man' ?" They said, "That they hadn't!" I was a bit shocked and then explained some of it to them. As they were on their way to School Assembly, as I was quite cross, I asked them, "Who made God?" Also saying, "What they would be told in Assembly was likely to be outdated, mostly imaginative nonsense and complete rubbish". One of the twins asked, "Why do grown up, supposedly knowledgeable teachers tell us all this stuff". I just said, "That they might not of grown up, YET" and that, "It has all become part of a tradition, but it is all getting less, and less so.., authoritarian and dictatorial, by the day - as can be seen, by the dogma and dictates in their websites, and that their valuable time would not be wasted for too long at the school, so on..."
“By further reflecting that the clearest evidence would be requisite to make any sane man believe in the miracles by which Christianity is supported, –that the more we know of the fixed laws of nature the more incredible, do miracles become, –that the men at that time were ignorant and credulous to a degree almost incomprehensible by us, –that the Gospels cannot be proved to have been written simultaneously with the events, –that they differ in many important details, far too important as it seemed to me to be admitted as the usual inaccuracies of eyewitness; –by such reflections as these, which I give not as having the least novelty or value, but as they influenced me, I gradually came to disbelieve in Christianity as a divine revelation.
The fact that many false religions have spread over large portions of the earth like wild-fire had some weight with me. Beautiful as is the morality of the New Testament, it can hardly be denied that its perfection depends in part on the interpretation which we now put on metaphors and allegories.” Charles Darwin: an: The Autobiography of Charles Darwin. 1969.
'Save Our School' Swanage First School, Dorset, UK. http://www.sos-swanagefirst.co.uk/index2.php Barack Obama, Inaugural Speech: the tolerance of 'no-belief' or 'non-believers', is not available in (primitive) Education UK.The only other choice is a Church or Faith School. Parents reported, and shown, on BBC TV, 'object to sending their children to a proselytising Church or Faith School', which is the only choice - if the secular Swanage First School closes by a silly government order. P.N. 67% of British parents 'don't want Church or Faith Schools' and '83% think that religion does more harm than good'!
Schools breaking 'admissions law' (should they have to be told everything? As if, they are the little children, and with all the stress that they have caused parents, esp - from the so called 'moral and religious communities' involved with schooling in the UK) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7661554.stm
"Living with our modern day jesters". http://luckyme0.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!A18BF3FCC5E126A2!1919.entry
January 29
'Gangster Capitalism' Michael Woodiwiss ISBN: 1845290615
Vulture Funds - Sovereign Wealth Funds - 'The Bad Bankers (Bailout) Fraud Fund' (the BF Fund)?
January 28
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Environment. Puts all the 'hype' into some perspective! | January 26
President Barack Obama
"But, now, comes the writer with a theology or a political theory, in terms of which these vague feelings can be rationalized. The energy developed by the prevailing passions of the masses is given a direction and at the same time strengthened and made continuous. Sporadic outbursts are converted by the rationalization into purposive and unremitting activity.
The mechanism of successful propaganda may be roughly summed up as follows. Men accept the propagandist’s theology or political theory, because it apparently justifies and explains the sentiments and desires evoked in them by the circumstances. The theory may, of course, be completely absurd from a scientific point of view; but this is of no importance so long as men believe it to be true. Having accepted the theory, men will work in obedience to its precepts even in times of emotional tranquillity. Moreover, the theory will often cause them to perform in cold blood acts which they would hardly have performed even in a state of emotional excitement." Aldous Huxley (1936) The Theory of "The Intellectual Motivation for 'Mass Ideology and Religion'".
"The industrial nations of the world and their governments have been swept forward by the pressure of invention, through a barrier they did not see, into a world they have not yet understood. As the resources of the earth become more depleted, populations more crowded and more deprived, the greater will be their effort to pass the problem on to the next generation. Self-deception will become more persuasive. Optimism will take hold.
The remedy for our ills is neither remote nor obscure. It is to recognise that the world is indebted to Europe for two great achievements, which have transformed human life in the last 500 years. One is the control of nature, which has led to our present crisis. The other is the understanding of nature and of man, which is our means of escape from this crisis. How you may ask, can the two things be separated? Europe forced them together on America, Asia, and Africa.
In the first place, let us imagine, what would have happened without that rough intrusion. The conditions of these continents could scarcely have changed in the last 500 years. China would still cowtowe to the Son of Heaven and Japan would still be shut up in the Shogun's Cage. India would still be the pray to warring Rajas. Along the road to Tripoli, Khartoum, and Zanzibar; Arabs would still profitably drive their caravans of castrated slaves. Cannibal flotillas would still block the cataracts of the Congo. On their remote islands, Maoris and Melanesian's would still be consuming human flesh. No population problem would have disturbed any of these lands. Indeed, it might never have disturbed them until genetic or ecological decay overtook them.
We must put aside our moral indignation about what the Europeans did, and how, and why they did it. What matters are the results?
For the first result, was the liberation of Asia and Africa. The way was opened for processes of change, favouring the growth and the unity of all human understanding.
The second was the subjugation of the whole world to the European idea of progress, by the control and unlimited exploitation of nature.
This good and this evil having been done, we can assume that the rest of the world enlightened by Europe will accept the good and reject the evil.
Hardly so!
The evidence is that the rest of the world will not generally accept free speech, representative government, and human rights as they are known in our Western World.
But, they will generally accept all the means they can get for exploiting nature and destroying the resources of the earth. The problem therefore returns, what we have let loose on humanity returns to us. Our chickens come home to roost. It remains for us to use our understanding of nature and of ourselves to control the dangerous power.
If we look back on the last 500 years, we see the Hebrew and Greek, and Christian confidence in man as the master of nature, orate-ing the Protestant Ethic of industry, ambition, and self-reliance, whose success especially in the New World has created the profligate societies we know. These, are the societies whose fraudulent promise the Third World so greedily accepts.
The peoples of course, know nothing of what is happening.
By the time their rulers have led them to disaster these rulers will be elsewhere. In addition, the industrial nations will be having all they can do to save themselves, without helping anyone else.
Our remedy, then is a respect for nature, the practise of thrift, and the restraint of greed, and self-indulgence, which need not be too painful if we undertake it soon. But the longer we postpone it the more painful will it be.
To any such reformation, any such changing of course, one grave obstacle at once appears.
All the great industrial nations would have to change course together.
In addition, we know that each will believe it can do better than its neighbours can and will try to prove it. But, in all these nations, now, there are a few people who take seriously the future of mankind its quantity and its quality.
They are the people who know that our past evolution has been governed by the needs of future generations.
They are the people who recognise that the race, class, nation or species, which rejects this principle is putting its own future at hazard.
They are the people who therefore ask themselves the practical question, "Do we want to expand, to multiply, and to consume the good things of the Earth without limit, and without regard, either to the earth itself or to the children who will inherit it? Are we willing to set ourselves a limit, to measure the capacity of the earth to support our descendants, and us, and to fit ourselves to that capacity"?
The attempt to study the whole of our little universe, to understand its connectedness with the past and the future, to see the value of knowledge will perhaps persuade our own generation to pause, before it plunges into the abyss." Professor, C.D. Darlington FRS. A summery of his book, 'The Little Universe of Man'.
1)
"The East has the ordeal of privation. The West has the ordeal of desire". Saul Bellow.
It is perhaps the final paradox of the paradoxical age in which we live that while no other has been marked by personal suffering on such a vast scale, yet also in no other have so many agreed that violence and atrocity are controllable in principle. True, most of the appalling bloodshed of our century can be explained as a side effect or function of the technological intensification of modern war, rather than as evidence of increasing wickedness or cynical unwillingness to seek peaceful solutions. Nonetheless, the Western World seems to remain optimistic on one subject, on whom there may be less ground for optimism than any other, the innate improvability of man. Similarly, our belief that a benevolent world order (New World Order) is obtainable seems strangely undisturbed by the colossal spectres looming on the horizon as a result of what has been done so far; we cannot satisfy even basic expectations rapidly enough. There is just not enough power, food, and basic medicine, to go round without redistribution of so dramatic and radical a kind that it cannot be envisaged and would be practically impossible on a reasonable time-scale. Yet desire and envy are outrunning satisfaction.
An even more frightening spectra looms behind that one too. May not the West, have in fact, communicated to the rest of the world expectations which are not merely unsatisfiable in the short run of a couple of decades, but unsatisfiable in principle, because limitlessly expanding beyond our power to meet them. It is not just the colossal demands of the burgeoning populations of poor countries for fuel, food, even water, that are so frightening. (Though there may be actual finite limits to our material resources). What is worse is that the faith that history is progressive may have already led us to set ourselves goals, which are psychologically unattainable. Many people seem already to think that any physical or mental pain ought somehow to be removable. Such assurance is a terrible, and a burdensome legacy of our utopianism and our confidence in the rational manipulation of nature. Perhaps it is the same thing, which has been identified by some, as the "Faustian Urge of Western Man" his relentless striving for power, after power, to open the way to felicity. If the West's ambiguous gifts to mankind include this, then along with our confidence and self-centeredness, we shall have passed to the rest of the world a bias towards self-destruction. John Roberts, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton is best known for his single-volume, 'History of the World'. In addition his 1985 thirteen part TV series, 'The Triumph of the West'.
2)
"What are the moral values, basic beliefs, and world outlook, which lie behind all that we see on television, hear on radio, and read in the popular press? All we can detect is a number of assumptions not logically connected, the power of science and the dominating necessity of satisfying physical needs, especially sexual desires, the duty to be tolerant, complete indifference as to any purpose in the universe: science has destroyed metaphysics. There is nothing to do but to enjoy oneself, with as little trouble to others as possible. It is inconceivable that this philosophy could infuse or sustain a civilization for more than a very short time!" R P C Hanson, Professor Emeritus, Manchester University.
I think Roberts is right (1) and Hanson (2) wrong. History abounds with examples of really sick societies lasting for hundreds of years, but we do not wish to know about them, as it makes us feel uncomfortable. January 1989.
A couple of notes:
"There are millions of Muslims who wanted something more : they wanted freedom from us"!
And, Albert Camus.
"It is true that we cannot 'escape History', since we are in it up to our necks. But one may propose to fight within History to preserve from History that part of man which is not its proper province . . . Modern nations are driven by powerful forces along the roads of power and domination . . . They hardly need our help and, for the moment, they laugh at attempts to hinder them. They will, then, continue. But I will ask only this simple question: what if these forces wind up in a dead end, what if that logic of History on which so many now rely turns out to be a will o' the wisp?"
World War Three 'The War On Terror'
Where will be the peoples of the Middle East be in the future, 'within' their own - particular - complicated, and dreadfully muddled 'History'? Is the long or short road to a massive 'World War Three' just about to start?
T. S. Eliot. 1946. "Justice itself tends to be corrupted by political passion; and that meddling in other people's affairs which formerly conducted by the most discreet intrigue is now openly advocated under the name of intervention. Nations which once shrank from condemning the most flagitious violations of human rights in Germany, are now exhorted to interfere in other 'countries' government - and always in the name of peace and concord. Respect for the culture, the pattern of life, of other people . . . is respect for History; and by History we set no great store."
January 24
White Phosphorus (Willy Pete) & Depleted Uranium Shells
("never has so much 'wanton destruction' (in the history of this region) been caused" UN)
Have we any proper verifiable pictures of the dead, the burned women, and children, and by this stuff - Iraq War. Full verification of its use, now in Gaza - fully publicised. I was burned by a 'thunder flash' in the eye. I know what this felt like! Imagine - White (sodium) Phosphorus, you can’t! Look it up in Key Stage 4 Chemistry. The use of MK 77 Firebombs fully admitted to by the forces in Iraq and a great favourite of the Generals - no doubt, as it causes so much abject terror in the enemy.
BBC TV News they must report on the use of White Phosphorus - fully. Are they doing a cover up? Robert Fisk, 'The Great War For Civilisation The Conquest Of The Middle East' ISBN-84115-007-X points out the spineless neglect in reporting the use of chemical weapons. World War 1 1914-1918 chemical weapons used. Iran Iraq War chemical weapons used and against Marsh Arabs. Not reported on properly and only 'spinelessly', for 4 years, and one of the sponsors of this war was our civilised Western Judeo/Christian - society. Better to be a 'feral - failure', of a white working-class boy, who is free; than some ghastly 'stuffed up' and middle-class civilised member of the Judeo / Christian society of today!
Regrets by Miliband on the eve of the 'third world war', and started by the so called heroes of the Judeo/Christian society, Bush and Blair. This is why parents should, and have, now, a much greater responsibility (on all sides) to free their children from this nonsense - it is very quite likely to be too late, unfortunately, all the warnings have gone unheeded by some greedy and gullible parents, and by most of our notoriously divisive, racist, stilted, and slow to change institutions, of course, very much including the ridiculous nonsense produced by our religions and churches in the UK and within our Schools! Recession and war will always make those people popular, as that is where their particular 'business' is most profitable - amongst: the captive child audiences UK. With all the captive vulnerable and gullible targets.
"This war was wholly a gain for the churches everywhere, opposed as long as they could; practically every innovation that made for the increase of happiness or knowledge - here on earth". The BBC has defended a decision not to air a TV fund-raising appeal for Gaza, saying it wanted to avoid compromising public confidence in its impartiality. There is no defence for the BBC over this matter and they 'fall short' again, see, above - BBC 'spinelessness' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7846150.stm
John Ging Director of UN Relief Agency (who has been in Rwanda and Kosovo during crisis) has seen nothing as bad as this, as now, and in Gaza, "This is in full view of the whole world and is not acceptable by any measure". From another reporter - "People are walking around in a total state of deep shock and denial, so deep; as if nothing is happening to them"!
A LITTLE BIT OF WHITE PHOSPHORUS ON THE 'WRONG SORT' OF PEOPLE DOES NOT MATTER! (one wonders where the students are? As in the 1960's, with the Vietnam War, the USA's use of napalm in that conflict)
In much of Europe the god fearing used to burn old women suspected of being..., an arduous duty they felt had been clearly put upon them by the Bible...so on...a 'pre-enlightenment' fact.
"Our attitude to what is going on in the world assumes a quality of flatness and indifference, life loses all structure. It is composed of many little pieces, each separate from the other and lacking any sense as a whole. The individual is left alone with these pieces, like a child with a puzzle. The difference however, is that the child knows what a house is and therefore can recognise the parts of the house in the little pieces he is playing with, whereas the adult does not see the meaning of the whole, the pieces of which come into his hands. He is bewildered and afraid, and just goes on gazing at his meaningless little pieces." ‘The Fear of Freedom’ Erich Fromm.
"It is unthinkable in the twentieth century (21st!) to fail to distinguish what constitutes an abominable atrocity that must be and what constitutes that past, which ought not to be stirred up!
We have to condemn publicly, the very idea that some people have the right to suppress others. In keeping silent about evil, in burying so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it and it will rise up again a thousand fold in the future.
When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby, ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations. It is for this reason and not because of the weakness of indoctrinational work that they are growing up indifferent.
Young people (people in power) are acquiring the conviction that foul deeds are never punished on earth and that they always bring prosperity.
It is going to be uncomfortable, horrible, to live in such a country!" An extract from, The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. Nobel Prize in Literature 1970.
(The problem of evil is that it refuses to stay in its box marked, evil. It keeps on coming out to play Mr Nice Guy, or at least - Mr Average)
Problem in our country is, “That this country is run by crazy people. Remember what they have to do to get where they are. Their perspective is so narrow...so brief. A few years. In the best of them a few decades. They only care about the time they are in power”. Carl Sagan ‘Contact’.
Topical live debate with Nicky Campbell. Joining him at Samworth Academy in Leicester are life-coach and agony aunt Jenni Trent Hughes, Tim Stevens, the Bishop of Leicester, and Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, local imam and member of the Muslim Council of Britain.
Britain 'an equal place to grow up', or Britain's 'should grow up'! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7823372.stm
This week's big questions are:
Are parents to blame for the failure of white, working-class boys?
Should religious organisations be allowed to discriminate against women?
And, is it wrong to kiss and tell?
What shall we tell the children? http://luckyme0.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!A18BF3FCC5E126A2!2473.entry
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gp81b
Darwin Day Campaign – Email Your MP!
2009 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of ‘On the Origin of Species’. We are asking our members and supporters to email their MPs, urging them to support to Early Day Motion (EDM) 377 tabled in the House of Commons to make Charles Darwin’s birthday – 12th February – an annual public holiday.
The motion tabled by Parliamentary Humanist Group member Ashok Kumar MP, which has already received the support of ten other MPs, says, "That this House notes the extraordinary achievements of Charles Darwin; notes that 2009 marks both the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species; welcomes proposals for the creation of a Darwin Day in recognition of the ground-breaking work of the British scientist responsible for the theory of evolution by natural selection; and calls for Darwin's birthday, 12 February, to be designated a public holiday in honour of one of the fathers of modern science and one of Britain's greatest, if not the greatest, scientific minds".
Election of Barack Obama -
"In general, important civilisations start with a rigid and superstitious system, gradually relaxed, and leading, at a certain stage to a period of brilliant genius, while the good of the old tradition remains and the evil inherent in its dissolution has not yet developed. But as the evil unfolds, it leads to anarchy, thence, inevitably, to a new tyranny, producing a new synthesis secured by a new system of dogma. The doctrine of liberalism is an attempt to escape from endless oscillation. The essence of liberalism is an attempt to secure a social order not based on irrational dogma, and insuring stability without involving more restraints than are necessary for the preservation of the community".
'Whether this attempt can succeed only the future can determine'
Bertrand Russell "The History of Western Philosophy".
"Becoming human is a process, not some event"
"Eventually, my rejection of authority spilled into self self-indulgence and self-destructiveness, and by the time I enrolled in College, I'd begun to see how any challenge to convention harbored within it the possibility of its own excesses and its own orthodoxy". Barack Obama 'The Audacity of Hope'. (poss, 'the stronger the indoctrinated dogma, orthodoxy, and dogma - the stronger the rebellion') January 21
Michael Portillo investigates the legacy of the Roman Emperor Constantine - the man who transformed Christianity from a clandestine handful of followers of Jesus Christ into one of the world's great religions with a global reach of over two billion worshipers.
In 312AD Constantine is believed to have had some sort of religious epiphany or vision that converted him from Paganism - the traditional faith of Roman Emperors - to the new faith of Christianity. This transformed a persecuted cult into a religion of power and privilege within the Empire - with Constantine as head of both state and church.
Michael Portillo, a lapsed Catholic himself, uses his politician's mind to unravel the process by which Constantine and the church came together and questions how ruthless imperialism came to be reconciled with Christ's pacifist, altruistic values.
Portillo's conclusion is that once enthroned in a position of power, the church never looked back - and this has been a disaster for Christianity because 'power is for politicians and not for churchmen'.
Primitive Britain, (Church Schools and Faith Schools - Compulsory Worship Law 1944) or at least - 'more primitive' - now! President (USA) Barack Obama 'The Audacity Of Hope'. "I am suspicious of using government to impose anybody's religious beliefs - including my own - on nonbelievers - I believe in evolution; so on..." Constantly (honours and cash for honours) - 'corrupt, antiquated', and the appalling-ness of the 'spiritual' peerages - reform (neglected) for 'House of Lords' UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7849990.stm
More Primitive. Catholic Church has a 'stranglehold' on Atheist Bus advertising in Italy. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/4287979/Catholic-Church-blocks-plans-for-atheist-bus-adverts.html
Advanced. Inaugural Speech of America's (USA) 44th President, Barack Obama 12mins 30sec "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and Non-believers". http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7840926.stm
Only 'two types' of financial investors (at present) - "Crybabies and Thumb-sucker's"! (they are raking it in from the government - taxpayers money, the countries money, and our all our savings - 'nothing' is now safe from them) CNBC. January 17
Can't cope (God loves everyone, according to scripture, dogma, and the Church adverts, but not the atheists or the 'unclean', buses, and so on...) with a very mild form of atheism or agnosticism? Some psychotic or schizophrenic illusions, or even - some very deep-seated religious fundamentalist (brainwashed) beliefs; can lead anyone to social exclusion or into mass hypnotism (repetitive prayer and language, so on...), and within an exclusive sub-culture envioronment, i.e., part of your very own relationship to the real world, your personal survival and work environment that is within our accepted 'knowledge based culture' UK. (except, in most disconnected schools - ethos-es, ref, Faith Schools and Church Schools, or disconnected govt / most institutions).
Seek out a 'REBT Counselor'.
January 10
- "only involved" - (Iranian - terrorist organisation - the total destruction of Israel: a principal philosophy of Hamas) - is our great hope i.e., not all Arab and Muslims, especially the educated ones (one-half of all Asian children cannot read or write), see below; whilst we live in this uneducated and terrifyingly superstitious era, with Muslim Fundamentalism rampant (in worldly-disconnected pockets) throughout the globe - 'The Long Childhood' Bronowski, and 'The Poison of Holiness' Koestler ('Bricks To Babel'). http://luckyme0.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!A18BF3FCC5E126A2!2404.entry
Clash of Worlds. TV BBC 2.
Palestine:
The story of the extraordinary tensions and mutual misunderstandings, wars and reconciliations that have haunted two cultures, Christian and Muslim, during Imperial Britain's rise and fall. And how the centuries-old conflict between Islam and a Christian West can help us understand the causes of terrorist acts in the 21st century.
The final programme of the series looks at the politically-charged history of Palestine and how decisions made by the British rulers of Palestine 90 years ago, when they supported the idea of a nation state for Jews in Palestine, are held to blame for intensifying a conflict that continues to this day.
In December 1917 the British General Edmund Allenby entered Jerusalem with TE Lawrence, the guerrilla leader of an Arab army, by his side. More than 800 years after they were evicted from Palestine during the Crusades, the British again ruled over the Holy Land.
From the deserts of southern Jordan, through the West Bank and Israel, this film traces the roots of the Palestine Issue and the competing nationalist demands that the British faced. On one hand the Balfour Declaration in 1917 promised a homeland for Jews. On the other, children in schools in the West Bank and militants fighting the Israeli army today remember British rule over Palestine as a simple betrayal of the Arab cause. [AD,S]
Ref, British Religion and Power. Disasters. (Proof of cultural-religious or sectarian bias, and departmental (leader) indoctrination guiding British Foreign Policy)
Disaster of British Foreign Policy. Jewish - Zionism. The Christian Crusaders - Balfour - Sykes-Picot Agreement - Blair and Bush. Sykes at his Family Seat (an estate in Lancashire) and dressing up in ancient Crusader armour etc., and the (attempted) gag on the press, "To not combine Crusading with Arab subjugation".
The Secret Faith of Blair. Ref, Notes, "Carl Sagan and the madness of our political leaders".
"If Blair had been able to relate this vision to his policies, we would have had more constructive social policy at home and principled policies abroad."
Mr Blair's ex-spokesman Alastair Campbell famously warned reporters: "We don't do God."
He acknowledged to the programme that his former boss, "Does do God in quite a big way", but that both men feared the public would be wary.
What the Peace Makers and the New Zionists can learn from the book: 'Desert Queen' Janet Wallach (the life of 'Gertrude Bell').
"Islam is the bond that unites the western and central parts of the continent, as it is the electric current by which the transmission of sentiment is effected, and its potency is increased by the fact that there is little or no sense of territorial nationality to counterbalance it. A Turk or a Persian does not speak of , "my country" in the way that an Englishman or a Frenchman thinks and speaks; his patriotism is confined to the town of which he is a native, or at most to the district in which that town lies. If you ask him what nationality he belongs he will reply : "I am a man of Isfahan," or "I am a man of Konia," as the case maybe, just as the Syrian will reply that he is a native of Damascus or Aleppo - I have already indicated that Syria is merely a geographical term corresponding to no national sentiment in the breasts of the inhabitants".
"We feel that the Arabs and Jews are cousins in race...[and] have suffered similar oppression at the hands of powers stronger than themselves... We Arabs, especially the educated amongst us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement... We will wish the Jews a hearty welcome here...People less informed and less responsible than our leaders and yours, ignoring the need for co-operation of the Arabs and Zionists, have been trying to exploit the local difficulties that must necessarily arise in Palestine in the early stages of our movements". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Bell
"If we defend the title to our land or the sovereignty of our country, we do it for reasons no different, no less innate, no less ineradicable, than do lower animals. The dog barking at you from his masters fence acts for a motive indistinguishable from that of his master when the fence was built. Quoted in - Robert Ardrey, 'The Territorial Imperative'.
Dangerous - Possible, (5 year +) setback for anti-radicalisation of Muslims and the other 'faiths' in the UK! Two of the world's most suppressed and abused of nations, whose leaders cannot control the 'fundamentalist pawns' (Hamas and Hezbollah - Damascus - Iran - Rocket Fire into Israel // Illegal Occupation of Palestinian Territories 40% of West Bank and some 'undue repression' of Palestinians) in their populations, and have to put up with perpetual hatred and war; never breaking a vicious circle of abuses, on an easily led (innocent) populace instigated by the remoteness and hopeless failures of politicians. 'The Prisoner's Dilemma' William Poundstone (breaking the cycle of the game).
January 07
Dear, Darwin - Letters. 150 years of Evolution - some - 'are not free, not got over it, or have totally rejected getting up to speed, as yet. It will probably be another 50 yrs of ignorance and superstition - to go, until Darwin (evolution) is a universally adopted and becomes a completely uncontroversial theory i.e., with all the new proofs being found, and found, on every single day that passes us by.
The 'oil rich' Arab nations embarrassment's (their children)! We pay and you hoard - take no action!
The Scourge of Gold (hoarding bullion). "Becoming human is a process and not some event". Ref, Notes of Dad's, "Admiration" in photos. "Certain - 'indices' become attached to the individual (or State - examples: Middle and Far East, World - 'tribal' status) as a permanent, ongoing, visible aspect of his status, because their presence draws from others admiration and hence prestige! P.J.Wilson 'The Domestication Of The Human Species' http://luckyme0.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!A18BF3FCC5E126A2!1613/?startingImageIndex=0&commentsExpand=0&addCommentExpand=0&addCommentFocus=0&pauseSlideshow=0
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Wealthy investors hoard bullion
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bf8246aa-8f13-11dd-946c-0000779fd18c.html
Many of those who most earnestly propagate the need for spiritual values, and denounce secularism and materialism, are the very same people who in their personal lives are crassly materialistic, and morally and politically corrupt. Who, but a religious guru would feel the need to go around in a gold-plated limousine? See, New Humanist Magazine -1987. Ref, Notes of Dad's.
Credit Crunch - Credit Crisis - The First Great Test of Globalization - Banking Leverage
Sovereign Funds (Massive). City & CEO Bonuses.
Muslims believed that gold and silver must circulate, and this circulation, called rawaj, was a social and religious duty. Hoarding gold and silver was forbidden by the Qur’an: “Those who store up gold and silver and do not spend them in the way of God, tell them of a painful chastisement!” The cosmographer al-Qawini, writing only a decade or so after the minting of the first florin, says: "Gold is the noblest of the blessings of Almighty God upon his servants, for it is the foundation of the affairs of this world and brings order to the affairs of mankind…. With silver and gold coins, everything can be bought and sold. They must circulate, unlike other forms of wealth, for it is not desirable for anyone to accumulate silver and gold…. Anyone who stores them up destroys the wisdom created by God, just as if one imprisoned the qadi of a town and prevented him from carrying out his duties toward the people.”
Wreck the Western Economies! Bullion sales hit record in rush to safety: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/359da604-f6d4-11dd-8a1f-0000779fd2ac.html And, 'Peak Oil'!
| PALESTINIAN
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| CHILDREN'S APPEAL |
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| Dear
Palestinian children urgently need support right now. They are in desperate need of clean water, essential medical supplies and vaccines.
The current conflict in Gaza has deepened the humanitarian crisis for children in the area. Continued bombing has left hospitals in a dire state - regular 12-hour power cuts, extreme demands for intensive care treatment and damage caused by the ongoing shelling are just some of the challenges doctors face as they treat the sick and wounded.
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Water and sewage infrastructure has also been badly damaged. In Gaza City the conflict has cut off the water supply to more than half of the population.
UNICEF has a permanent presence in Gaza and the West Bank and in response to the current conflict we have been providing first aid kits and other supplies. But we urgently need your support to help more children.
A gift of £40 could buy 3 vital first aid kits.
Please, give whatever you can to help ease the suffering of Palestinian children by making a donation here.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
David Bull
Executive Director
UNICEF UK
Funds raised for this appeal will support children in Gaza and the West Bank.
If the funds raised exceed UNICEF's funding requirement for the Palestinian Children’s Appeal, the money will go to UNICEF's Children’s Emergency Fund. | | |
Chicago. USA.
"Just think about what a real education for these children would involve. It would start by giving a child an understanding of himself, his world, his culture, his community. That's the starting point of any educational process. That's what makes a child hungry to learn - the promise of being part of something, of mastering his environment. But for the black child --
(note: replace a black child, maybe with, and in some instances, UK, especially with its 'Quangoes Schools of Religiosity' and 'out of date ethoses'. Ref, below in blog - with a child of the 'modern enlightened era', such as that of - no-religion, or an unorthodox religion, or an obscure, individualistic i.e., diffrent, from the parents, or the dogma of a surrounding oppressive culture, even of some 'outlandish' culture and so on...)
-- everything's turned upside down. From day one, what's he learning about? Someone else's history. Someone else's culture. Not only that, this culture he's supposed to learn is the same culture that's systematically rejected him, denied his humanity". 'Dreams From My Father' Barack Obama.
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RITUAL - Huxley's 'Proper Studies'
The craving for ritual and ceremony is strong and widespread. How strong and how widely spread is shown by the eagerness with which men and women who have no religion, or a puritanical religion without ritual, will seize at any opportunity to participate in ceremonies of whatever kind. The Ku-Klux-Klan would never have achieved its post-War success if it had stuck to plain clothes and committee meetings. Messrs. Simmons and Clark, the resuscitators of that remarkable body, understood their public. They insisted on strange nocturnal ceremonies at which fancy-dress should not be optional but compulsory. Membership went up by leaps and bounds. The Klan had an object: its ritual was symbolical of something. But to a rite starved multitude, significance is apparently superfluous. The popularity of community singing has shown that the rite, as such, is what the public wants. So long as it is impressive and arouses an emotion, the rite is good in itself. It does not much matter what it signifies. The ceremony of community singing lacks all philosophical significance, it has no connection with any system of ideas. It is simply itself and nothing more.
The traditional rituals of religion and daily life have largely vanished out of the world. But their disappearance has caused regret. Whenever people have a chance they try to satisfy their hunger for ceremonial, even though the rite with which they appease it be entirely meaningless.
January 01
Pangea or Gondwana - smaller than we thought!
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