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    May 31

    Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). UK Parliament.

     

     

    A couple have spoken of their shock after their local council spied on them to see if they had been cheating the school catchment system.

    Tim Joyce and Jenny Paton and their children were put under surveillance by Poole Borough Council for more than two weeks without their knowledge.

    Miss Paton said this kind of scrutiny was "hugely disproportionate".

    The council has defended its actions, carried out under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). An Act of Parliament that was designed very much in (public) good faith to combat terrorism and now used for this very petty purpose.

    The 'Spirit of the Law' being broken (again) for the ordinary person and where the welfare of children are concerned.

    Does no one realise how badly this country is doing! 

    How many more examples are there?

    31/5/2008 A whole stack of them! Minor Council Officials have been acting as 'spies' all over the country: spying on us 'plebs' - no doubt, and shielded by the use of Anti-Terrorist Legislation and Law. They are spending your money on various gambits in this direction! 

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1584808/Council-spy-cases-hit-1%2C000-a-month.html

    Should we bring up our children, quite rightly, to mistrust most 'government authority' and the 'gullible virtuousness' that some of our Schools rely on to in instill a social cohesion, personal responsibility and an equability of nature.

    Should there be much greater discernment amongst all Schools, instead of the current trend of 'ridiculous PC nonsense' i.e., spending children's time in attempting to instill by way of our current and silly - completely disconnected from normal everyday life - School Ethos-es - ones that are often directed by our County Councils. The 'busy bodies' or 'religionists' in Poole Borough Council and Dorset District County Council. See, SACRE or NASACRE.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7343445.stm

    Prime Minister (UK Government)  'hits back over civil liberties' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7459053.stm 17/6/2008

     

    Vaclav Havel. Stasi State Police And The UnHoly Trinity.

     
    The UnHoly Trinity
     
    Philosophy Cigarettes (how many 'minor council officials' are employed to enforce this particular ridiculousness - the 'plebs' - now - may need some light-up relief?) Whisky
     
    'I See No Radiant Tomorrows'
    Vaclav Havel former President of Czechoslovakia 1989-92
    & Czech Republic 1993-2003
     
    MEETING Vaclav Havel in his fourth floor Prague apartment can be unnerving. In the era of glasnost, the bugged telephone, rings constantly. Cigarette smoke blues the air. Whisky glasses rarely stand empty. Policemen sometimes stand guard outside the apartment across the street, as in a Kafka novel. Mr Havel’s dog was shot dead by the secret police on the doorstep.

    This atmosphere of state repression gets on my nerves, but Mr Havel is a calm and remarkable host. Short, slight and sandy-haired he is I described in police files as a “subversive” and an “anti-Socialist element”.

    In reality, he is a courteous, shy, soft-spoken rebel with a democratic cause. He is also among the most brilliant European writers and public figures of our time.

    Time is precious. We don’t waste it an small talk. Mr Havel begins to speak with measured passion. The problem of totalitarian power weighs most heavily upon him. He explains that regimes such as Czechoslovakia, Romania and East Germany are unique.

    Using more sophisticated methods of control than the dictatorships of the Third World, they are all-embracing and soul-destroying,“Totalitarian regimes get under society’s skin,” he says.

    His words against totalitarianism are matched by a deep suspicion of the West. He is not a professional anti-Communist. He tells me that both systems contain huge, faceless organisations which treat people as mere objects.

    “The world is losing its human dimension,” he says. “Self-propelling mega-machines, large-scale enterprises, faceless governments and other juggernauts of impersonal power represent the greatest threat to our present day world: Totalitarianism is no more than an extreme expression of this threat".

    Havel reaches for more, whisky and cigarettes, Our conversation turns philosophical.

    He is is against Utopian visions - “radiant tomorrows” as he calls them. Life is ever-changing and ultimately intangible. Attempts to master it fully, to clamp it down to a blueprint, therefore always end up straitjacketing and destroying life.

    Mr Havel sees a direct link between beautiful Utopias and the gruesomeness of concentration camps. “What is a concentration camp, after all, but an attempt by Utopians to dispose of those elements which don’t fit into their Utopia?” he asks. Pol Pot and Khomeini are on his mind.

    His question reminds me why the Western enthusiasm for Mr Gorbachev is considered unrealistic, even disheartening for many people in the East. The disgust produced by failed Utopias is something that people, living in the other half of Europe feel acutely.
     
    I remind him that in his play Temptation a character says: “l don’t give any specific advice, and I don’t fix anything or anyone. The most I do is to stimulate now and again.”

    He agrees that that could be his credo as a playwright. Theatre, he says, should not try to thrill or charm playgoers or make things easier for them by providing positive heroes.

    “l try to fling my audiences into the heart of problems that they can’t avoid,” says Mr Havel, pausing to light another cigarette. “I try to push people’s noses into our common wretchedness. Theatre should remind people that the time is getting on, that our situation is bad and that there’s no time to lose.”

    He describes how he began working in the theatre as a stagehand and soon became literary adviser at the famous Prague Theatre on the Balustrades.

    His first play, The Garden, Party, brought him overnight fame in the Sixties. Since then he has become known as a master playwright of the Theatre of the Absurd.

    He has written more than a dozen important plays, not all staged in Britain. Among the best-known are The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, an adaptation of The Beggar’s Opera and Temptation, performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican last year.

    He modestly forgets to add that he has received many awards, including the American Obie Prize for the best off Broadway play, the Austrian Award for European Literature, and the 1986 Erasmus, prize.

    These brilliant accomplishments have their painful side. For more than two decades he has been banned by the, Czechoslovak authorities from directing his own plays.
     
    Worse still, during the same none of his plays has been performed in his Country. The sole exception - an amateur production in 1975 of The Beggar’s Opera in a village near Prague - led to a police raid and to the interrogation of all those who took part in it. This clampdown visibly anguishes him.

    Mr Havel, the playwright with an aversion to power - grabbing politicians; has been dragged into politics against his will. He has served three prison sentences in the past 10 years.
    He tells me that  politics “from below” is one of the few ways individuals can seek. meaningful existence in world threatened by impersonal organisations.

    “Only by looking outward,” he says. “and throwing ourselves repeatedly into the tumult of the world, with the intention of making our voices count - only in this way do we really become human beings.”

    Surrounded by police and constant threats of arrest and imprisonment, his personal courage is awesome. I now understand why the Czech authorities fear him.

    Mr Havel appealed to Mr Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the Polish Prime Minister, and Mr Imre Poszgay, the Hungarian Communist reformer, to support two human rights activists imprisoned in Czechoslovakia.

    By Professor Keane Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy in London
     
    (Maybe, Prime Minister Brown should welcome at No 10 Chinese Officials - he could learn something from them)
     
    "They came first for the communists, I didn't speak out for I wasn't a communist.

    Then they came for the Jews, I didn't speak out for I wasn't a Jew.

    Then they came for the trade unionists, I didn't speak out for I wasn't a trade unionist.

    Then they came for the Catholics, I didn't speak out for I was a Protestant.

    Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak out for me".

    Martin Niemoller (1892-1984) written after he saw the light.
     
    'Lyrical Terrorist' wins court case - no doubt at the UK tax payers great expense! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7459180.stm
    5:21 PM | Permalink | Blog it | Socio Biology Religion

    Talking about YouTube - A Conservative's Critique of U.S. Foreign Policy

     

    YouTube - A Conservative's Critique of U.S. Foreign Policy
           

    www.fora.tv - Niall Ferguson 'The War Of The World'.

    Israel will attack Iran! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7440472.stm

    Sedentism 'gone too far' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7441361.stm

    Reaper

    11:17 AM | Permalink | Blog it | Socio Biology Religion

    ISI. Indepedent Schools Inspectorate. ISC. Independent Schools Council.

    http://www.isc.co.uk/

    Schizophrenic - Education in the Private Schools and in the 'Other' Schools. UK.

    Creationism and Superstition VS History (truth of), Evolution, Cosmology (science) (HEC) 

    (schizophrenic - mutually contradictory or inconsistent elements - {just about sum's it up!} ) 

    Who is 'Piggy in the Middle'? Parents, Children, and the Vulnerable 

     
    "The little girl and the rest of the class; really did think that they were doing some form of science and a (serious) exam"! They were not even doing basic RE, but were doing the 'fundamentalism' of bigotry and hatred that lies in the (medieval) past of most of our large religions. Is this the 2 million (estimated) Christian 'fundamentalists' that are inside the UK Education System - today? Born Again or Everday-er's/Friday-er's/Saturday-er's/Sunday-er's - it really does not matter - it just has no place in Education. The target: most deprived areas of the UK, being the most susceptible and educationally backward for ease of indoctrination.
     
     
    Bigotry - Sexism, alive and well. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24878944/
     
    "It is up to all of us to ensure that not having access to the social and educational benefits that money provides is not a barrier to achieving one's full potential". http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/7414311.stm
     
    I know that my kids could of had a difficult time in 2003 - 2006 (vast improvements have now been seen). No thanks, to a ridiculous 'inspection report' on the School and its varied nonsense of 'ethos' - 'spirituality' - 'morality' : posturings. Possibly some worse bullying (more psychological) than what went on in the 1950's, at least then: evolution and geological time were a fact and anything less was recognised as complete rubbish, which then, was put kindly in the 'good myth bucket'. What sort of a time are your kids having, and do you think this is all more of a National Emergency than anything else our Government thinks up to do. Especially, now, with its firm connection to kids and young adults self-harming in the future or in the case of young adults - now.
     
    Coercion, Indoctrination (Within a Subgroup) and Ideological Torture - In Schools 
     
    Can the Religions be fully trusted to be inclusive of all religions and none? I would advise parents of children who attend Faith and Church Schools to be fully aware of "what" really can go on (secretly behind closed doors - this is difficult). A form year teacher (I was not going to mention this, but a couple of years has passed and the teacher has now left the School - she was a good teacher, bar this) said to all the children of their class, "That anyone who does not believe in God (Christian God) is not a member of my class". The 6 year old children (whole class) were scared out of their wits! What else did go on - I would dread to think; it would be too hart-rending (an unutterable sadness) to really know? Christian Madrases are alive and well in the UK. Ref, Religion in Schools. UK. REBT and Disconnection. "The Lord's Prayer keeps on ringing in my ears - I can't stop it" - a report to me from one of my kids! Ref, Dangers of the Subgroup*.
     
     
    http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=8335614 A vote for freedom: 'Abortion Stays at 24 Weeks'. No Father needed in IVF:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7410934.stm Another vote for the (great) 'personal freedom party' of New Labour!
     
     
     
    "If men had always tried to deal with the problem of love in terms of known human rather than of grotesquely imagined divine interests, there would have been less making of eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake, less persecution of  sinners, less burning and imprisoning of the heretics of unnatural love, less grundy-ism, less comstockery, and at the same time less dirty Don-Juanism, less of that curiously malignant and vengeful love making so characteristic of the debauchee under a Christian dispensation". Huxley. And, less 'smuttiness' (lowest common denominator) from the 'popular media' who are holding up the progress of any sex education in the UK. Some teachers must be too frightened to teach in the UK!
     
    *The power of the subgroup - a 1960's experiment in group behaviour - the one that up's unwittingly the degrees of torture. The experiment is not PC today to carry out, as it is so very life like! Actors play the part of the subgroup and there is one person who is not acting, the one not acting; then is led astray easily (with few qualms) by the others - the actors of the subgroup - to increase the severity of torture by degrees and over time on the victim (an actor or actress). Great psychological shock or embarrassment is felt by the non-actor/actress when the experiment is brought to a close and the realization of what could of been done to the victim is realized. The important fact is that with or without this knowledge no one is fully immune - we can be, and are: all dragged in. We will all tend to go with the flow. (That is why a 'Proper Structuralized View of the World' or a 'Structural Worldview' is so very important - otherwise: we can make up anything (and do so - need to or want to, and do so readily) within our own Citadel of Self or Nuclear Self) 
     
    Exeter. Devon. UK. Blast suspect was 'radicalised'.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7415831.stm The vulnerable (children and some adults), gullible and credulous - mostly - all of us. See, above! To do a : Mind Map of Prehistory: groups of 20 or so (roaming) before becoming sedentary. Sedentism,  living (mostly) in one place: a fairly recent trait of human behaviour. All our minds must be (somewhat) hardwired for a great 'attachment' to the (small) 'subgroup' (20 to 30 people - 50,000 years approx being exactly how we are today + times when not exactly as we are, which = millions of years), as against, the confusion (lack of direction) in the large sedentary group (town - urban - rural) we have today (past 10,000 years, if only, that small amount of time?). If we all have not had enough time to adjust; it looks like it from our appalling social history; cures should be readily and easily available! Recognition, could be, and not: a myriad of evasive denials for PC-ness, comfort or any other reason: should be the first major step. Ref, Barbara Ward. Desmond Morris - countless Others - since and before! Shame on (some) UK Schools and (most of) Government UK.
     
     
    "Still from Eden springs the root
    As clean as on the starting day".
     
    Edwin Muir.
     
     
    60,000 years, born as we are now! Millions and millions of years - since life started! 'The Ancestor's Tale' Richard Dawkins.
     
    *"The  hypothesis that this type of "schizophysiology" is part of our genetic inheritance, built into the species, as it were; could go a long way towards explaining some of the pathological symptoms already listed. The chronic conflict between rational thought and irrational beliefs; the resulting paranoid streak in our history; the growth curves of science and ethics: would at last become comprehensible and could be expressed in physiological terms". MacLean Theory and Arthur Koestler. Ref, 'Notes of Dads' 16. And, http://www.aqr.org.uk/inbrief/document.shtml?doc=simon.roberts.01-03-2005.anthropology
    9:27 AM | Permalink | Blog it | Socio Biology Religion
    May 22

    Talking about YouTube - Fabulous Picture Show - Son Of A Lion - 16 May 08 - Part 2

     

    YouTube - Fabulous Picture Show - Son Of A Lion - 16 May 08 - Part 2
           

    http://www.sonofalion.com/

    "Whenever you kill a human being you are killing a source of thought too. A human being is a collection of ideas, and these ideas take moral precedence over a society. Ideas are patterns of value." Robert T. Pirsig. And, "When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kind of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt".

    "The truths contained in religious doctrines are after all so distorted and systematically disguised," writes Sigmund Freud, "That the mass of humanity cannot recognize them as truth. The case is similar to what happens when we tell a child that new born babies are brought by the stork. Here, too, we are telling truth in symbolic clothing, for we know what a large bird signifies. But the child does not know it. He hears only the distorted part of what we say, and feels that he has been deceived; and we know how often his distrust of the grown-ups and his refractoriness actually take their start from this impression. We have become convinced that it is better to avoid such symbolic disguisings of the truth in what we tell children and not to withhold from them a knowledge of the true state of affairs commensurate with their intellectual level".

    9:41 AM | Permalink | Blog it | Socio Biology Religion
    May 19

    Channel4 'In God's Name'. Dispatches.

     
     
    Where is Ofsted?
     
    Children are the easy target - behind the (secret) closed doors of our Schools.UK.
     
    Where are these people?
     

    Department for Children, Schools and Families

    Department for Children, Schools and Families and Schools home page. The Department for Children, Schools and Families leads work across Government to ensure that all children and ...  www.dfes.gov.uk   Who is in charge of (prosecuting) the 'child abuse' that I have just seen!

    8:40 PM | Permalink | Blog it | Religion

    'Pardon or Not to Pardon (the Witches)'. 'Living with the Modern Day Jesters'.

    The New York Times profiles Debra and Addie Avery, a mother and daughter who made the news recently for their quest to have Connecticut exonerate the men and women convicted of witchcraft during the 17th century. The article tells how the Averys, who are descended from convicted witch Mary Sanford, were met with an usual amount of hostility over what seemed to be a simple matter.


    What passed for due process back then.

    "Soon, the Averys' lobbying attracted the support of other descendants of those who were accused. But critics spoke out, too, lashing out on Internet blogs. Ms. Avery was shaken to read the harsh comments, which reminded her of the mob frenzy that her ancestor faced. 'The world has changed, but people haven't,' she said. Addie said she got a new education when she decided to publicly defend her ancestor. To her mother's amazement, the attacks didn't bother the suddenly thick-skinned teenager. 'There are worse things than mockery,' Addie said. 'Now, I'm not afraid to stand up when I see something wrong.'"
    A syndicated column by Warner Todd Houston (with the oh-so-clever title of "Take Your Apology And...") seems to encapsulate the kind of "harsh comments" received by the Averys.
    "We have a busy body mother and wife who is wasting the time of everyone around her over her faux outrage about something that happened in a long lost age ... This is the same sort of faux outrage we see from black Americans who want "apologies" or even reparations for slavery ... There ain't any witches being persecuted by the state in 2008 ... You should apologize for wasting our time and the tax money used to fund the government that wasted its time on your silly resolution. And you should apologize for forcing us all for taking time away from important matters."
    Despite the idealogical resistance to exonerating innocent people,     a watered-down resolution, which merely calls the judgments "shocking", and that no stigma should be attached to their descendants was introduced. It failed to win passage. An outcome that shouldn't be very surprising, since lawmakers never took this resolution seriously, as evidenced by transcripts from the resolution hearings on the matter.
    "REP. LAWLOR: You know ... this morning, I remembered this great scene from Monty Python, where they grabbed the witch. And if you Google it, if you Google "Monty Python witch trial," you get to see that scene. There's--
    DEBRA AVERY: Yes, about the wood and how wood floats, and, yeah, I'm very familiar with that.
    REP. LAWLOR: But as funny as it is, it gives you a sense of, you know, looking back, how outrageous it really was because, it's something."
    I'd state that this may be the first time     Monty Python has been referenced in a resolution hearing, but I'm sure I would be wrong.
    Is it important to exonerate people accused of witchcraft 300 years ago? While the Averys aren't Pagan (that I know of), the issue has become a somewhat contentious one within the modern Pagan community. Some modern Witches feel a sort of spiritual kinship with those persecuted as "witches" hundreds of years ago (    a sentiment that has also been attached to modern "witch-trial" victims), others assert that since these men and women weren't practicing any sort of faith that we would now call Paganism, we should feel no special connection to these "witches" (other than sympathy for the lack of real justice given to them).
    No matter where one comes down on the issue, it is strange how much hostility and scorn can be released over a resolution that would ultimately cost taxpayers little, and in no way negatively affect any-one's current lifestyle. Is it the idea of an apology? That it involves "witchcraft"? Whatever the reason, perhaps with real-live witch-killings and persecutions happening right now in places     like Africa, India, and Saudi Arabia it wouldn't be such a bad idea to definitively exclaim that what we did then was barbaric and wrong. That these trials were the mistakes of a fearful and superstitious populace, and the men and women convicted were innocent of the supernatural crimes they were accused of.
    If we cling to their convictions in this enlightened age, what sort of message does that send to governments and communities who are repeating our mistakes?

    Jason Pitzl-Waters http://www.blogger.com/profile/03798973716341545440

    And,   http://luckyme0.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!A18BF3FCC5E126A2!1890.entry

    And, in, 1963 - New Forest, Hampshire, England. A 'witch' was compelled to leave her house because her neighbours genuinely believed in her powers. All of them believed, as implicitly as they believed in their Faith, that the Powers of Darkness were still physically active in the world.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26422359/

    And, in 2008 - Church Schools and Faith Schools and in Law (compulsory daily worship: a draconian/discriminatory - opt out clause) in the UK. We still teach children that this may still be so!!! We make a big fuss over Race Hate Crime, but then encourage the ridiculousness (befog or muddle - children or vulnerable) of the above!!!

    St Osmund's School, Dorchester. Dorset. Admission Interview for a place at the School; besides the form - found in photos on this blog, "What does your child think of 'religion'"? And, "Where does your other child go to school (it looks like you live in a 'nice' house, from you address)"? I would say, this is 'flat out' discrimination, maybe, even, as bad as that of the 'Stasi' State Police in East Germany's past. I would also claim, that this is an incredibly bad example for our children, but at least we all - now - fully know and realise where bigotry, and discrimination, can so easily begin! We can fully inform our children, if not already informed - by being actually at this interview, and use it as a classic example of our modern day 'two faced' (un-self aware or not self-aware adults, which would be bad enough in our children, if they cannot help it) authorities in operation. http://www.stosmunds.dorset.sch.uk/index.htm

    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 (updated 10/2/2009) Harrow Council - "A mother has pleaded not guilty to lying about her address to gain a place for her five-year-old son at a popular infant school" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8073532.stm

    And, for fun - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24598856/  And, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24598508/ 

    And, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7399717.stm

    And, in the future - Modern Day 'Witchcraft', of, and: inside: the 'class divide'  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7387997.stm

    http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&q=Dorchester+Area+Schools+Partnership.+Religion&btnG=Search 

    "Is there more to life than confusion, panic, sex, and then nothing"? Julian Schnabel.

    Melvyn Bragg and Gore Vidal  http://www.a2mediagroup.com/?c=176&a=22625 "All six year olds are interesting; there aren't any sixteen year olds that are interesting - they have lost their curiosity due to the education system".

    I would suggest, if we can, and within all our schools: eliminate 'gently' most of the inherent (UK) and the pretty ghastly 'confusion' element (above), by the introduction of 'The Proper Structuralized View of the World' or 'The Structural World View' as has been suggested by Professor Richard Dawkins. We may find this will go a long way to solving many of the problems our children and young adults face in today's world of 'mass media' (celebrity worship) and 'superstition' (the road to self-harming for children and young adults).

    Schools 'not closing social gap'. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7048753.stm

    Witchcraft in Africa http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2008/06/2008625121448147938.html

    Letter(s ) - NewScientist. "A.C.Grayling perpetuates the myth that astronomers were burned at the stake by the Catholic Church". 

    A.C.Grayling replies: "Start with the burning at the stake of Cecco d'Ascoli in Florence 1327 and proceed through the centuries to the "cleaning-up" of the University of Salamanca 16th century by the Suprema, 'Council of the Supreme and General Inquisition'. A list of trial names can be compiled from the records that survive".  

    Uganda Humanist Schools Trust

    http://www.ugandahumanistschoolstrust.org/ Ref, Church Schools and Faith Schools UK - Learning a palatable school 'Ethos' from Africa. 
    Amsterdam Declaration 2002 http://www.iheu.org/amsterdamdeclaration

    8:51 AM | Permalink | Blog it | Religion
    May 09

    BBC News. Respect 'atheists', says Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor. Church of England..

    Hoodwinked Again? 

    A (slightly) new 'modern synthesis' and 'sensible outlook' or 'world view', may be; being born? 

    I very much doubt that the 'religionists' can cope, en mass, with 'respect'. As it is: respect for atheists, in 2008, is just being brought into 'headline news' by the BBC and C of E. Atheists have had 'respect' for the hierarchical and un-elected privilege of the religionists constantly rammed down their throats and in everywhere they go; be it in schools or in public organisations - UK.  For anyone other than they themselves, as it is (mostly) a very self-centred pastime for all the comfort, charity, and good works. The Scientists (mostly) would find a 'little give way' easy to handle for the sake of humanity to make some small social progress that is comparative to the scientific and technological achievements of humankind - to date.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7390941.stm 

    Referring to God as an "imaginary friend", (Mr) Richard Dawkins said: "When talking to a politician you would demand proof for what they say, but suddenly when talking to a clergyman you don't have to provide evidence.

    "There's absolutely no reason to take seriously someone who says, 'I believe it because I believe it.'

    "God either exists or he doesn't. It's a matter of the truth." Professor Richard Dawkins.

    "Yet what is more awesome: to believe that God created everything in six days, or to believe that the biosphere came into being on its own, with no creator, and partially lawlessly?

    I find the latter proposition so stunning, so worthy of awe and respect, that I am happy to accept this natural creativity in the Universe as a reinvention of "God".

    From it, we can build a sense of the the sacred that encompasses all life and the planet itself.

    From it, we can change our value system across the globe and try together, to ease the fears of religious fundamentalists with a safe, sacred space we can share.

    And from it we can, if we are wise, find the means to avert wars of civilisations, the ravages of global warming, and the potential disaster of peak oil." Professor Stuart Kauffmann - University of Calgary - Institute for Biochemistry and Informatics. NewScientist Magazine, May 2008. 

    Warning! 

    "Social and political propaganda, as I have said, is effective as a rule, only upon those whom circumstances have partly or completely convinced of its truth. In other words, it is influential only when it is a rationalization of the desires, sentiments, prejudices or interests of those to whom it is addressed.
     
    A theology or a political theory may be defined as an intellectual device for enabling people to do in cold blood things, which, without the theology or the theory, they could only do in the heat of passion. Circumstances, whether external or internal and purely psychological, produce in certain persons a state of discontent, for example, a desire for change, a passionate aspiration for something new. These emotional states may find occasional outlet in violent but undirected activity.
     
    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." Huxley.
     
    You may ask where (in Hell) does the answer lie? 
     
    In the 'oscillations in society' - liberalism (not the UK's 'Liberal Democratic Party') 'The History of Western Philosophy' Bertrand Russell.
     
    "Whatever my native modesty may be it will never condescend to seek help for my imagination within those vain imaginings common to all ages and that in themselves are enough to fill all lovers of mankind with unutterable sadness". Joseph Conrad
     
    8:05 PM | Permalink | Blog it | Socio Biology Religion
    May 07

    Census 2011 Campaign. Help the British Humanist Association.

     
          "They preferred the ancient light of divinely blessed authority to the
          distant glimmer of democracy. "God saith, 'Touch not mine anointed' ",
          wrote a Cavalier knight as he reluctantly girded on his sword for the
          battle". 1640-1660 English Civil War. Sir Winston Churchill.
     
     
    At the BHA we are lobbying the Office of National Statistics to change the 'religion' question in the 2011 Census, as we believe that the 2001 question - 'What is your religion?' - led to deeply flawed results.
     
    Our objective is to ensure that the question or questions about religion in the 2011 Census give an accurate picture of religious affiliation in the UK.

    At least 15.5% of the population is non-religious according to the 2001 Census, making this the second largest 'belief' group in the UK, being two-and-a-half times as numerous as all the non-Christian religions put together. This figure, however, is by any sensible reckoning far too low. Firstly, the Office of National Statistics itself admits that the leading nature of the 'religion' question meant that many people, especially those with a loose (for example, merely cultural) affiliation to a religion, would have identified themselves as religious when they are not [Office of National Statistics (ONS) (2004) 'Focus on Religion', 11th October 2004.     http://tinyurl.com/2dpnqw ] This is particularly true of those who identified themselves as 'Christian'. Secondly, a large proportion of those people who identified themselves as affiliated in some sense to a religion in fact have no active involvement.

    Apart from the inaccuracy of the data collected on religious affiliation, there are real, practical problems with the use of this data. The Census data on religion says nothing about the actual religious practice, involvement, belief or belonging of the population. However, both central and local government use this data in resource allocation and for targeting equality initiatives. And the figure stating that 72% of the population are 'Christian' has been used in a variety of ways, such as to justify the continuing presence of Bishops in the House of Lords, to justify the state-funding of faith schools (and their expansion), to justify and increase religious broadcasting and to exclude the voices of humanists in Parliament and elsewhere.

    The Office of National Statistics has written to the BHA telling us that they have done some testing of the question and that their results show that the 2001 Census question on religion should be used again. In light of how the data has been misused, we believe that this is a highly irresponsible decision. In order to strengthen our case, we need evidence that demonstrates the difficulties created by the 2001 Census question.

    Therefore, we would be very grateful if you could look out for information in your locality which justifies 'faith-based' practices by public bodies based on Census results. Examples of this may include making funding decisions using this data or changes in service delivery or justifying the allocation of resources on the basis of Census data on religion.

    If you have any pertinent examples, please let us know so that we can build up evidence showing the misuse of the questionable 2001 data. All information should be sent to Naomi Phillips, BHA Public Affairs Officer,     naomi@humanism.org.uk by email.

    Thank you for your help.
     
    All - Jedi Knight's.
     
    The Government is spending your money, based on the 2001 'very misleading census data'. Propping up - misguidedly, 'superstition', because IT, no doubt; "conveniently thinks" that is what we all want - collect data in your area and send it in! "A big and very convenient mix up" on the (fraudulent) Westminster Money Planet. Royalty, Church, and State. UK. 67% of the country do not want Faith or Church Schools and 82% think that religion does more harm than good. Ref, Guardian/ICM Poll Dec 2006.
    6:32 PM | Permalink | Blog it | Religion
    May 04

    UK FIRST AS HUMANISM INCLUDED IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES GCSE

     
     
     
    "If we are going to sup with the Devil, I hope the soup will be tasty"?
     
    "We have made it in a cauldron, so I am sure that you will find it extremely tasty"!
     
    The UK has changed the World! (Again).
     
    The World grows up a bit more!
     
     
     

    My note to a Headmaster or Headmistress.

    It would be fair to my children (the twins, aged 9) to have some knowledge of Humanism, which I am sure they will do at ...School and quite soon: if not already? Also, I am a member of the BHA purely for promoting Humanism in Education and as a matter of my own personal conscience. Not that I wish for my children to be Humanist's; only that they obtain from you the 'broadest education possible'; without: 'the indoctrination to one particular creed or other', so that they may like to make their own, personal, special choices, now, or at a future date: with an obvious, self-evident, 'balance of some discernment'.

    Tradition (mostly pretty appalling) and Culture (we do live in a 'global multiracial community') is not an excuse for bullying/indoctrination of a particular 'creed' or 'ism' to any child, at least: not in any public place where you can't walk away as you are captive and individually 'noticeable' by ones 'peers' (A deep reason for this: lies in the thinking that is within the 1960's 1970's (Army Psychology and Interrogation Procedure - of that time) experiment to do with 'Sub-Culture' and 'Torture Progression' and that no escape exists for anyone: WE ARE ALL MEMBERS; with, or without; this knowledge). 'Rights of the Child' BBC Website and 'Human Rights' and 'Guidance for Schools on Discrimination'. I am sure that ... School treats everyone with equal respect, obviously, with some gentle 'discernment'. There has only been, in the many years of happy and wonderful times at ... School that any, and what I personally would consider: the bullying of any ideology/religion. This particular Teacher (a very good Teacher in all other respects) has now left... School, "You can't be member of my class unless you believe in, so on..." And, "That the Lord's Prayer; I can't stop it repeating in my head, as it is said so often". There has also been some pressure to repeat everything out loud (spiritual things - Grace - maybe) against a child's will or general feelings at a particular time: most children will naturally love to join in, but in 'no way' should they ever be forced to for the sake of 'community', or any 'ethos' (if noisy - they could be quietened, thus, respecting the wishes of others) : this will only have a very bad reaction for them now, or later in life! I know it must be very tempting for teachers to be today, mildly forceful, but those days, now: will have fully passed in this particular regard. 

    Preparatory Schools and Public Schools in the UK, 'faith based' or not; have a particularly brutal and unkind reputation (still going on at some schools - Faith Schools and Smacking Ban 'loophole', letting the whole side down in the Private Sector) that they must try and get over in many of the above 'respects', and also, some other: past; most unacceptable matters of child welfare, which goes well beyond any brutality found in "Dickensian-ism".

    "The only thing we can do is to hazard a hypothesis, to create a mythological figure, call it, "human personality" and hope that circumstances will not by destroying us, prove our imaginative guesswork too hopelessly wrong. But myth for myth, human personality is preferable to God. We do at least know something of human personality, whereas of God we know nothing, and knowing nothing, are at liberty to invent as freely as we like.
     
    If men had always tried to deal with the problem of love in terms of known human rather than of grotesquely imagined divine interests, there would have been less making of eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake, less persecution of  sinners, less burning and imprisoning of the heretics of unnatural love, less grundy-ism, less comstockery, and at the same time less dirty Don-Juanism, less of that curiously malignant and vengeful love making so characteristic of the debauchee under a Christian dispensation.
     
    Reacting against the absurdities of the old mythology, the young have run into absurdities no less inordinate at the other end of the scale. A sordid and ignoble realism offers no resistance to the sexual impulse, which now spends itself purposelessly without producing love, or even, in the long run amusement, without enhancing vitality or quickening and deepening the rhythms of living.
     
    Only a new mythology of nature, such as in modern times, Blake, Robert Burns, and Lawrence, have defined it: an untranscendental and (relatively speaking) realistic mythology of energy, life, and "human personality" will provide, it seems to me, the inward resistances necessary to turn sexual impulse into love and provide them in a form which the critical intelligence of post - Nietzsche-an youth can respect. By means of such a conception a new fashion in love may be created, a mode more beautiful and convenient, more healthful and elegant, than any seen among men since the days of remote and pagan antiquity".
     
    'Do What You Will (1929)' Aldous Huxley.
     
     
    In Britain, we are near the bottom of the 'league table' in the modern industrialised societies for 'childhood well-being' and the amount of (unwanted) teenage pregnancies. What an appalling indictment and I do wonder why? This is not something we should be proud of!
     
    I hope that our "School" is doing a 'bit more' (National Guidelines - obviously - quite inadequate) for the education of our children, even at a young age, and are we 'laying in the groundwork' for their complete healthy, kind, and respectful future enlightenment. Our government does seem very cowardly compared to the many other countries in this area!

    http://www.channel4.com/learning/microsites/L/lifestuff/content/up_close/letstalksex/index.html 

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7383571.stm Emotions in Sex Education

    Imprinting (psychological) Westermarck and Freud

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westermarck_effect#Westermarck_effect

     

    6:32 PM | Permalink | Blog it | Knowledge