Given up

 I gave up posting on this blog when Google started censoring my posts.  What I posted should not have offended anyone with a brain but clearly Google does not believe in free speech.  Sad.

Representing the people

It is a common misconception that senior clerics should be invited to conferences, symposiums, etc. because they "represent" the views of the people who attend their churches, synagogues, mosques, etc.

Nothing could be further than the truth.

These people are never elected by the ordinary faithful.  They are appointed because they are seen by other senior clerics as being worthwhile to the interests of the particular organised religion.  The Pope was not elected by the Catholic Churches 1.25 billion followers in some sort of democratic process - he was chosen by a bunch of other senior clerics within the church, from one of their number.

The only sense in which any senior cleric can be said to represent the views of his church members is that he probably instructs those followers what their views must be.  So if the Pope says 1.25 billion Catholics oppose contraception, what he is actually saying is that he opposes it, and then tells the 1.25 billion Catholics that they must oppose it too.

Religious leaders should not be invited to forums to represent their followers.  If they are invited at all it must be clearly on the understanding that the views they represent are those of the other senior clerics of their religion.  For a truly elected-by-the-people representative you'd be better inviting the latest pop idol.

How strong is your faith?

I've been musing about how strongly people actually take their faith.

Facebook is often bombarded by images, supposedly of Jesus (though looking nothing like what scientists believe would have been his appearance) with the caption "Do you love me?" or "Will you praise me?", etc.

The idea seems to be that you show your faith by sharing the image.  I'm not clear what the purpose of this is - do they believe their God monitors Facebook to see how many people share these images?  Do you get priority in Heaven for more than 10,000 shares?

They do it anyway, but isn't it all too easy?  Anyone can Like or Share a Facebook posting, but  that's not really a good test of anyone's faith.  I have a better idea.

The Romans used to throw Christians to The Lions.

Anyone who recanted was freed - the rest had to face being torn to pieces.  Now that's a real test of faith.  How many of our Facebook God-squad would stick to their faith if the choice was between recanting or dying horribly?  Very few, I'm sure.

Catherine tells me that actually throwing Christians to The Lions would "raise certain Human Rights issues" so maybe we can't do it for real, but I challenge everyone who wants to Like or Share a Facebook Jesus meme to ask themselves this simple question - if Liking or Sharing this would get you eaten, would you still do it?

Excellent BBC article explaining, in simple terms, how evolution works

... and hence why creationists are talking rubbish!

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150803-how-do-we-know-evolution-is-real

How Jesus really looked?

If you read this: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/12/15/jesus-face-recreated-scientists-skulls_n_8809466.html you will see that, if Jesus ever actually existed, he probably looked like this:

Not quite the picture on your Sunday School wall, is it?  And can you imagine what would happen if a chap looking like this turned up in a US airport right now?  He'd probably be arrested as a suspected terrorist!

Not that it matters because Jesus probably never existed anyway:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/12/18/did-historical-jesus-exist-the-traditional-evidence-doesnt-hold-up/

Should I be put to death?

It's Sunday, and I'm working.

Now the Bible is entirely clear about the sabbath.  In the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8-12) we read:
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work : but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates : for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day : wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

[American version, note: "shalt thou labor" not "shalt thou labour", even thought America didn't exist when King James authorised this Bible.  Are you allowed to tamper with it like that? But I digress....]

[Also note: how the f*#k do you stop cattle from doing work?  Or, for that matter, how do you start them doing it? But I digress....again]

In Exodus 32:14 we read:
Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore ; for it is holy unto you. Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death : for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

Well I'm definitely working.  Whether that defiles the sabbath or not I don't know, so whether I get put to death or just "cut off" (ostracised, I assume) I'm not clear.

But, hold on a minute.  All of this is in the Old Testament, written for the Jews.  Their sabbath runs from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.  So surely this rule only applies to that period?

Or does the rule vary according to your religion.  If I were a Musilm I couldn't work from sundown on Thurday to sundown on Friday.  If I were a Christian I couldn't work on a Sunday (00:00h to 23:59h).

But I'm not any of these.  I'm not Jewish; I'm not a Christian; I'm not a Muslim; I'm an atheist.  So obviously the rule doesn't apply to me and I can work 24/7 if I want.

In which case why I am I restricted in what I can do by St. Helena's Sunday Trading laws?

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