tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post406830390182052687..comments2023-12-16T16:17:43.886+00:00Comments on Fr Ray Blake's Blog: In Praise of Diversity and the IrrationalFr Ray Blakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05584140126211527252noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-76157349236552973912012-09-30T19:48:06.715+01:002012-09-30T19:48:06.715+01:00For your information, rather late in the day.
No ...For your information, rather late in the day.<br /><br />No doubt many in the public sector or a union won't have to worry about the wearing a cross issue.<br /><br />But there was I minding my own business, working in a housing association some two years ago when a suggestion popped up on our intranet: that women should think about wearing cross in case, you've guessed it, some might be offended.<br /><br />I asked the obvious question: why can other faiths wear distinctive clothing, but Christians can't?<br /><br />Back came the now usual answer: a cross is not a requirement of Christian faith. <br /><br />I enlisted the help of my Muslim colleagues to counter all this - and very supportive they were too.<br /><br />We then had to deal with the promotion of same sex "marriage". Remember the housing manager who had his salary cut because he wondered in a private Face Book page if SSM was a "step too far"?<br /><br />Our realistic concern was accusations of "homophobia" and resulting grievance procedures. All in all, it was a worrying, depressing time.<br /><br />I more than relieved that retirement intervened last December to take me out of the bizarre world of "Equal Ops".<br /><br />The good part were some very interesting conversations with my Muslim colleagues. Interestingly, the only Christian Church they respect is ours..https://www.blogger.com/profile/03698978556939041085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-29024356708467541982012-09-08T17:58:28.603+01:002012-09-08T17:58:28.603+01:00Irrationality is widespread because of relativism ...Irrationality is widespread because of relativism and individualism which the Popes condemned over 150 years ago. Objectivity is no longer valued, but one can only be a saint if one can stand back and look at one's self and others with the eyes of God.<br /><br />I lost family in what was Czechslovakia and my grandparents lost land. The family was politically active and three generations ago on one side Jewish. That is all gone and I shall never know what happened. A piece of me is shrouded in mystery, the mystery of irrationality.<br /><br />We have to train our young to be rational, otherwise we shall descend even more quickly into barbarism and anarchy. That is what always happens when a civilization stops thinking and reflecting...Supertradmumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07829935047036023159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-13104300294349111122012-09-08T13:45:11.250+01:002012-09-08T13:45:11.250+01:00I have seen customs such as Aboriginals who cut th...I have seen customs such as Aboriginals who cut their chests and put ashes in them leaving scars. Last week I saw some Sudanese in the street who do this on their faces and foreheads. Or what about those ridiculous people who put tattoos like you find on walls all over themselves. Or what of those imbeciles who now cut their earlobes inserting bits of metal so they end up looking like members of tribes from the Amazon. The later things I mention have no religious significance all all.<br />These things are fashion. It seems to me many modern people mutilate their bodies because they think nothing of themselves. It is self mutilation. Will the government try and outlaw that?John Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04705606458418222924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-63152299834521126262012-09-08T13:19:39.888+01:002012-09-08T13:19:39.888+01:00May I recommend a good read:
Kenneth Minogue: &q...May I recommend a good read:<br /><br />Kenneth Minogue: "The Servile Mind or how democracy erodes the moral life".<br /><br />He acknowledges his debt to Belloc's "The Servile State".Nicolas Bellordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08063019108964247676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-88973037760668490642012-09-08T13:12:02.903+01:002012-09-08T13:12:02.903+01:00I just heard the News Quiz on Radio 4. When the su...I just heard the News Quiz on Radio 4. When the subject of the Strasbourg 4 came up the panel proceeded to belittle Christians. This 'humorous' discourse lasted some time, with the usual offensive nonsense from that well know Trotskyist, Jeremy Hardy. The Strasbourg 4 deserve our support. After the show the 1pm news carried the depressing news that two new health ministers favour changing the law on assisted suicide. The forces of darkness - often dressed up as liberal humanism - are all around us.Amfortashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07580253432208073322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-5214630561006533112012-09-08T08:19:43.006+01:002012-09-08T08:19:43.006+01:00I know some people are obsessed by circumcision, u...I know some people are obsessed by circumcision, unhealthily so, so let's not go there!<br /><br />The issue isn't in itself about circumcision in any medical sense but about parents rights over their children, and their right to pass on their faith to them.Fr Ray Blakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05584140126211527252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-6218690883331382172012-09-07T21:44:08.962+01:002012-09-07T21:44:08.962+01:00Fr.,
You raise several interesting points. Europ...Fr.,<br /><br />You raise several interesting points. European law is certainly becoming “Orwellian”.<br /><br />There are advantages in male circumcision, hygienic, regarding infections bacterial and fungal, and probably viral, physical comfort, and so on and that is almost certainly why it has become a part of folk culture in the Jewish and Islamic peoples. With modern pain control techniques, there are no disadvantages.<br /><br />That cultures are forbidden to pursue such customs is surely contrary to natural law and rights. But then Orwell was serious in his warnings!<br /><br />As you say large areas of medicine are now closed to Christians. I do not see now how a Catholic can even be a GP, since all they do nowadays, apart from referrals, is dispense pills, including contraceptive and aborticides. <br /><br />The answer is obvious, Christian opinion must be harnessed in protest – and in the ballot box!<br /><br />The best people to do this are our priests, and other ministers of religion, from the pulpit! It would be a welcome change from being told to be “nice to our fellow man” all the time.Jacobihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04743062941733814176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-56311210614999098972012-09-07T20:56:19.233+01:002012-09-07T20:56:19.233+01:00Ok belong has more than one meaning, but DNC, stat...Ok belong has more than one meaning, but DNC, stateside:<br />"We all belong to the Government."Mike Cliffsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06405021835510775527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-41028718907759362772012-09-07T18:19:31.751+01:002012-09-07T18:19:31.751+01:00All that the Holy Father warned us of on his visit...All that the Holy Father warned us of on his visit here is coming to pass in His Holiness's pontificate no less!The Boneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10271719805983763595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-83689681757763940912012-09-07T17:00:16.444+01:002012-09-07T17:00:16.444+01:00August,
No, not quite, it is more about a logical ...August,<br />No, not quite, it is more about a logical sequence, starting from "scientific" data.Fr Ray Blakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05584140126211527252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-13308835428583473552012-09-07T16:28:49.738+01:002012-09-07T16:28:49.738+01:00What is rationality? Is it not much simpler than ...What is rationality? Is it not much simpler than people suppose? If you want something and the means via which you believe you shall get it is a particular act, isn't it rational to engage in that act? Doesn't this mean a Jew choosing to circumcise his child is acting rationally? <br />When most people speak of someone acting irrationally, what they mean is that the person is doing something of which they disapprove. The liberal mindset is such that, if you don't buy into their version of morality, well, you must be crazy. If you accept the idea that religious acts are irrational, well you've already lost the argument, haven't you? If we have no hope of the ends we desire to achieve, what are we doing all this stuff for? We do, in fact, have hope (or at least we are supposed to) and so relgion is not irrational.Augusthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08758314961163692341noreply@blogger.com