Always Hope

Richard Dawkins was trending on Twitter yesterday, on the strength of an interview with Paxman on Newsnight last night ( link here , jump in at about 36 minutes). As we might expect, Dawko was on the box to promote his latest book, which apparently is aimed at children and shows them how to free their minds from superstition and religion, and become rational-minded thinkers like Dawkins. The present Dawkins is a more congenial figure than the blood-spitting one of the past.  Formerly atheism's Grand Inquisitor, sworn to seek and destroy all those who opposed the true word of Dawk, he has re-cast himself as an evangelist, eyes burning with certainty, seeking to persuade the unbelieving masses by the power of his words.  He is the true antithesis of the religious believers he so despises. Watching him last night prompted a couple of observations. One is that the church needs more people who can communicate on TV with the same degree of clarity and certainty that Dawkins does. ...

Hello, it's time to fire up the blog after a lazy summer. I thought I'd start with something gentle and hopefully edifying. Last Sunday I had the monthly privilege of taking the Communion Service according to the Book of Common Prayer, that founding pillar of Anglicanism that deserves an ongoing audience (but that's another post).  The point being that the BCP has its own lectionary, which this week dealt us the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, or Publican as the 17th Century text insists. (And incidentally, I have at last learned that this is in fact the old English for a tax-gatherer, rather than a mistranslation which renders the sinister taxmen as jolly innkeepers). 9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:   10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.   11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee,...