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The Hobby Horses of Belief (and assorted hazards)

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,552 ✭✭✭✭ohnonotgmail


    It does tend to get quite low when the heart stops beating.



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,420 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch




  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,420 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Cork-born David O’Connell, who was a bishop in Los Angeles, was murdered last week and the husband of his housekeeper has been arrested and is helping police with their enquiries. There seems to be no indication of motive at this time. O'Connell was on the liberal wing of the RCC and he supported the ordination of women, same-sex marriage, and no doubt much else, to the extent that his views were removed from the World Meeting of Families in 2018.

    https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/man-arrested-in-la-over-killing-of-bishop-david-oconnell-1436002.html

    https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/social-affairs/2023/02/20/liberal-bishop-david-oconnell-shot-dead-in-los-angeles-supported-same-sex-parents-and-ordination-of-women/



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    This could be interesting:

    The Mormons Are Coming

    Three newly trained Mormon missionaries in Lancashire search for new converts. But in an increasingly secular Britain, how do you convince people that the Book of Mormon is true?

    BBC Two Tue Feb 28 21:00 - 22:00

    IMHO the word "Mormon" has one letter too many in it, your regular xtianity is crazy enough but that stuff is up a level of stupid.

    Scrap the cap!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Also happened across this yesterday, even by American political standards it's completely nuts:

    In the 80s Arizona elected a racist homophobe Mor[m]on governor Evan Mecham who only lasted a little over a year in office yet managed to do massive damage to the state by cancelling its MLK holiday. NFL pulled the Superbowl and lots of other companies and artists pulled events, Public Enemy recorded a song about it.

    Wiki:

    Mecham replied to comments from civil rights activists and the Black community after the cancellation by saying "King doesn't deserve a holiday." This was followed by him telling a group of Black community leaders, "You folks don't need another holiday. What you folks need are jobs."

    He repeatedly asserted that he was under no obligation to cooperate with the legislature, that he was answerable only to the United States Constitution—which, he believed, had been divinely revealed.

    Several of Mecham's appointments to key executive positions—submitted without consultation with legislative leaders—were found to have highly questionable credentials. Examples included his choice to head the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control, who was under investigation for murder; the director of the Department of Revenue, whose company was in arrears by $25,000 on employment compensation payments; the proposed supervisor of prison construction, who had served prison time for armed robbery; and a former Marine, nominated as a state investigator, who had been court-martialled twice. Other political appointees who caused Mecham embarrassment were an education adviser, James Cooper, who told a legislative committee, "If a student wants to say the world is flat, the teacher doesn't have the right to prove otherwise"; and Sam Steiger, Mecham's special assistant, who was charged with extortion.

    Besides the uproar caused by the MLK Day cancellation, claims of prejudice were made against Mecham after he defended the use of the racist word "pickaninny" to describe black children, claimed that high divorce rates were caused by working women, claimed America is a Christian nation to a Jewish audience, and said a group of visiting Japanese businessmen got "round eyes" after being told of the number of golf courses in Arizona. In response to claims that he was a racist, Mecham said, "I've got black friends. I employ black people. I don't employ them because they are black; I employ them because they are the best people who applied for the cotton-picking job."

    The recall committee was led by Ed Buck, a registered Republican and gay businessman living in the Phoenix area. In response, Mecham claimed the recall supporters were "a band of homosexuals and dissident Democrats." Mecham supporters printed bumper stickers reading "Queer Ed Buck's Recall" after learning of the recall leader's sexual orientation. Mecham also mailed 25,000 letters during September to conservatives nationwide requesting that they move to Arizona and support him in case a recall election were held.

    The Arizona State Senate convened as a court of impeachment on February 29. Mecham's supporters compared the impeachment trial to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

    Arguably, the testimony most damaging to Mecham was his own, during which he repeated his assertion that the Legislature had no authority over him, and berated individual legislators. On April 4, the Senate convicted Mecham on obstruction of justice by a vote of 21 to 9, and on misusing government funds by a vote of 26 to 4.

    Scrap the cap!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,342 ✭✭✭Tow


    Brian Hade (Victory, Ulster Bank 18 million) appeared on today's Revenue tax defaulters list.

    When is the money (including lost growth) Michael Noonan took in the Pension Levy going to be paid back?



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,420 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    A lot of burkery going on in the High Court today - note a possible passer-by helping out the three Gardai in the final scene:




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Berks!

    Scrap the cap!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,552 ✭✭✭✭ohnonotgmail


    A detective not a passerby. She has her radio on her chest.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Voiceover: Would YOU give a job to a member of this family?

    Scrap the cap!



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  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,420 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Burke has received his judgement:

    https://www.courts.ie/acc/alfresco/3b5ec827-4bbb-4e81-9c68-baf204a4dec0/2023_IECA_52%20Whelan%20%20J).pdf/pdf#view=fitH

    22. A particular feature of Mr. Burke’s approach is the degree of verbal aggression and disrespect exhibited in his engagement particularly towards the school Principal. Such conduct is alluded to as having taken place in the confines of a staff meeting in May 2022. More importantly on Mr. Burke’s own version of events he interrupted a formal church service on the 21st June 2022 at the school at which the officiant was Bishop Glenfield. His demeanour and unorthodox behaviour were very much evident in the course of the presentation of his appeal before this court. He granted himself free rein to speak disparagingly about and deploy language calculated to traduce and demean those with whose conduct or decisions he did not agree. The conduct of Mr. Burke at the religious service in the chapel was wholly disrespectful towards the school Principal and entirely inappropriate. By the standards of civilised behaviour his conduct was simply outrageous.  [...]

    27. By any measure the disruption of the Chapel Service in June 2022 at which the Bishop was officiating was wholly unorthodox and Mr. Burke’s lack of insight into the inappropriateness of his behaviour speaks to either his inability or unwillingness to engage in dialogue or discussion as one might conventionally expect to find in a school setting where through the mechanism of dialogue a means would be arrived at which would be mutually respectful of the teacher’s concerns on the one hand and the spiritual and moral values of a student and their family on the other.

    28. The appellant appears to lack all insight into the extent to which his conduct was inappropriate, undermining, intimidating, contumelious towards and demeaning of the school Principal. Even on his own version of events, his behaviour was confrontational and wholly out of place having regard to the nature of the event as a ceremony of religious worship, the wide variety of attendees and the solemnity of the occasion. His approach in all matters appears to be directed towards getting his own way at all costs whilst being incapable and/or unwilling to engage in respectful dialogue in an effort to achieve a mutually acceptable compromise which might adequately address his concerns. One is driven to the conclusion that he quite enjoys conflict and confrontation and the passing notoriety his wilful and contumacious contempt of court has bought him.

    etc, etc.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,552 ✭✭✭✭ohnonotgmail


    a pretty damning indictment of the man. doesn't stop his followers on here though.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Contumelious and contumacious, these judges do like to show off don't they 😋


    1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene vi], page 100, column 1:

    VVith ſcoffs and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts, / In open Market-place produc't they me, / To be a publique ſpectacle to all: / Here, ſayd they, is the Terror of the French, / The Scar-Crovv that affrights our Children ſo.


    1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes” in The Poetical Works of John Milton, volume 4 (edited by Henry John Todd; published in 1801), page 505:

    […] and, on his conſtancie, ſounds an accuſation to Herod of a contumacious affront, on ſuch a day, before many peers; præpares the king to ſome paſſion, and at laſt, by her daughter’s dancing, effects it.

    Scrap the cap!



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,420 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    So, you've devoted a huge part of your life to criticizing 'woke' and you've written a book - one chapter on 'woke' and the rest condemns it.

    Can you tell me what 'woke' is?

    https://twitter.com/vanguard_pod/status/1635749284355211264



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato




    A prominent atheism campaigner was discriminated against by a failure to consider him for a military chaplain role, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has found, after rejecting the State’s argument that chaplains of “monotheistic belief” are needed to deal with religious and local leaders in sensitive conflict zones.

    Witnesses for the Department of Defence argued a humanist chaplain could undo years of liaison work by army chaplains with religious fundamentalists in south Lebanon, including Hezbollah supporters, whom, it was argued, would be unlikely to accept a non-religious minister.

    In a decision published on Wednesday, the WRC upheld John Hamill’s complaint of discrimination on the ground of religion against the Department of Defence, ruling that it was unlawful for the Defence Forces to recruit military chaplains solely from among Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland clergy.

    An adjudicating officer found compensation was “not warranted” but ordered the Department to review its chaplaincy appointments process to “reflect and foster the diversity of members of the Defence Forces”.

    ...

    In his decision, adjudicating officer Kevin Baneham rejected the State’s argument that the ability to go on deployment was a “determining occupational requirement” of the military chaplain’s job.

    “I do not doubt the importance in respect of south Lebanon, but I find that it is not an objectively genuine and determining characteristic in respect of all the other missions and work of the Defence Forces. At most, it could be a mission requirement for UNIFIL,” he wrote.

    “I have no doubt that religious leaders make very good military chaplains and would likely succeed during any assessment and interview process because of their pastoral work in the community. It is not, however, proportionate that no one else can apply or be considered for appointment,” he wrote, adding that it amounted to “unlawful discrimination” as he upheld Mr Hamill’s complaint.

    Now.. how about our schools and colleges..?

    Scrap the cap!



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,420 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Can you tell me what 'woke' is?

    Following the clip of Ms Mandel's self-own, Newsweek opened its website to Ms Mandel, who produced ~800 words in which she claims that "the left" is the hostile party, and she's the victim:

    https://www.newsweek.com/define-woke-bethany-mandel-conservative-book-1788538



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,783 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    Woke seems to have become such a broad, nebulous and very often divisive term in recent years, e.g. with woke washing and woke capitalism, that I'd question when it is appropriate to use it. Certainly on boards it seems to be far more commonly used as a derogatory term than an affirmative one. While I'd tend to fall on what would be considered the 'woke' side of most arguments, it is not a term I'd ever use to describe myself. I'd be interested to hear other folk's take on this.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,552 ✭✭✭✭ohnonotgmail


    well she used it as the title of a book so it isnt unreasonable to expect her to know what it means. i agree that it is overused.



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,783 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    Agreed, more interested to know if it is a term that people here would use to describe themselves and their rationale for doing so or not.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,552 ✭✭✭✭ohnonotgmail


    i dont think it is a term people use about themselves. I mostly see it as a pejorative term used about others.



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,783 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    Thanks, very much my take on it too though I do see a number of 'Stay Woke' memes on my social media feeds and was wondering if that was actually a thing in this part of the world.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,552 ✭✭✭✭ohnonotgmail


    perhaps they are using it ironically? that is the only thing i can think of



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    She had to get the thing about homeschooling in there, didn't she?

    Scrap the cap!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,771 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    "Woke" comes from African-American Vernacular English, going back to at least the 1920. It did start off a as a positive term, which people might use about themselves, or (more often) use approvingly about other people.

    The basic meaning is "alert, aware" - awake as opposed to asleep. But it was used mainly in a context suggesting alertness to prejudice or discrimination that other people do not see — typically concealed prejudice/discrimination, or institutional or systemic prejudice/discrimination. Coming from the African American community, it nearly always referred to racial prejudice or discrimination. But its use wasn't confined to political matters; you could be woke in a cultural sense, meaning aware of/appreciative of emerging trends in music, arts, fashion, etc that others had not yet picked up on.

    By the 1960s, probably under the influence of the civil rights movement, it had broken out of the African-American community and was used by (mostly liberal, progressive) white Americans. But it didn't really take off until the BLM protests about police shootings, where it was perfectly suited to distinguish those who recognised the systemic racism at work from those who didn't recognise it or were in denial about it

    I don't know whether its use in a positive sense ever broke out of the US. The American right very quickly picked up on it as an abusive term to replace "politically correct" — handy for labelling things that they don't like, but can't articulate why or would be embarrassed to articulate why. It can be (and has been) applied to virtually anything - a rise in women wearing trouser suits, a trend away from cooked breakfasts, too many black faces in ads on the telly. And that's the usage that we are most familiar with internationally. It may be that "woke" is still used positively in some circles in the US, but outside the US it's almost exclusively used as a pejorative.



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,420 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    It may be that "woke" is still used positively in some circles in the US, but outside the US it's almost exclusively used as a pejorative.

    Yes, it's used positively in far-left circles by people who apply the term to individuals who either a) more so, have similar views to themselves, or b) less so, are members of groups which the woke claim have not had access to some privilege which other individuals or groups have enjoyed, or who were victimized in some way. Such latter groups include, for example, non-whites, women, LGBTQ+, indigenous tribes, travellers, gypsies. Many on the far-left also assert - without discussion or agreement outside their own circles - that individuals belonging to groups which, in the past, might have victimized another group, or who might have had access to some privilege are, de facto, unable and unwelcome to take part in discussions regarding that victimization or that privilege; and the views of members of groups who, in the past, did not have access to some privilege or who were victimized, are to be trusted uncritically, regardless of whether the views themselves, over the group as a whole, are consistent or not. The term "woke" appears to have taken over the space generally occupied by the earlier term "social justice warrior" (SJW).

    To borrow one of Peregrinus' examples, the solution to privilege white people doing all the ads on telly years ago might be more black people now - but how many? The far-left might call for black-only ads to make up for previous white-only ads; the wide center might be happy with black representation in line with society at large; the far-right would probably be unhappy with any blacks at all.

    Outside of the far-left, usage of the term "woke" appears to be entirely pejorative.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,956 ✭✭✭✭Igotadose


    RCC still at it, deviant sexual practices in one of its ministries, but this time an investigation.




  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,420 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Burke back in Court, ranting and raving. Film at eleven.




  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,420 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    More details of the burkology going on today:




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Seems hinduism has become very hazardous lately...

    THE DEATH TOLL after a floor collapsed at a Hindu temple in India had risen to 35, with rescue operations underway to find one person still missing, a local official told AFP.

    Dozens of worshippers celebrating a major religious holiday yesterday plunged into the stepwell – a stair-lined communal water source – after the floor covering it collapsed in the central city of Indore.


    Deadly accidents are common at worship sites in India during major religious festivals.

    At least 112 people died in 2016 after a huge explosion caused by a banned fireworks display at a temple marking the Hindu new year.

    The blast ripped through concrete buildings and ignited a fire at a temple complex in Kerala state where thousands had gathered.

    Another 115 devotees died in 2013 after a stampede at a bridge near a temple in Madhya Pradesh.

    Up to 400,000 people were gathered in the area, and the stampede occurred after the spread of a rumour that the bridge was about to collapse.

    About 224 pilgrims died and more than 400 others were injured in a 2008 stampede at a hilltop temple in the northern city of Jodhpur.

    Scrap the cap!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Indian police have arrested five men accused of conducting a human sacrifice, nearly four years after the discovery of a woman’s headless body at a Hindu temple left officers baffled.

    Shanti Shaw, 64, was killed and decapitated with a machete in 2019 after visiting the temple in Guwahati, a city in India’s remote north-east.

    Police made no progress in the case until Shaw’s body was finally identified in January, sparking a renewed investigation that tracked down several culprits, with others still at large.

    “The five planned the killing of the woman,” the Guwahati police commissioner, Diganta Barah, said on Tuesday. “A total of 12 people took part.”

    Barah said the alleged ringleader, Pradeep Pathak, 52, had orchestrated the killing as part of a religious rite to mark the anniversary of his brother’s death.

    “The accused apparently believed that the sacrifice would appease the soul of the deceased,” he added.


    India’s National Crime Records Bureau lodged 103 cases of human sacrifice in the country between 2014 and 2021. Ritual killings are usually conducted to appease deities and are more common in tribal and remote areas, where belief in witchcraft and the occult is widespread.

    Last year, two men were arrested for allegedly killing a six-year-old boy in the capital, New Delhi. The culprits, both construction workers, told police they murdered the child as an offering to the Hindu god Shiva to get rich.

    Note how it's necessary for any "respectable" media outlet to differentiate between "religion" and "cults". Sizeable proportion of readership and/or critical letter writers = "religion". Non-sizeable bunch of nutters doing exactly the same insane things = "cult".

    Post edited by Hotblack Desiato on

    Scrap the cap!



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,956 ✭✭✭✭Igotadose


    In unsurprising news, decades of priest abuse in the US State of Maryland is in the news, apparently there's been a report published about it, lots of priest shuffling, lying by the clergy and so on. 600 children and 150 priests, including at least 1 school with multiple abusers on staff simultaneously.





  • Registered Users Posts: 8,152 ✭✭✭Odhinn


    Meanwhile, in Whatthefuckville.....

    "The Dalai Lama has apologised after footage showed him asking a boy if he wanted to suck the Tibetan spiritual leader's tongue.

    His office said he wanted to apologise to the child and his family "for the hurt his words may have caused".

    The video also shows the Dalai Lama kissing the child on his lips."

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65229327



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Colombian President Gustavo Petro has removed the national police director who had talked about using exorcisms to catch fugitives.

    Neither Mr Petro nor the Defence Ministry elaborated on reasons for the dismissal of General Henry Sanabria, a staunch Catholic who was appointed by the president in August last year, but Gen Sanabria was under an internal investigation by the ministry over whether he had inappropriately allowed his religious beliefs to infringe on his duties.

    The general had sparked a debate about the impact of his faith on the police after his statements in an interview last month including that police had used exorcisms to catch drug kingpins and guerrilla leaders.

    He also issued a strong condemnation of abortion, which is legal in Colombia.


    Scrap the cap!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Kenyan police are investigating the deaths of four people suspected to have starved to death on the orders of the leader of a controversial cult.

    Pastor Makenzie Nthenge is alleged to have told his followers in the coastal area of Kilifi to starve themselves in the hope of getting to heaven quickly.

    Following a tip-off, police found 15 seriously ill people on Thursday, but only 11 made it to hospital alive.

    Police are also looking into reports of a mass grave in a nearby forest.

    Last month Mr Nthenge was charged in connection with the deaths of two children whose parents had joined his Good News International Church.

    He pleaded not guilty and was released on bail. The current whereabouts of the pastor are not clear.


    Police said they began their search for followers of the Good News International Church after receiving intelligence that "ignorant citizens" were "starving to death in pretext to meet Jesus after being brainwashed by a suspect".

    They were also warned about "a mass shallow grave of victims of that brainwashing totalling to 31 bodies in an unidentified place at Shakahola Forest", the police statement said.

    Good news, eh?

    Scrap the cap!



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,152 ✭✭✭Odhinn


    Is there anything as useless or as undeserving of respect as a priest?



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,420 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    The majority of the RU orthodox church stands solidly behind Putin's genocidal war in Ukraine, none more so than popular priest-blogger, Fr Andrey Tkachev, who last year announced that the invasion amounted to a "religious war" (https://spzh.news/en/news/91228-tkachev-vojna-s-ukrainoj--religioznaja-gde-rossija--novyj-izraily). Recently, he also announced that the role of women is to make porridge, hang curtains and be happy:

    Meanwhile, Ian Garner is publishing a book on the radicalization of RU's youth

    https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/z-generation/

    How did Vladimir Putin win Russians’ support for his genocidal war in Ukraine and why are so many of them willing to embrace fascism? This vivid, bottom-up narrative reveals the dark realities of youth fascism in Russia—and the darker future awaiting the country if that hold cannot be broken. Wartime Russia is drowning in fascist symbols. Zealous patriots attack journalists, opposition activists, and anyone suspected of betraying the motherland. Hordes of online trolls and sleek videos of angry young men urge citizens to join the cause. State television terrifies viewers with false tales of anti-Russian conspiracies and genocidal yearnings. Child soldiers proudly parade across Red Square. This is Russia in the 2020s: a land of performative rage and nationalist untruth, where pretence and broken promises are a way of life, and an apocalyptic mindset is seizing tomorrow’s Russians. As compelling as it is chilling, Z Generation shows how Russia has ended up here, and where its young people may be headed: a fascist generation more violent and ideological than anything the country has seen before.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,152 ✭✭✭Odhinn


    "Kenyan police have exhumed 47 bodies near the coastal town of Malindi, as they investigate a preacher said to have told followers to starve to death.

    The bodies of children were among the dead. Police said exhumations are ongoing.

    The shallow graves are in Shakahola forest, where 15 members of the Good News International Church were rescued last week.

    Church leader, Paul Makenzie Nthenge is in custody, pending a court appearance.

    State broadcaster KBC described him as a "cult leader", and reported that 58 graves have so far been identified."

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65363585



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,956 ✭✭✭✭Igotadose


    Maybe Rupert Murdoch dumped Carlson because ol' Tucker was becoming a bit too messianic for his tastes. Also, looks like Rupert's ex-fiancee was another end-times loony, must've been a hoot at parties:




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Did Murdoch never hear the aphorism "Never stick your d### into crazy."

    Although George Burns did say "Sex after age 90 is like trying to shoot pool with a rope."

    Scrap the cap!



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,152 ✭✭✭Odhinn


    Praise the lord and start the litigation

    "A Limerick woman who campaigns for safe zones around facilities offering abortion services has apologised for a “highly defamatory” tweet she posted about David Quinn, chief executive of the Iona Institute.

    Karen Sugrue, one of the founders of the Together for Safety group, has also paid €8,000 to Mr Quinn in settlement of a threatened High Court action for defamation arising from the tweet she posted in May of last year."

    https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2023/05/16/david-quinn-settles-with-campaigner-over-highly-defamatory-tweet/



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Couldn't DQ have turned the other cheek like?

    Scrap the cap!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Shameless.

    On one occasion, he said, Paget invited him to “a reading” and he thought this was a fortune telling and that he would find out about his future. He said that that during the session Paget started talking about his father and then told him: “Your father said you are to give me €10,000.”

    He said that he felt pressurised and gave his word to give her the money.

    Mr Byrne said that Paget told him that if he did not give her the money “it will be a sin and the devil will get you”. He said that he later gave her €10,000 cash in an envelope after withdrawing it from his bank account.

    Asked why he gave her the money, Mr Byrne said: “I believed my father told her to tell me to give her the money, that’s what I believed.”

    Scrap the cap!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Have to take issue with some of this:

    We don’t go to Mass but we want a church wedding.

    Well "we" don't really because the majority of weddings no longer take place in a church.

    We lazily mock some of the Church’s anachronisms but happily allow our kids to attend Catholic national schools.

    Most of us don't have a choice given that 90% of primary schools fall into that category.

    We’re apathetic about religion but we want our kids to have godparents.

    Really? CBA about the whole thing, never had a different relationship with someone because they were my 'godparent' or not.

    Perhaps we’re in a confused period of adjustment, a collective existential crisis about our ritualistic behaviours.

    Some of "us" clearly still are 😁

    Humanist naming ceremonies have sprung up which resemble traditional Christenings, but with less God. Guideparents replace godparents.

    Fine if you want to, don't if you don't, our family didn't, I don't know anyone personally who did either.

    Siobhan Walls, a celebrant with the Humanist Association of Ireland, says that while non-religious naming ceremonies are on the rise, there are only a few hundred a year. Contrast this with the fact that almost 12,000 babies were Christened in the Dublin Archdiocese alone in 2019 and you get an idea of just how attached we still are to traditional rituals.

    Would be interesting to know where he got that figure and how it compares with say 5 or 10 years earlier, removal of the baptism barrier has to have an impact.

    Scrap the cap!



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,152 ✭✭✭Odhinn


    "Salema Masha speaks softly, but her slender frame is animated by an inner strength that saved the lives of her five children.

    One day in March she walked them out of a remote wilderness where followers of a Kenyan televangelist were starving themselves to death in the belief that they could meet Jesus faster.

    Among the horrific stories emerging from the Christian doomsday cult in the East African country, Salema's stands out.

    More than 200 bodies have been recovered so far from mass graves in the vast Shakahola forest on the southern coast of Kenya, and more are being dug up every day. Survivors are still being found hiding under trees and bushes in the 800-acre territory."

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-65635784



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Shocking stuff, will exceed Jim Jones at this rate.

    Scrap the cap!



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,420 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    [Hotblack] Couldn't DQ have turned the other cheek like?

    I think that was one of the bits of the bible which ultracons have, er, cancelled.



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,420 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Cometh the weekend, cometh the Burkes back to the High Court to receive some heavenly justice, to wit:

    https://twitter.com/frankgreaney/status/1659581125717811200

    High Court rules that Enoch Burke’s suspension from Wilson’s Hospital School last August was lawful. In his judgement, Mr Justice Alex Owens also awarded €15,000 in damages against Enoch for trespass. He’s also of the view that Enoch should pay the school’s legal bill.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,746 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Seems Katie wasn't praying hard enough after all 😁 it's not easy being part of god's chosen family you know.

    Scrap the cap!



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  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,420 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    From the "Oh, was he still alive?" folder comes news of the death of preacher and bigot, Pat Robertson, a man for whom it's time to recycle Hitchen's line about Falwell:

    "If you gave him an enema he could be buried in a matchbox”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65846402



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