Hi, and first off thanks to everyone who has stopped by to say welcome. I would have been way more active, and made this look less like a minimalist's paradise, but work has gone simply mental and I seem to be working until around 12:00 every night at the moment, so again bear with me and I will get on with it.
This is just a quick question. I was sent this link and now, could someone tell me WHAT is a false killer whale???? Does it go round in disguise? Or does it pretend to be a mackerel or something?
For those of you who don't know me or my writing will not know my dislike of organised religion in all of its myriad disguises.
Now I know that the Pope has died recently, and I feel some sadness at his passing as he was aleader in the true sense of the word - inspirational and well loved and not afraid to speak his mind on certain issues. Now that he has passed on we are into the business of watching one of the most secretive bodies in the world preparing to pick a new Pope. Already this process is dogged with controversy...
...and as I am sure you are aware there are still very sensitive issues surrounding the whole role of the Catholic church in a number of places in the world. Remember Cardinal Laws? Lots of American abuse victims do. He has been chosen to lead one of the memorial Masses and a lot of people in the US are rightly upset by this decision.
But why are they surprised by this? This is the Catholic Church! It has a long and proud history of being insensitive to others, ignoring their pleas, their wishes and just rolling on as if the world is still stuck in the 15th century. You are dealing with an organisation that knew what the Reich was doing in the concentration camps during WW2 and turned a blind eye (but bravo to the individual priests and nuns who did help), that had a nun implicated in the Rwandan massacres, that every single day with its hard line on condoms condems thousands of Africans to death. An organisation that, as Spanish explorers butchered the Incas and Aztecs in Central and South America in the name of God, welcomed the chance to convert these heathens.
Organised religion is hypocracy incarnate. It is, and always has been, "Do as I say and not as I do". Televangelists in the US with their financial scandals and hookers telling you that greed and lust is a sin (god , you're going straight to hell!) but yet tens of thousands still believe in them. Belief is a pwerful thing and it will be exploited by people who are able to do so.
There is nothing wrong with believing. There is nothing wrong with accepting that there may well be a God and some things are beyond our understanding. As intelligent people I hope we can differentiate between belief in something better against the dogma of a religion that has their own best interests at heart.
Well, I finally made it here into my shiny new home... This will be an evolving site as I'm going to see how much I can do on my own before I beg for help! If you want to get a party going be my guest :)