The Hobby Horses of Belief (and assorted hazards)

Hotblack Desiato · 07-02-2023 6:16pm

Is this specifically the wife-swapping sodomites we're talking about here?

Hotblack Desiato · 08-02-2023 10:24pm

https://www.irishtimes.com/world/uk/2023/02/08/church-of-england-considers-alternatives-to-calling-god-he/

The Church of England is considering alternatives to referring to God as “he” after priests asked to be allowed to use gender-neutral terms instead.

The church said it would start a project in the spring to decide whether to propose changes or not.

...

A spokesman for the Church of England said: “This is nothing new. Christians have recognised since ancient times that God is neither male nor female, yet the variety of ways of addressing and describing God found in scripture has not always been reflected in our worship.

Might I suggest They / Them ? 😁

Hotblack Desiato · 14-02-2023 12:44pm

So who actually coughs up here? Priest? Parish? Diocese?

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/social-affairs/2023/02/13/priest-pays-settlement-to-traveller-barred-from-holy-communion-for-wearing-short-skirt/

An outspoken north Clare parish priest has made an undisclosed payout arising from a court action taken by a Traveller woman concerning a First Holy Communion dispute eight years ago.

At Ennis Circuit Court on Monday, Judge Francis Comerford noted an out-of-court settlement between parish priest of Ennistymon, Fr Willie Cummins, and Caroline Sherlock had been agreed.

Ms Sherlock took a separate action against the late Martin Drennan, former Bishop of the Diocese Of Galway and Kilmacduagh, alleging discrimination.

The court actions by Ms Sherlock arose from the alleged refusal by Fr Cummins to allow her attend the Church of Our Lady and St Michael, Ennistymon for her niece and nephew’s First Communion on May 23rd 2015.

When contacted by phone to comment on the out of court settlement, Fr Cummins declined to comment.

In 2021, it emerged Fr Cummins was staging regular Sunday morning masses at Ennistymon Church during a Covid-19 lockdown period, saying at the time that nobody had contracted the virus from attending his masses.

During the same year, Fr Cummins denounced the planned Púca of Ennistymon sculpture as “sinister” from the altar at Sunday mass.

The spokesman declined to comment when asked if the diocese had covered the legal costs of Fr Cummins or the late Bishop Drennan or made the payments referred to in court.

Igotadose · 14-02-2023 1:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120239172#Comment_120239172

His sheep, i.e., the fools continuing to give him and the RCC the time of day. Always about the money with the RCC.

And given the infinite amounts they have, they can buy themselves out of most problems. Their HSE adjunct does the same.

Igotadose · 14-02-2023 4:26pm

RCC in Portugal doing what it does best - raping children and covering it up. 4800+ cases but only 25 reported to prosecution.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-64626077

Odhinn · 16-02-2023 1:23pm

Making a bad situation worse -

"Mike Pompeo, the former US secretary of state, has defended Israel’s decades-long control of the Palestinian territories by claiming that the Jewish state has a biblical claim to the land and is therefore not occupying it."

“[Israel] is not an occupying nation. As an evangelical Christian, I am convinced by my reading of the Bible that 3,000 years on now, in spite of the denial of so many, [this land] is the rightful homeland of the Jewish people,” he said."

"Pompeo was part of the Trump administration team that negotiated the Abraham accords normalisation agreements between Israel and several formerly hostile countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan. At the time he said the accords were part of the administration’s efforts to ensure that “that this Jewish state remains”.

“I am confident that the Lord is at work here,” he said."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/16/mike-pompeo-israel-biblical-claim-palestine-not-occupying

Igotadose · 16-02-2023 1:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120248185#Comment_120248185

Why Pompeo shouldn't be elected: "Don't put people that believe in the Rapture in charge of nuclear weapons."

Odhinn · 16-02-2023 9:24pm

Was never going to end well.

"A pastor in Mozambique has died after trying to fast for 40 days, emulating what Christ is said to have done in the Bible.

Francisco Barajah, founder of the Santa Trindade Evangelical Church, died at a hospital in the city of Beira, where he was evacuated in critical condition.

After 25 days without food or water, he had lost weight to the point where he could not stand up. He was aged 39."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64659798

Hotblack Desiato · 17-02-2023 1:54am

Right up there with the lads who handle snakes or have themselves nailed onto a cross

Some useful chlorination for the gene pool.

Pawwed Rig · 17-02-2023 10:04am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120250483#Comment_120250483

His brother Marques Manuel Barajah said the pastor had fasted, but he challenged the medical diagnosis about his death. "The truth is that my brother suffered from low blood pressure," he said.

🤔 sounds reasonable 🤣🤣

ohnonotgmail · 17-02-2023 10:08am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120251645#Comment_120251645

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

robindch · 17-02-2023 3:19pm

@ismiseyusuf livetweeted Enoch Burke's appeal yesterday:

https://mobile.twitter.com/ismiseyusuf/status/1626169399655669760

robindch · 22-02-2023 6:38pm

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/

Hotblack Desiato · 25-02-2023 7:43pm

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.

Hotblack Desiato · 25-02-2023 8:07pm

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

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/american-football/64561588

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.

Tow · 07-03-2023 5:06pm

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

robindch · 08-03-2023 12:59am

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:

https://twitter.com/rtenews/status/1633143088293068804

Hotblack Desiato · 08-03-2023 2:28am

Berks!

ohnonotgmail · 08-03-2023 9:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120328141#Comment_120328141

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

Hotblack Desiato · 08-03-2023 11:06am

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

robindch · 09-03-2023 11:29am

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.

ohnonotgmail · 09-03-2023 11:31am

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

Hotblack Desiato · 09-03-2023 2:47pm

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.

robindch · 15-03-2023 10:39am

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

Hotblack Desiato · 15-03-2023 5:55pm

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/social-affairs/2023/03/15/defence-forces-not-justified-in-discriminating-against-atheist-for-sensitive-military-chaplain-role/

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..?

robindch · 21-03-2023 12:39pm

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

smacl · 21-03-2023 1:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120382689#Comment_120382689

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.