The Herbert Morrison Primary School in Lambeth, south London, says it has seen up to 22 children removed from music lessons. This has caused a furore among music lovers and Muslim-haters alike.
All religion have to make their minds up about music. Either to harness it or demonise it. The fact that Christianity decided to harness it is no reason to condemn Islam for demonising it. After all, they are only trying to make a living too.And before Christians and the like get into the pulpit as defenders of the crotchet, they should examine the church's record on artistic persecution. They even outlawed a mathematical interval. How paranoid is that?
All authoritarian tyrannies have to either shackle or eradicate music because it is such a powerful medium, capable of conveying emotions and changing opinions across the centuries, and of codifying an incredibly broad and subtle spectrum of information.
Allowing free access to such a weapon of freedom would be suicide to any doctrine with one message which must be obeyed. Islam (according to the few puritan freaks who spew out this garbage) just chooses to do without music altogether rather than mangle it to their purposes.
There is an honestly about that. At least it saves us another ''Oh Lord Our help in Ages Past'.
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
12/12/2008
In Praise of the Amish
One of the biggest worries of religious believers seems to be that they fear mockery. Which doesn't display much depth of faith, to be honest.
On a recent routine God Vs Science internet dead end, one believer was urged to defend (and express) his religion through the recommended medium of prayer for the welfare of the unholy. Which seemed totally in keeping with the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount, as I remember it. His first reaction was:
The biggest threat to religious faith doesn't come from atheists putting the mockers on, but from its political exploitation and the mobilisation of its believers. That not only increases tension between religions and between the religious and non-religious, but also insults religion itself. Political activism is not religious. But naturally, religions can fuel political action. Nowadays they do little else.
I don't notice the Aimish, for instance, complaining of being persecuted or having their rights abused or being offended by contraventions of their own code. And this doesn't mean they don't have fun. I was once privileged to sit on the next table to a bevy of teenage Aimish girls on a night out at the local village community centre in Kent, watching a performance by a travelling flamenco company retailing some of the sexiest dance and music in the world. They absorbed it with every appearance of relish and applauded as wildly as all the other villagers.
They seem to see the world through genuinely faithful eyes, with its sins and stupidities as a total and utter irrelevance compared with the immensity and perfect bliss of eternity. And therefore the scurryings and pettiness of wars and depressions must seem a bit pathetic and pointless to them. 'They also serve who only stand and wait.' And that must be a nice way to live. They mean it, and they keep their noses clean.
They don't presume to judge for god. As Karen in 'Outnumbered' says:
On a recent routine God Vs Science internet dead end, one believer was urged to defend (and express) his religion through the recommended medium of prayer for the welfare of the unholy. Which seemed totally in keeping with the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount, as I remember it. His first reaction was:
jobi258 - 04:34am Dec 12, 2008 GMT (#406 of 420)Why should we? It's a perfectly serious solution, seeing as the biggest worry non-believers have about religion is how it relates to the physical world, not the metaphysical.
'I would be happy to pray for you, but if I was to do so, wouldn't you just laugh at me and ridicule my prayers?'
The biggest threat to religious faith doesn't come from atheists putting the mockers on, but from its political exploitation and the mobilisation of its believers. That not only increases tension between religions and between the religious and non-religious, but also insults religion itself. Political activism is not religious. But naturally, religions can fuel political action. Nowadays they do little else.
I don't notice the Aimish, for instance, complaining of being persecuted or having their rights abused or being offended by contraventions of their own code. And this doesn't mean they don't have fun. I was once privileged to sit on the next table to a bevy of teenage Aimish girls on a night out at the local village community centre in Kent, watching a performance by a travelling flamenco company retailing some of the sexiest dance and music in the world. They absorbed it with every appearance of relish and applauded as wildly as all the other villagers.
They seem to see the world through genuinely faithful eyes, with its sins and stupidities as a total and utter irrelevance compared with the immensity and perfect bliss of eternity. And therefore the scurryings and pettiness of wars and depressions must seem a bit pathetic and pointless to them. 'They also serve who only stand and wait.' And that must be a nice way to live. They mean it, and they keep their noses clean.
They don't presume to judge for god. As Karen in 'Outnumbered' says:
'God could blow up the planes Himself, if that's what he wanted..'
10/23/2008
Up Yours, God
At last a counter to the massive, constant technicolor advertising campaign waged on behalf of the dozens of bronze age cosmologies competing for our 'souls'. A little debate on a rather despised corner of a website, with a clear idea which only needed a small donation from enough people to give it legs. Or in this case, wheels on the also much-despised London Bendy Bus.
At present, the 'Atheist Bus Campaign' is relatively mild-mannered. Should further action be necessary, the next stage should be a full scale multi-blasphemous cartoon, or Photoshop composite, of Jehovah, Christ and Mohammed leering from an open grave, talons and fangs drawn, wailing
At present, the 'Atheist Bus Campaign' is relatively mild-mannered. Should further action be necessary, the next stage should be a full scale multi-blasphemous cartoon, or Photoshop composite, of Jehovah, Christ and Mohammed leering from an open grave, talons and fangs drawn, wailing
'We want to drink your blood!'
It is probably too late now to do much to make up the ground lost when Salman Rushdie was forced into hiding, but this campaign is a start, and another sign that the internet can be used for sane causes.
The point of atheism is not to 'prove' that god doesn't exist but to avoid getting sucked into a pointless row about something nobody can ever prove - by its very nature. And then to use all that time and effort for something useful and beautiful. Life, for instance. Atheism is not a belief in anything, but an absence of a specific belief. Until a reason to believe comes along.
Religion and its accompanying pantomime exchange is the Grand Historical Diversionary Tactic of all time. It is not a debate, as there are no facts or certainties other than those resulting from 'faith', or fantasy, as it should be called. At best it is a hobby for those who see themselves above the challenges of this life and would rather be dead, or as close as they can get to it without a PhD.
At worst, the time wasted is alone a constant act of bloody sabotage against civilisation. Without even counting the wars.
The point of atheism is not to 'prove' that god doesn't exist but to avoid getting sucked into a pointless row about something nobody can ever prove - by its very nature. And then to use all that time and effort for something useful and beautiful. Life, for instance. Atheism is not a belief in anything, but an absence of a specific belief. Until a reason to believe comes along.
Religion and its accompanying pantomime exchange is the Grand Historical Diversionary Tactic of all time. It is not a debate, as there are no facts or certainties other than those resulting from 'faith', or fantasy, as it should be called. At best it is a hobby for those who see themselves above the challenges of this life and would rather be dead, or as close as they can get to it without a PhD.
At worst, the time wasted is alone a constant act of bloody sabotage against civilisation. Without even counting the wars.
6/19/2007
Sir Salman Rushdie.
CBS
BBC
Both staunch U.S. ally Pakistan, and bitter enemy and dark heart of the Axis of Evil - Iran have condemned the Rushdie Knighthood, announced today.
We could hope that at some time, The Satanic Verses 1989-2007 will be seen to bookend a relatively brief period of religious medievalism. That the Fatwah of 1989 merely represented the last gasp of a doomed ideology in the face of the explosion of global telecommunications.
Sadly the combined effects of information technology and a dwindling supply of oil will guarantee that religion is used as a battering ram for some time. And the potential liberation of thought and expression offered by the wider access to the means of production, distribution and exchange of information is instead threatened by C9th theological propaganda spread by the same media.
If this were only true of one religion, we might breathe a sigh of relief. As it is, the terrified reaction of religion under threat spreads from the Taliban of Afghanistan to the Scientologists of Los Angeles. And as a result, many people are suffering far more than Salman Rushdie.
I'll never forget Michael Ignatieff, from the safety of The Observer, calling for 'A Trade Union of Intellectuals' to confront the Fatwha. Inconveniently disregarding the principles of unity which underlie all unions.
If he meant business, he would have committed a correspondingly blasphemous act to match Rushdie's. And all his 'colleagues' would have joined in. Spartacus style. The entire liberal publishing industry from Mills & Boon to the OUP should have commissioned a pan-blasphemous logo or masthead, offensive to all religions and superstitions, and emblazoned it on all their publications.
But nobody was ever knocked off their feet by intellectuals storming into action.
The only trouble was that the gutter press were even bigger Quislings in the affair.
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