Courtesy of the Catholic Herald:
The Bishop of Shrewsbury has described the John Lennon song Imagine as “heart-chilling” in a Christmas homily.
Reflecting on this year’s Christmas adverts which focus on the First World War, Bishop Mark Davies will say in a homily on Christmas Day: “The events of Christmas 1914 give the lie to the lazily repeated assertion that ‘religion is the cause of wars’. John Lennon would give voice to this ill-founded belief in the lyrics of his song Imagine. This becomes a heart-chilling vision in which Lennon imagines a world with no hope of heaven and no fear of hell. And he adds, ‘no religion too’. Only then, he suggests will ‘all the people’ be ‘living life in peace.’”
The bishop will continue: “Yet the fact is, the wars of the century past, bringing with them atrocities and destruction on a scale never seen before, were largely inspired by secularist and, indeed, openly anti-Christian ideologies. In reality, it is human sin which lies at the root cause of war. Conflicts, writes St James, arise within the human heart wherever ‘bitter jealousy and selfish ambition’ are found (James 3: 14). Tonight we declare that Christ came to ‘save us from our sins’, to enable us to give glory to God and to bring peace amongst men. Christ calls all who would follow Him to have, as we have just heard in St Paul’s words: ‘no ambition except to do good’ (Titus 2:14).”
That last part is complete bullshit. In fact most wars were either inspired by religious differences, ideological differences, or strategic power grabs.
And the word "sin" is a bullshit primitive definition to explain complicated human behaviors that too many people lack the intellect or patience to understand completley.
As for the John Lennon, well I will take his beautiful song about hope and peace over the Catholic church's doctrine of shame, oppression, and misogyny any day of the week.
The Bushop of Shrewsbury is an idiot.
ReplyDeleteThe Bishop selects words from Lennon's work just as the Bishop cherry picks from the "bible". Anything that fits the Bishop's agenda is fair game. How about this from Lennon?
Delete"All we are saying is give Peace a chance."
Exactly
DeleteIf human sin equates with greed, then yep. Greedy human beings who want more are the cause of war. It doesn't matter what they want more of, land power, influence, it is all the same thing.
ReplyDelete4:10 Absolutely true. But I find it amusing that the Bishop decries the "lazily repeated assertion that religion is the cause of wars" by lazily suggesting religion has NEVER been the cause of wars and is not also just as founded on greed.
DeleteBut, as ever, faith has an amazing capacity for turning a blind eye to itself.
And in John Lennon's defence, there will NEVER be a world of human brotherhood while religion exists. A religion can't even tolerate it's own factions, much less other religions. Religion is just another primal, artificial tribal affiliation that keeps people apart.
While I find the lyrics to John Lennon's song to be beautiful, I do agree with the bishop that wars are caused by human nature's ugly side. All too often, that ugly side has cloaked and shrouded itself in religion but it's the ugly side of human nature all the same.
ReplyDeleteI try to be realistic about my own religious views. A lot of "religious" people would not agree with me just as those who reject religious thought out of hand would never agree with me.
But, well, it's how I see things.
We are off shortly for out Christmas visit with son and family. Merry Christmas to all at IM. Take care over the holiday.
Beaglemom
It wouldn't be Christmas without this:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN4Uu0OlmTg
Peace.
+10000000000000000
Delete"This becomes a heart-chilling vision in which Lennon imagines a world with no hope of heaven and no fear of hell. And he adds, ‘no religion too’. "
ReplyDeleteOnly a brain-washed well-paid brain-WASHER could manage to miss the whole point of of John Lennon's wonderful vision.
A man who's job is preaching fear, superstition and complete delusion to a flock, hopefully kept ignorant long enough to poison their children, too.
The Bible's teachings... If they don't believe in your god, kill them (with god's blessing).
What are all the wars going on now but religious nut jobs
carrying out that very thing?
I am so glad I gave up believing. What a great feeling! This is what freedom feels like :)
ReplyDeleteOne of Sarah's butt buddies:
ReplyDeleteDavid Barton Disciple Joining U.S. House Next Year Vows Holy War on Nonbelievers
...You can read between the lines here: What he is saying is that he misses the days when everybody was a Christian, or at least knew enough to pretend to be a Chrisitan. You know, before there were people in the Western World who were Muslims and Hindus and Pagans, to name just a few, when Jews knew to keep their heads down and atheists were wise enough to remain in the closet with J. Edgar Hoover.
This is a lot of hooey, obviously. Nobody is attacking anybody’s right to celebrate Christmas. Nobody has closed any churches. Nobody is entering anybody’s home to make sure no crèches are displayed or prayers spoken.
What is taking place recently is an expression by people who happen to not be Christian, or who think other people have the right to be not be Christian, to be free of the Christian celebration of this time of year as “the Christmas season.”
For during this time of year, fake Christians like Loudermilk want to force everybody else to be Christian too. No exceptions. You know, like the good old days when Jesus and his disciples sat around the Christmas tree and exchanged presents, and cavemen cavorted with their pet velociraptors in a game of polo, and when the Founding Fathers were digging frantically through the Bible for clues as to how to write the U.S. Constitution.
Yes. Those good old days. Those non-existent, never-happened good old days.
And this is the real war, if war there is: a campaign to shove Jesus as the reason for the season down our collective throats. Never mind the mountain of facts which prove this season originally had nothing to do with Jesus at all.
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/12/24/david-barton-disciple-joining-u-s-house-year-vows-holy-war.html
"And the word 'sin' is a bullshit primitive definition to explain complicated human behaviors that too many people lack the intellect or patience to understand completly."
ReplyDeleteThe word "sin" actually means "to miss the mark." An old archery term. So if I "miss the mark" in archery, I just take another arrow and try again.
Mainline "Christian" churches have maligned this word so its meaning today is ENTIRELY different than the original meaning.
(Check it out using Google -- Google is *your* friend, too!)
Google is just all right with me.
DeleteThe Catholic church has such a fine history of equal treatment for women, that the good Bishop Davies can just bother his little head with a homily on what a great thing religion is.
ReplyDeleteI suppose _sin_ is the reason for the disgraceful treatment of women by the Catholic church.
This is the Bishop's livelihood, we're talking about. Without religion, he wouldn't get free housing, food, clothing, jewelry, etc. Religion is a racket for anyone but the lowest clergy and the sheep.
ReplyDeleteI've always taken great offense at the notion of "following" whether it be christ, god or any other person or ideal. Thanks, but no thanks, I'm perfectly capable of making my own decisions.
ReplyDeleteThe bishop is only 40-somethinG years late on this one. Actually, that is not bad for a bishop.
ReplyDeleteFaith is a beautiful thing. Organized religion is an instrument of fear and control we would all be better off without.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find "heart-chilling," is a religion that protects pedophiles at the expense of children.
ReplyDeleteThe Beatles? They have issues with John Lennon? The Bishop doth protest too much. Anyone who hasn't yet, rent the movie "Across the Universe".
ReplyDeleteHere's what can be done when beatles music is put to a musical. It also has a cameo by Joe Cocker RIP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXkEzSDwSFM
Sorry, Bishop, your inhumane callousness bears no fruit.
“Heart-chilling" my feathered rump. A bit mind-numbing perhaps, but then again nothing like our shrewish bishop here.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that is "heart chilling" is that so many people still completely misinterpret the meaning of this song after all this time. That and the fact that we are no closer to living in peace, and are probably further from it, after all this time.
ReplyDeleteI stumbled upon this while doing an image search to collect some references to use in my attempts to paint a portrait of John Lennon. Attempts that have sadly all failed to date, but I am not giving up on it yet. And I'm not giving up on peace yet either, though my learning to paint a decent portrait is the more likely of the two to actually happen in my lifetime.