I don't know if anyone caught the Jeremy kyle TV programme which looked at religious cults, focusing particularly on the 'Jesus Christians'.
On a personal level, I have no time for any of these organisations, which appear to be largely led by authoritarian personalities, attracting those who feel the need to follow.
The problem is that many of the so-called anti-cult organisations have their own, inevitably evangelical Christian, agenda.
They are not interested in the real problems of mind-control and authoritarianism, for if so, they would give up their own religion. What really counts as a 'cult'? Seems to me it should be about the way they treat people, not whether they have any kooky beliefs (which could be aimed at any set of beliefs)
I would, this, have great suspicions about anti-cult groups who do not start from a neutral position but believe that the main problem with cults is not the way they operate, but what they believe. I would certainly question people like Graham Baldwin, who appears to start from the position of being 'a Christian'. That makes his entire operation suspect. He merely wants to replace one set of beliefs with another. Which one is the 'cult'? Both propagate supernaturalist fairy-tales which cannot be verified. The question is what methods do they use and how much harm they do.
I would suggest that the anti-contraception position of Vatican plc and the homophobia of evangelifundamentalists does far more harm in terms of actual amount of damage done.
The original cult-busters were not operating from a religionist perspective. Their concern was the activity of particular groups. I remain to be convinced that this is so with regard to those operating from their belief that their sort of cult's beliefs are true, and others not so.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
More from the Bigot of the Year
Some people really have no shame....
Elected Bigot of the Year, Bishop of Hereford Anthony Priddis, is now whining about how hurt he feels about being called a bigot and having 'derogatory' remarks made about him.
Easy answer to that, matey.
1. Admit you are wrong, that you broke the law, and that you would not to the same again
2. Offer penitence for your homophobia and join LGCM or Changing Attitude
3. Recognise that it is your beliefs which are unacceptable - they have the same moral status as racism and thus it is quite reasonable to address you in that light.
You know, the sight of Christians playing the victim is just risible. These people have a bloody state religion to play with yet still they whine because their particular brand of premodernism isn;t seen as appropriate to run a contemporary country. There is a victim in this instance - John Reaney.
Not you, Priddis. You are the bigot and tormentor who broke the law. You should feel ashamed, and any hurt you feel is simply your unrecognised guilt.
Remember that next time you partake in your sacramental activities. How about a bit of confessing?
Elected Bigot of the Year, Bishop of Hereford Anthony Priddis, is now whining about how hurt he feels about being called a bigot and having 'derogatory' remarks made about him.
Easy answer to that, matey.
1. Admit you are wrong, that you broke the law, and that you would not to the same again
2. Offer penitence for your homophobia and join LGCM or Changing Attitude
3. Recognise that it is your beliefs which are unacceptable - they have the same moral status as racism and thus it is quite reasonable to address you in that light.
You know, the sight of Christians playing the victim is just risible. These people have a bloody state religion to play with yet still they whine because their particular brand of premodernism isn;t seen as appropriate to run a contemporary country. There is a victim in this instance - John Reaney.
Not you, Priddis. You are the bigot and tormentor who broke the law. You should feel ashamed, and any hurt you feel is simply your unrecognised guilt.
Remember that next time you partake in your sacramental activities. How about a bit of confessing?
Money, money, money....
The scandals about party funding appear to have died down somewhat, but I certainly don't expect them to be over by any means.
It seems to me that there has to be some sort of lasting and workable solution. This means, in my view, that we need to reach a situation where parties do not need to expend so much effort raising money. That means a downsizing: spend less money and there won't be the need to raise so much.
Of course, both parties really don't want this, and its interesting to see both the union funding and the money of rich individuals justified on a number of politico blogs. It appears to me that we need to move to a situation where the need to raise such large sums is no longer necessary. I have yet to hear a good case against this.
It seems to me that there has to be some sort of lasting and workable solution. This means, in my view, that we need to reach a situation where parties do not need to expend so much effort raising money. That means a downsizing: spend less money and there won't be the need to raise so much.
Of course, both parties really don't want this, and its interesting to see both the union funding and the money of rich individuals justified on a number of politico blogs. It appears to me that we need to move to a situation where the need to raise such large sums is no longer necessary. I have yet to hear a good case against this.
Vatican plc bigots strike again
This time on Five Live's phone-in, where a particularly nasty and intemperate version of Bigotus Catholicus made an appearance last night.
What is really good is that he made a fool of himself and in dispersing with the warm words, showed his true colours.
What I really want to know is why reasonable people - particularly gay people - have any truck at all with this thoroughly evil and corrupt institution. In my view its about self-hatred - not properly coming out, not having open relationships and so on. Its somewhere for the fearful to hide, even though if the truth were known, they would be unable to partake in the central sacrament of that church. For me, living in such a hypocritical state simply isn't acceptable. Living a lie cannot be a positive way to live one's life. That doesn't mean any sort of expectation of very visible 'outness', but the fact is that the RC church doesn't offer being gay and in a relationship as an acceptable option - thus, there must be a level of self-hate in wanting to be part of such an organisation.
In any case, the Christian myths look ever more ridiculous to me. There are some of the key messages which are worthwhile, but they can be found in other philosophies without the need for the supernaturalist mumbo-jumbo. Jesus was a premodern Jewish mystic and radical who along with many others, was killed by the authorities, and a cult of worship linked up with stories about coming alive again, virgin births and so on, developed around him, spread by his followers.
Still, they can believe what they want. But when they spread their homophobic poison, they absolutely must be opposed. Fortunately, they regularly do the job for us.
What is really good is that he made a fool of himself and in dispersing with the warm words, showed his true colours.
What I really want to know is why reasonable people - particularly gay people - have any truck at all with this thoroughly evil and corrupt institution. In my view its about self-hatred - not properly coming out, not having open relationships and so on. Its somewhere for the fearful to hide, even though if the truth were known, they would be unable to partake in the central sacrament of that church. For me, living in such a hypocritical state simply isn't acceptable. Living a lie cannot be a positive way to live one's life. That doesn't mean any sort of expectation of very visible 'outness', but the fact is that the RC church doesn't offer being gay and in a relationship as an acceptable option - thus, there must be a level of self-hate in wanting to be part of such an organisation.
In any case, the Christian myths look ever more ridiculous to me. There are some of the key messages which are worthwhile, but they can be found in other philosophies without the need for the supernaturalist mumbo-jumbo. Jesus was a premodern Jewish mystic and radical who along with many others, was killed by the authorities, and a cult of worship linked up with stories about coming alive again, virgin births and so on, developed around him, spread by his followers.
Still, they can believe what they want. But when they spread their homophobic poison, they absolutely must be opposed. Fortunately, they regularly do the job for us.
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