Bartholomew's Notes

Failblog has an unfortunate newspaper cover from South Africa:

I last blogged on South African fears about Satanism here.

(Hat tip: Bulldada Newsblog)

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

BBC Radio 4 has just broadcast an adaptation of Roger Crane’s 2007 play The Last Confession, dealing with the mystery and intrigue around the election and death of Pope John Paul I in 1978, and starring David Suchet as Cardinal Benelli – the plot will be familar to anyone who’s read David Yallop’s In God’s Name. The play contains some some nice exchanges, although the ecclesiastical cynicism and worldliness of most of the characters is somewhat two-dimensional, and when the identity of Benelli’s deathbed confessor is revealed at the end the dialogue that follows is less than credible.

The play can be listened to here for the next week. A excellent review of the stage production is provided on West End Whingers, and includes this gem:

…The first surprise of the evening was that the stalls at least were packed to bursting with coughing Poirot-lovers keen to see David Suchet in a completely different role – this time investigating a mysterious death with an unfeasibly large number of suspects.

…It’s a great story, but the problem is that it would appear that the author started off writing a whodunnit and – possibly under the advisement of his lawyers – thought better of it. Having failed to introduce any discernible coherent themes, Crane is obliged to wrap the play up with some rather woolly musings about “faith” and – sorry to spoil it for you – the rather lame conclusion that “We all killed the Pope”. At this point Neil – ever the card – leaned across and whispered, “No, he’s thinking of Murder on the Orient Express.”

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

From the website of the Becket Fund:

The United Nations General Assembly, now in session in New York, is about to take up another “defamation of religion” resolution, which is another step toward criminalizing peaceful speech.Originally proposed by Pakistan and the Organization of the Islamic Conference in 1999, a U.N. resolution condemning the “defamation of Islam” evolved into resolutions opposing the “defamation of religions.” Meant to curtail speech that some find offensive, the resolutions have the effect of stifling religious debate and discussion.

I’ve blogged on some of these efforts, here and here. The Becket Fund is now part of a “Coalition to Defend Free Speech” in opposition to religious anti-defamation laws:

“An anti-defamation law is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. In passing these resolutions, the United Nations is damaging its credibility in the name of protecting hurt feelings,” said [Becket Fund president Kevin] Hasson. “It is nothing but a gussied-up blasphemy law, and blasphemy laws ultimately hurt everyone and all believers, because they implicitly empower governments to decide which religious truth is right or wrong.”Coalition Honorary Chair Floyd Abrams, the nation’s preeminent free speech and free press advocate, agreed.

Alas, however, the Coalition so far hasn’t managed to put together a website, and beyond a few platitudes dispensed at a lunchtime National Press Club meeting details of what exactly it intends to do are somewhat vague. The Forward has a bit of extra detail from the Coalition’s honorary chair,  free-speech advocate Floyd Abrams:

“We want to raise public awareness and have an impact at home and abroad,” Abrams told the Forward. “Will this persuade the Muslim world? No. But it’s important for organizations to speak out, for instance, vis-à-vis the new U.S. administration.”

Is that it? The Forward gives more background to the Coalition’s background:

…It comprises the American Jewish Congress and the International Quranic Center; conservative groups such as Freedom House, American Values, the Becket Fund and The Rutherford Institute, and such liberal figures as former Clinton administration senior official Morton Halperin and prominent lawyer Floyd Abrams…

Promoters of the coalition are eager to avoid being branded as part of a Jewish and/or neoconservative effort to attack Muslims, especially given the central role the AJCommittee played in cobbling together the coalition over the past year.

Several free speech advocacy groups and leading liberal-leaning human rights groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch, in fact have declined to join the coalition. “We have lots of trouble getting liberal groups who care a lot about free speech on board,” Abrams admitted. But he added that the promoters are still hopeful that some will join the effort, and that Jewish groups will do so as well, though none has yet been asked to do so.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said the decision was not a political one.

“We’re fully on board with respect to the issue, but we rarely join coalitions of these kinds when the plan is to issue joint statements, since we find that we spend endless time editing and negotiating text without any commensurate reward,” he told the Forward.

In another unencouraging sign, a press release about the Coalition misspells the “Becket Fund” as the “Beckett Fund”.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

From an article reposted at Christian Zionist Jim Hutchens’s Jerusalem Connection (and distributed via his email newsletter), entitled “Obama, McCain and Israel”:

…According to Obama, the US needs to adopt the worldview of the Department of State bureaucracy (Israel’s staunchest critic in Washington,) pacify the knee-jerk-anti-Israel-UN, move closer to the Peace-at-any-Price-Western Europe and appease the Third World, which blames the West and Israel for the predicament of the Third World and the Arabs. On the other hand, McCain contends that the US should persist in defiance of global odds – in being the Free World’s Pillar of Fire, ideologically and militarily…

The Jerusalem Connection is a 501 (c)-(3) non-profit organization, so the above should be seen simply as “Nonpartisan Voter Education“.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Centre Right reports from the UK Conservative Party conference in Birmingham:

On to the launch meeting of the Conservative Humanist Association […] I made my way to a remote upper corner of the ICC [International Convention Centre], the air among the gathering throng a mixture of apprehension and excitement. I made the mistake of telling the organiser that the atmosphere reminded me of the old Tory Homosexual Equality meetings, that used to take place at conference 20 years ago … you would slip into some unlit meeting room, grateful to be among friends, not quite sure if you were allowed to meet like that or not. Then Steve Norris would burst into the room and shout at you, berating you to stop being so quiet and to make some noise. Richard Dawkins did something similar last night [29 Sept]. It’s probably pointless to rehearse his argument: you either believe or you don’t, and we’ve debated these issues here often enough. But I was surprised at the number of Tories who’ve made a similar journey, from belief to atheism…

Tory Diary, meanwhile, gives us this pic:

The Conservative Humanist Association has a website here; it says the meeting was “electric” and promises a “fuller account later in the week”, which so far hasn’t arrived. In the meantime one audience member – none other than Mike Keith-Smith – gives his brief account on this (unsavoury) web forum:

…Best fringe meeting was the Conservative Humanist Society’s event with Richard Dawkins speaking.

I told Dawkins (and the meeting) that I liked going to church because I fancied the (female) vicar and it got me off to a flying start every Sunday morning, but as I am an agnostic did he really think I should say The Creed. Everybody roared with laughter.I then said if the Tory Party was not to be called the Stupid Party could it really be seen to support Mc Cain and his ghastly far-right running mate who thinks the world was created in 7 days and wants to declare nuclear war on Russia.

Keith-Smith is of course misinformed on one point: Creationists believe that the world was created in six days, not seven.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

The Clarion Fund, currently on the receiving end of intense scrutiny over the tens of millions of dollars it recently spent giving away free copies of the supposed “anti-Islamic extremist” documentary Obsession, has financed a second film from the Obsession team and produced by a particularly obscure (and website-less) outfit called “PublicScope Films”. The film is entitled The Third Jihad; here’s the cover as it appears on the Clarion fund’s website:

Curiously, however, elsewhere the cover appears slightly differently:

One wonders which cover is the is current one, and what factors may perhaps have influenced the decision to change it…

(UPDATE: Just in case a few people are wondering, the above of course is not meant to suggest that the Obama campain in some way was responsible for forcing the cover change. I can think of some other motives and explanations, but I’m sure readers don’t need my help to speculate. However, it should be noted (a) that the Clarion Fund website carried material explictly endorsing McCain until it came to general notice; (b) that the Obsession giveaway apparently targeted swing states; and (c) that at least one of the “experts” featured in the Obsession film – namely Walid Shoebat – has been known to promote the conspiracy theory that Obama is “really” a Muslim.)

Filed under: Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

WorldNetDaily, 30 September:

Some 2,000 years ago, the apostle Paul predicted a time when believers in God would “not endure sound doctrine” and that “they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

“At this very moment, we are living in Paul’s predicted time of fables,” declares WND executive news editor Joe Kovacs, author of the brand-new book, “Shocked by the Bible: The Most Astonishing Facts You’ve Never Been Told,” which makes its official debut today.

“There are millions of people, many of whom are Christian, who actually believe fables about Scripture instead of easily provable Bible facts,” Kovacs said.

WorldNetDaily, 24 September:

The author of a unique best-selling book on the year 2012 and the return of biblical Nephilim claims mankind may be on the precipice of an earth-shaking event far beyond the imagination of most people. In “Nephilim Stargates: The Year 2012 and the Return of the Watchers,” Thomas Horn quotes the prophet Enoch concerning the history of powerful angels who descended from heaven onto Mt. Hermon “in the days of Jared” and used women to produce giant offspring…Horn points to additional prophecies, which he believes could support this timing of Enoch’s 70 generations and a catastrophic soon return of the Watcher’s offspring, which would lead to men’s hearts failing them for fear when seeing what is coming upon the earth. (see Luke 21:26).

Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Some ignorant reporting about a new law in Greece allowing cremation, from the Murdoch-owned News.com.au:

GREECE’S highest court has approved a government move to legalise cremation, brushing aside complaints from the powerful Orthodox church that it was un-Greek and could hamper the resurrection of the dead…[The church] says bodies which God created should not be burned as this will prevent their resurrection on Judgement Day.

The AP, more ambiguously, states that the Orthodox Church believes “that it is contrary to the notion of the resurrection of the dead”, while Kathimerini has a more sensible explanation:

The Church of Greece opposes cremation for believers, arguing that Orthodox traditions only allow for burial.

That’s better, although it begs the question of “why?”.

I’m not a fan of Greek Orthodoxy’s tendency to demand secular law follow its religious teachings, but in fairness it should be pointed out that there is in fact no doctrine in the religion which says that a person whose body is destroyed by fire cannot be resurrected – otherwise no believer would dare to risk flying in an areoplane, as well as numerous other absurdities. Burial is, though, a matter of tradition, and respect for the symbolism of resurrection. The Encyclopedia of Cremation – which can be consulted via Google Books – has an entry on Greek Orthodox rejection of cremation:

Saint Simeon, archbishop of Thessalonica…wrote: ‘and we place the corpse in the grave and give it to the earth with prayers, fulfilling the divine commandment, “you are dust, and to dust you shall return” and thus we proclaim the resurrection.’

…Burial is a symbol, proof and confession of faith and hope in the immortality of the soul and in the resurrection…In addition, graves mark a place as a motherland

…Orthodox Christians hope to benefit from the grace which streams from the uncorrupted relics of the saints.

…However, no one should think that anyone who is cremated will not be raised from the dead and will escape the second coming of the Lord.

In the Catholic world, Thomas Aquinas considered the hypothetical problem of a cannibal who had only ever eaten human flesh, with parents who had followed the same practice. Such a person’s body would consequently be made up totally from other human bodies; what would happen then at the resurrection? Aquinas resolved the issue by noting that the particles of a body constantly change over time, and so a resurrected body need not be made of the same matter as the original. Bertrand Russell describes this as a “comforting thought”.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

A report from South Africa:

Although Satanism is generally regarded as an “underground movement”, there are various signs parents can look out for if they suspect their child is involved in the “hidden curriculum”.

…Dr Attie Lamprecht, a senior superintendent at the SAPS detectives’ head office, who specialises in harmful religious practices, urged love, acceptance and communication within the family if parents want to protect their children from Satanism.

…Dr Ado Krige, chairman of the Extreme Freedom Foundation which seeks to prevent drug abuse and the spread of Satanism in schools, said drugs, violent music and sex all contribute to young people becoming involved in Satanism.

Both men warn of “danger signs”, such as “a rebellion against authority, compulsive lying and becoming emotionally detached from the parent” and “rebellion against the mother of the family in particular, and Jesus Christ. They also become defensive and withdrawn.”

The Extreme Freedom Foundation has a website here; it offers drugs counselling but is also heavily evangelistic in character; Krige is an ex-drug addict who became a Christian in prison, and he then “spent more than three years working undercover to expose syndicates.” He has also written a book, a blurb for which begins:

This easy reading book is aimed at teenagers and parents. It explains why there has been a revival in these modern times in ancient occult cultures such as Wicca. It explains how New Age philosophy…

A following “read more” button doesn’t work.

Lamprecht, meanwhile, is a detective with the Occult Related Crimes unit, which has featured on this blog previously; its founder, Kobus Jonker, insisted that only police officers who shared his religious beliefs were suitable members. According to a statement on a Christian website:

He is a registered Specialist Councillor with a Masters of Arts in Sociology specialising in Narrative Therapy.

“When Christ put something in your way, He will equip you to deal with it in a way that His spirit in you becomes visible.”

When you cannot serve with a spirit of modesty and a deep dependence in Christ, get out and reset your focus as the World has probably won a battle/ As a detective I prefer a sober look at things (before other avenues are explored) as I believe the power of decision are seldom transferred without the explicit permission of the individual thus many discourse is a direct result of wrong decision and of a toxic thought process. No permanent and sustainable healing can take place without Christ’s involvement. Spiritual happiness is what we are all after. Unfortunately the boundaries at times become fuzzy and we grab false replacements. Then we starve as one can eat as much candyfloss as the world can throw at you and you will still die of malnutrition.

Back in August, Lamprecht was quoted as saying that

There is probably not a school in South Africa where Satanism does not exist…”It starts with white magic. It goes to gateway religious systems and then to destructive religions. It is pretty prevalent.”

The context for this latest flurry of Satanic panic is the case of Morne Harmse, a mentally-ill teenager who murdered a fellow school-pupil with a samurai sword last month. Apparently Harmse (a loner) claims that “a ghost” told him to become a Satanist, and he committed the crime after becoming convinced that the devil wanted him to do it. Police found some occult-related paraphenalia in his bedroom. There is no indication that he started with “white magic” or that that he had any interest in “gateway religious systems”.

(Hat tip: Bulldada Newsblog)

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

A page on Jim Hutchens’s “Jerusalem Connection” website includes an interesting detail:

Unfortunately, what Caroline Glick decries in the following article was replicated by the Jewish Community Relations Council of greater Washington, DC when it disinvited a Christian Zionist voice at a rally opposing Ahmadinejad’s appearance at the UN.

Alas, who this “Christian Zionist voice” actually was is not revealed, and I can’t find the details anywhere else…

The Glick article that follows (reposted from the Jerusalem Post) claims that “liberal American Jews” were responsible for preventing Sarah Palin from attending the New York anti-Ahmadinejad rally, and that they did this because of their support for abortion.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »