"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

The Lessons of History . . .

go largely unlearned. I guess if God is guiding you every step of the way, you don't have to understand scripture -- you just have to be able to cherrypick. So what if you don't remember the history of your own religion? From PZ Myers at Pharyngula. It takes an atheist, I guess:

You know, foreign occupying power, powerful religious group agitating for the execution of a hated, charismatic competitor, promises of who will bear the guilt for the deed, metaphorical washing of the hands…jebus, if I know what a counterproductive PR disaster that was for the Pharisees and the Romans, what's the matter with the American leadership in Iraq? Don't they read the bibles they thump? Add to that that they've apparently done the execution at a time when it is "religiously unacceptable", and we've got a situation that makes Pontius Pilate look good.

OK -- they didn't crucify him, so that means there's no parallel.

I don't think I really have anything to add.

1 comment:

Sri Ananda Praneshwar/formerly Gardner Rust said...

Bob, just read a story loosely exploring the central polarity in the Charioteer. It's by Michael Gouda and can be found at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WWGSS/files/Michael%20Gouda/

it's called Fun/Having Fun

Gardner