Religious Intolerance is a Good Thing

Browns Constitutional Reforms were , in my view , a mixture of window dressing and omission but I have been interested to browse the thoughts of Cramner and Caroline Hunt amongst others . HG picked up that “The Leader has refused to countenance constitutional reforms lifting formal and very real disabilities from members of the Catholic faith in England “ and this started me thinking about “religious intolerance “ now and in the past. I 1`m afraid I am back to the old tactic of posting something solid at the weekend and any old rubbish in the week.. So don`t expect a lot of research if you look in.

Reply to HG


What if my religion requires me to kill members of other "decadent" faiths or betray the country I live in . I think it is too easy to dismiss religious intolerance as absurd and we do it because we have forgotten what real faith is .When I read accounts of people from other times I notice that default belief in heaven and hell nested in an urbane and educated mind is almost impossible for the modern paradigm to simultaneously contain. You draw back in astonishment when a supersophisticate would nonetheless rather burn than spend an eternity in a hell that is as real as breakfast to him .The horror of Popery is hard empathise with now but we should try not to dismiss it as ignorant “prejudice” that loathsome and in this case anachronistic word

This arrogance of chronology is why the West has persisted in its misunderstanding of Islam. It is a misunderstanding of the nature of faith and that is why Liberal plural societies can only exist happily in a relatively homogenous cultural accord. There is no deal to be done and personally I would like to see more religious persecution rather than less albeit of a modern persuasive kind . Immigration is clearly a related issue.

We are sometimes appalled at the devastation to cultural artefacts wrought by religious upheaval and that is because we have come to see such things as having no function other than to entertain . To those who destroyed Catholic gaudiness they were functioning weapons of the dark one . I recall HG you were somewhat against the burning of books . I would be happy for all sorts of books to be burnt because they can also be weapons . Liberty and freedom , to conclude , are very much more nuanced concepts than Liberals would have us believe. The freedom of poetry is coextensive with its rules as is the harmony of music

On the Brown bits and pieces however I think they are probably only there to provide cover for the EU non vote , continued regionalisation despite the clearest rejection and turning Nelson`s blind eye to the problem of English votes . If the Conservative Party can get above 265 seats which I am, certain they will how will Brown govern in England . His laws will have no ....oh whats the word HG....they will have no thingy.


I imagine you may now be wafting elegantly in the mystic stillness of the Italian morning HG, brooding on the world’s troubles

Devo andare adesso.

Ciao