The Politics of Dancing

I suppose the following item in Tuesdays Guardian really does not require any further comment. 'In its latest attempt to keep up with the times the Vatican has married one of its oldest traditions to the world of Social media by offering "indulgences"* to followers of pope Francis tweets.' The belief a) in the existence of an actual place, purgatory, b) that this is a place that you can be condemned to spend time after you die, and c) that through the intercession of the church this time can be shortened, exists at the same level as the belief in Santa Claus. That the Pope believes that there are significant members of his faith for whom the above statements are true, and sadly I suspect his belief to be correct, speaks volumes about Catholicism and the levels of superstition and ignorance that it chooses to foster. * Indulgences reduce the time Catholics believe they will have to spend in purgatory after they have confessed and been absolved of their sins. ...

HORUS EGYPTIAN GOD WORSHIPPED SINCE 2200 B.C. BORN OF A VIRGIN HAD 12 DISCIPLES HEALED THE SICK AND INJURED RAISED ASAR FROM THE DEAD (ASAR TRANSLATES AS LAZURAS) CRUCIFIED THEN RESURRECTED AFTER 3 DAYS KNOWN AS THE ‘LAMB,’ ‘THE WAY,’ ‘THE LIGHT’ [1]   SOUND FAMILIAR?   [1] With thanks to Rob Casson Having visited this page I would be grateful for your feedback, either tick one of the boxes below or make a comment via the comments button.

On a TV television debate that took place last year Mr Mehdi Hassan, until recently contributing editor to the New Statesman, declared that he believed the Quran was the ‘literal word of God.’   Thus statements such as, ‘Sura 5.38 “As for the thief, male or female, cut off his or hands; a punishment by way of example from God, for the crime; and God is exaltedin [sic]power……………The punishment of those who wage war against God and His Apostle, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the hereafter.” [1] Are for Mr Hasan God’s words, the   literal truth. [2] But surely he writes for the New Statesman, supports the Labour Party, is a bit of a leftie, let’s cut him some slack here. Anyhow isn't it a bit inappropriate to criticise a man for his religious beliefs, surely...

A few years ago when I was working for the probation service I had a client who boasted a strong moral compass, he would not, he explained, burgle anyone who could ‘not take the hit.’ Everyone he burgled was covered by insurance. When I tried to convey to him the sense of invasion and violation experienced by burglary victims he was unmoved, ‘if they didn’t want to risk this they shouldn’t have so many possessions.’ I though of this client the other day whilst watching Paul Dacre editor of the Daily Mail, draped from head to foot in righteous indignation after the Mail was attacked by Hugh Grant. Incidentally the front page of today’s Mail is worth a laugh.* 'Christianity under attack: Anger as major court rulings go against British worshippers • Town hall prayers banned in 'assault on Britain's Christian heritage' • Judge rules tradition unlawful after he upholds discrimination complaint • Government says it is 'surprised and disappointed' by the dec...

Dara Ó Briain says there are two reasons he does not do jokes about Muslims 1) because he does not know anything about Muslims and 2) apparently neither do we. Well this may well be the case, though Mr Briain should be wary assuming that everyone else shares his real or pretended ignorance. For in this multi cultural society is it not a bit lame to say you know nothing about Islam. But surely the key point here is that he omits a third, far more important reason, why he does not want to tell jokes about Islam, that is that he does not wish to have his throat slit whilst leaving the theatre one dark night by some crazed fundamentalist fanatic. This may not be brave, but it is a very legitimate concern. Moreover not being over endowed with physical courage my self I am hardly in a position to criticize. No the really cowardly thing here is to dress up your legitimate concern for your own safety as some sort of high moral stand and in so doing help to disguise the real...

Dear Mark Steel, I read your recent piece on the Pope. 'If you think Islam is medieval, look at Catholicism.' At a time when real clerical bullying and medieval thinking has astonishingly again become a serious threat to freedom of speech and an open society, oddly you choose only to attack the sillier doctrines of the Catholic Church. (And for the record who wouldn't feel queasy about the outpourings of Mr Ratzinger). However I could not help but ponder why you chose this target at a time when woman are being stoned in Bazra for being inappropriately dressed, or a teacher is sentenced to death in Afghanistan for downloading an article critical of Islam, and protesters think it legitimate criticism to carry placards stating 'behead those who insult Islam!' If your purpose was to attack medieval thinking, there were surely far more obvious targets? Well,  it occurred to me, for one thing you can certainly be sure there will not be any 'fatwa's' emana...