Category Archives: Society

On the causes of price rises

A fact for today’s newspapers: food prices rose by 13.3% in December. Here are some statements I found. I was hoping to add what the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail said about it but I couldn’t find a mention. … Continue reading

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Safeguarding: the desires and fears of sex

I went on my obligatory safeguarding course a short while ago. The two women running it had professional expertise in sexual abuse. On principle churches welcome anyone who turns up. This includes rape victims and the people who raped them. … Continue reading

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Who invented religion?

This cheeky question is often asked in atheist circles. I have two answers, depending on what we are talking about. Answer 1. Everybody and nobody

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The brain and its priorities

This post is a plug for the talk by Iain McGilchrist which went live on Friday. Entitled ‘The Brain and a Sense of the Sacred’, it’s still available here. McGilchrist is best known for his book The Master and His … Continue reading

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Christianity and government: swapping prime ministers doesn’t cure the disease

Saint Lawrence. 14th century manuscript illustration It isn’t clear what Conservatives think conservatism is any longer: what aspect of actually existing British society (rather than ersatz Victorian fantasy) they seek to conserve, or even what they think the roots of … Continue reading

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Growth growth growth: who benefits?

This post is a continuation of my last one in which I argued that the economic policy of the British Government is a replica of ancient Mesopotamian imperial practice. This post gives greater detail.

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The real purpose of the nonbudget

The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Financial Statement of 23 September has gone down badly with the financial markets, economics thinktanks and even a good few Conservative members of Parliament. There are three main criticisms: that it will leave our country … Continue reading

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The holiness of nation states

This is the second of two responses to William Cavanaugh’s The Myth of Religious Violence. I wasn’t expecting it to be bang up to date with this morning’s news, but last night’s response by Liz Truss to a question about … Continue reading

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War, religion and the nation state

This post is the first of two responses to William Cavanaugh’s excellent The Myth of Religious Violence (2009). It has challenged my understanding of the ‘religious wars’ of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; but it also sheds light on today’s … Continue reading

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Strikes, poverty and Jesus

It looks like we are in for a few months of strikes. As more and more people are being financially squeezed, resistance is increasing. The media, almost universally, are treating them as demands for more money by the relatively affluent. … Continue reading

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