Actually, when we take the time to read what they’ve been reading to us in church for two millennia we find that the script doesn’t match the performance; Christianity is meant to be a wee bit mental.
Saying Farewell to Teresa’s Gardens of a Hallowe’en Night
Last night, possibly the last Hallowe’en in the life of Teresa’s Gardens flats, everyone came out to enjoy the community bonfire and fireworks. Kyle, Marley, Anthony, and the rest were so chuffed to discover they had built the biggest bonfire in the city.
Oidhche Shamhna Math Dhuibh Uile
Long Scots tradition had it, even in the midst of austere Calvinism, that oan the nicht o’ Samhain the de’il an’ aw his dubh yins wad be aboon. It was a night of bogles, carlins, and the odd lurking kelpie. Auld yarns and songs, in a time when even the adults swore by their encounters with the banshee, made sure the bairns were terrified.
Why we can’t “Park the Ontology” in the Abortion Debate
Follow @UrFhasaidh One of the fundamental frustrations of the present abortion debate is that a great number of the voices on either side enter into the discussion without ever offering an adequate definition of human life. On the one hand there is the frequently cited pro-choice dictum that it is the woman’s body and therefore … Continue reading Why we can’t “Park the Ontology” in the Abortion Debate
Abortion Rights, Comedy, and Simplistic Answers
It’s funny because it’s true, or at least it is true insofar as we buy into the stereotype of the infantile, selfish, and unreflective Jock of western culture. As witty as this quip is, it has been regurgitated ad nauseam by the cyber commentariat to the point that it has become something of a truism of male attitudes towards women and the rights of the unborn – if any – had they inconvenience them.
Should We Repeal the Eighth Amendment?
The tragic death of Savita Halappanavar in 2012 exposed the flaw in a system in which a therapeutic termination was a medical option, but where – for lack of legal clarification – the medical staff run the risk of a fourteen year custodial sentence.
Why the Language of ‘Mansplaining’ Isn’t Helpful
Follow @UrFhasaidh At some point we all have to acknowledge that we are all racist, we are all misogynist, all classist; we are all prejudiced at some level because we are all real human beings conditioned by the reality in which we live. Disturbing as this is to admit, it merely demonstrates the powerful social … Continue reading Why the Language of ‘Mansplaining’ Isn’t Helpful
Education is the Grease that Oils the Death Machine
Education is a weapon as deadly as any sword; a truncheon that is employed to dehumanise the weak and impress upon them the indelible mark of the totality of their defeat and their hopeless inferiority. A teacher succeeds only when the student surpasses the teacher, but the triumph of education is the subjugation and ultimate annihilation of the human spirit.
Random Public Journal 