Ghost of a flea

Too bad the pagans did not pelt them back shouting "you will sit outside of the doors of the eternal ale house for all eternity". And besides, what are a group of Roman Catholic puritan yobs roaming that shire against the pagans when there are plenty of Anglicans to attack? Turn back the clock to 1520 I say...but not to 1402 - no body wants that.

I notice they decided to throw salt at some of the only people who would not reply with death threats and so forth. As Dark Ages antics go it is a poor showing for the fundamentalists; not only mean-spirited but weak.

Clearly youth group softies. Have the police Round up the ring leaders and you will have them back to bitching over warm milk before you know it. Better still, make them roll the cheese! Not much canonical cheese rolling out there you know. Not a lot of churchy youth group tar barrel wielding.

I can't imagine what got into them. There are so many people out there who might upset radical sensibilities I cannot see why this particular group should have been troubled by their expression of righteousness.

Father Kevin Knox-Lecky of St Mary’s church said that after meeting representatives of the pagan community he had decided not to invite Youth 2000 to the town again.

He said: “A family appeared who we don’t know, who were very destructive not only in the town and to the pagan community, but were also swearing at our parishioners as well.”

He said the majority of Catholics taking part in the procession had been well-behaved and respectful of the pagans.

In this case, the acts of violence seem to be an isolated incident, and only a small group was involved. It is encouraging to me that the leaders of the retreat, as well as church leaders in the town spoke out loudly (and immediately) against that sort of behaviour. Interesting, no?

Assuming civilization makes it through the Long War, my hope is we come out the other side cherishing our own particular beliefs and with a rabid insistence that others be left to believe as they will, i.e. with a rabid commitment to the principles of the Enlightenment and the Founding Fathers of the United States. I think the church and the community acted in an exemplary fashion in this instance which leaves me all the more baffled as to just whom these "youths" thought they were going to impress with their behaviour.

I would have replied: "So is child molesting a requirement of the Priesthood or just a perk?"

“… I quite like the implied Indian coastline around Mumbai…”

A breast man, I take it?

A few years back, Nahguib Mahfouz, the only Arab to win the Nobel Prize, was attacked and seriously injured by a knife-wielding bunch of the usual suspects (Mahfouz was 82 at the time). He said something to the effect that “what really hurts is that they hadn’t even read any of my books.” I’m betting the same applies to this pack of Hindu art critics; they haven’t seen the paintings, but they know what they don’t like. The impulse to prove we’re the good guys by stomping the crap out of the unbelievers is universal. The nastiest examples right now are associated with a particular religion, but that doesn’t make this other stuff any more admirable.

How many devout Catholics are there in Glastonbury, anyway? I had the impression you could sign up every believing Christian in Britain for a Carnival Cruise and still have empty berths.

Gahh. Nobel Prize for Literature, obviously. Wouldn't want to forget Yasser Arafat or, less grotesquely, Anwar Sadat.

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