http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php Copyright 2010, Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty en-US SPHPBLOG 0.5.1 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100310-090218 Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)

Justice is a complex business. For example, when a case may come before the courts, advance discussion of the evidence is banned so that judge and jury will approach the case with an open mind. Phew, it's just all so complex, isn't it? Rules like this means that the details of Jon Venables' breach of his license remain secret, leaving us to speculate feverishly about the true reasons.

Justice in the scriptures is also very complex, in a sort of self contradictory sort of way. At one point it tells you to love your neighbour and at the next it tells you to stone the heathens to death. At this point I'd just like to mention Job for no obvious reason. When Job was being tortured for a bet by the Invisible Magic Friend, the Invisible Magic Friend said to him "Aren't I just fantastic! Look how pretty the birds are."

Just like in the English legal system, the Invisible Magic Friend is open to persuasion, to hear both sides of the story, to put everything in context and administer justice in a cool, objective frame of mind. When the Invisible Magic Friend announced his intention to destroy Sodom and Gomorah, Abraham tried to dissuade him. The Invisible Magic Friend listened carefully to what Abraham had to say and then went ahead and killed everyone anyway.

It's all so very complex, isn't it?

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Read]]> Justice and mercy, Priestley http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100310-090218 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:02:18 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100310-090218 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100309-081447 Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)

There were no inter-faith meetings of we important spiritual leaders this week, so I'm afraid I'm just going to have to talk to you about something less interesting instead.

A hospital is introducing blood tests for pregnant women to test their alcohol consumption. Some people welcome this but others say it is yet another example of the nanny state, poking and prying into responsible adults' lives.

This is exactly what Guru Nanak said when people went into the wilderness to find the Invisible Magic Friend. "You won't find the Invisible Magic Friend there," he said wisely. "The Invisible Magic Friend is to be found at home, in family life." I think you'll agree, the relevance to drug tests for pregnant women is clear.

"And don't stay at home getting drunk either," he wisely added. "They're your family and you're stuck with them." Thankfully, we religious people can contemplate the Invisible Magic Friend instead of getting drunk. Unlike atheists, we don't lounge around on the sofa all night, swilling beer and stuffing our faces with crisps as we catch up on all the latest soaps. It's what makes us so much better than everybody else.

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Read]]> Singh http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100309-081447 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:14:47 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100309-081447 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100308-133405 latest outbreak: people caught in traps as they tried to flee their village, only to be hacked to death as they struggled to free themselves, cannot even be imagined.]]> Not TFTD http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100308-133405 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:34:05 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100308-133405 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100308-085022 Rating 2 out of 5 (A little platitudinous)

"Lessons must be learned." This is the phrase we hear increasingly these days after some huge administrative blunder. There's usually a report with a long list of recommendations. The inquiry, sitting at taxpayers' expense, don't feel they've given value for money unless they produce a long list of recommendations. They have to find something that went wrong and the more they can find the better.

But no one can hold a long list of recommendations in their head, so the long list of recommendations becomes more bureaucracy, more boxes to tick. I often feel that the effectiveness of a report is inversely proportional to the number of recommendations. I like the phrase "inversely proportional." It has a reassuringly technical and mathematical ring to it, makes me sound professional and knowledgeable - as if I'm really on the ball and in control of the situation.

It's telling that Jesus, the visible bit of the Invisible Magic Friend, rarely provided long lists of recommendations. He didn't go around telling everyone they had to be poor, meek, peaceful, hungry, pure or merciful. He preferred to tell wise stories that broadened people's imagination. He told people, "Yes, it is all right to squander your inheritance and then come home when it's all gone," thus making everyone more moral.

Jesus wanted people to be more imaginative about their morality. So when you're sitting in your office today, typing at your computer, think about how you can be more imaginatively moral in your typing.

"Lessons must be learned," but in an inversely proportional manner.

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Read]]> Billings http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100308-085022 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:50:22 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100308-085022 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100308-064757 Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)

President Zuma of South Africa was in London this week. I've been to South Africa and it was very nice.

I remember the South African Council of Churches: 26 types of Christians who don't worship together because they disagree about obscure details regarding the Invisible Magic Friend. They provided hot meals for the unemployed and looked after the many orphans in that AIDS ravaged country. This just goes to show how good religion is at bringing people together, even when they disagree about the Invisible Magic Friend.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a particularly nice archbishop, came to Britain where he addressed Bradford football stadium. There were people there who were Christians and people who were Muslims. We don't worship with Muslims because they think there is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet (phew - what a bunch of loonies!). I think this event also goes to show just how good religion is at bringing people together.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu isn't so popular because he's a sensible, nice, hard working, genuine person. He's popular because of his application of practical theology, even among all the other religions that have different theologies.

So there you go, belief in the Invisible Magic Friend bringing everyone together as always and making the world the happy place that it is today.

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Read]]> Marshall http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100308-064757 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:47:57 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100308-064757 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100305-081310
The books were the prize offered for the most platitudinous Thought For The Day on Radio 4 during 2009. This was won by the Rt Rev James Jones, Lord Bishop of Liverpool and Bishop of Prisons, for reminding us of the contribution that Christianity played in solving the problems of Northern Ireland. The prize was forfeit as the bishop failed to attend the award ceremony during the Secularist of the Year.

These books therefore form a unique and highly collectable set. They were purchased by Roger Scotford and are being auctioned by Peter Hearty. The five books are:

The Greatest Show on Earth (hardback)
Climbing Mount Improbable (paperback)
Unweaving the Rainbow (paperback)
The God Delusion (paperback)
The Ancestor's Tale (paperback)

More details on eBay.

If any of you have access to any UK blogs or websites that might be interested in this then please publicise the auction. It only runs for 10 days and I want to get the best possible price for the NSS.]]> Clemmies, Not TFTD http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100305-081310 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:13:10 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100305-081310 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100305-081112 Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)

The Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales have set out their election manifesto. It's not about any particular party, like the gay loving, orphanage closing, Catholic bashing Labour Party, or the slightly less gay loving, Catholic friendly Tory party - no, nothing like that.

It's about the intangible things in society, being friendly and helpful and kind. The kind of thing that religion, and Catholics and Jews in particular, do so well. We Jews have survived by maintaining our traditions: being generally holier than everyone else, eating only holy foods, not collecting wood on the Sabbath, cutting bits off our boys' winkles - that sort of thing. If we hadn't kept our traditions then we wouldn't have had any families or any babies and would have completely died out. Or if we hadn't died out then I'd just be an ordinary bloke doing an ordinary job instead of being Chief Rabbi.

So it doesn't really matter who you vote for: the anti-religious, fiercely secular communists of the Labour Party, or the respectable, family friendly, traditional valued Conservatives - as long as you believe in the Invisible Magic Friend everything will be all right.

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Read]]> Be nice, Democracy, Sacks http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100305-081112 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:11:12 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100305-081112 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100304-082214 Rating 5 out of 5 (Extraordinarily platitudinous)

We've just got a brilliant new sculpture at Saint Paul's Cathedral (the cathedral that I'm Canon Chancellor of). Many people ask "What does it mean?" This is where others go wrong and try to explain its meaning. Far too many people are too keen to explain things. They want to go around understanding things in a very vulgar and not very intellectual fashion.

This is also where people go wrong with theology. Much bad theology (i.e. theology that I disagree with and that is clearly wrong) comes from people trying to understand the Invisible Magic Friend. They ask questions like "Why does a loving God allow suffering?" or "Why do the ruthless prosper while the meek suffer?" or "Why does Piers Morgan keep appearing on TV?" What you have to understand is that these are eternal mysteries with a beauty all their own. We gaze at them in wonder, thinking "Wow, isn't it just great not to know the answer? I wonder what's for tea tonight?"

As a Rev Dr (and not just any old common Rev Dr, but a Rev Dr Canon Chancellor) let me just assure you that this is how theology gets a bad name. Not because it's an entire academic subject based on stuff that's just made up, has no boundaries and is completely untestable, but because people keep trying to answer questions with it. If people stopped trying to understand theology and just accepted it as a mass of loopy self contradictory words streamed randomly together then they would get so much more out of it.

This is why theology is like modern art. Both are amazing, both are beautiful, both give a lifetime of laughter to their creator as they sit around watching people ask, "Yes, but what does it mean?"

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Read]]> Theology, Fraser http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100304-082214 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:22:14 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100304-082214 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100303-080934 Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)

I'd like to talk to you today about everyone's favourite subject: football, and by "football" I do of course mean "religion". I don't think anyone on Thought For The Day has ever compared football and religion before so it's about time someone did. Football and religion have so much in common. Both are largely male dominated and struggling to rid themselves of their homophobic instincts. Both unite millions in passionate, pointless allegiances that often result in violence when they clash. Both will welcome anybody, from peasants to billionaires. Provided you can buy the season ticket and the merchandise, we're not fussy. As St Paul famously said, "We'll take anybody's money."

It's so nice to see two things that aren't obsessed with taking money off people to pay the salaries of the few. That's the sort of vulgar, secular commercialism that's best left to less holy professions.

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Read]]> Sport, Priestley http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100303-080934 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:09:34 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100303-080934 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100303-070228 Catholic priest noted the lack of any mainstream poofter-hating political party. "Only the BNP are on our side," said Father Blake, "and even they're half hearted about it. I don't know who's box to tick. Where is a celibate, cross dressing, poof hater supposed to put it?"

Meanwhile, in a strident defence of Christian values, Lord Carey, speaking as one of the large gang of lords that happen to be bishops, decried the marginalisation of Christianity in modern Britain. "We have reached the point where politicians are mocked for merely expressing their faith," he told a meeting in the Lords.

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!

Evil secularists have even been known to speak out against faith schools. Some people seem to think that just because the Labour government has presided over the largest increase in faith schools in a century and that both major parties are committed to continuing this policy, that this is in some sense good enough. Thankfully we still have Dominic Lawson to defend faith schools from these insidious attacks. In a balanced and thoughtful article, Mr. Lawson pointed out that the percentage of free school meals in faith schools is only 1% below the value in community schools. What this clearly demonstrates is that we only force the real troublemakers on all the other, rubbish, schools.

To the argument that sectarian schools are, in some outlandish way, divisive, Mr. Lawson pointed to research that shows that sectarian schools do more to promote inter-community dialogue. They have football matches with inner city schools full of brown kids once a month. Community schools, with their mongrel mixture of races, faiths and educational aspirations, hardly bother to reach out to other races, faiths or educational aspirations. So, as you can see, all the facts are on our side.

Then we have all those New Atheists, who're actually just the same as the old atheists. They've got nothing new to say, stuck as they are in centuries old enlightenment philosophy, failing to see the the bright new vision of hope that Christianity offers. Their only distinction is that they very rudely speak up on that interwebby thing, often rather shrilly and militantly contradicting us.

When will this suppression and persecution of Christianity stop? Oh the pain, the pain!
]]> Not TFTD http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100303-070228 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:02:28 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100303-070228 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100302-081021 Rating 2 out of 5 (A little platitudinous)

I was at a recent meeting of important religious leaders such as myself, where I complained that the media always sensationalise stories about religion. They always go for the worst possible interpretation, casting aside their normally high journalistic standards and pandering to the prejudices of their readership.

Recently though, I've changed my mind. The press have been saying some very nice things about Sikhs. After the murder of Sukhwinder Singh, the hero who took on two muggers in Barking, East London and was stabbed to death for his bravery, the press surprisingly said lots of nice things about him. I expected them to call him names and say how wicked and foreign he was.

Then there was 63 year old corner shop owner Gurmail Singh who was loved by everyone in his village, except the thugs who beat him to death. Again, the press has been full of praise for the hard working, congenial grandfather. I expected them to say nasty things about the victim and make jokes about his turban.

All of this has opened my eyes and made me realise that, remarkably, there really are some people who are not prejudiced against Sikhs. They are starting to learn that Sikhs aren't Muslims (which is a completely different religion, nothing to do with us - got that?), that we're actually the nice Indian religion and a lot of Sikhs are very nice people. Maybe those who hate everyone who is a different skin colour will stop calling us names now.

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Read]]> Singh http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100302-081021 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:10:21 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100302-081021 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100301-094806
The actual number of contenders for the most platitudinous thought is surprisingly small. I only have one honourable mention this month and it goes to Clifford Longley, a distinguished Catholic person who talks a lot about religion. He pondered Jesus' instruction to "love your enemies". Being spoken by the Invisible Magic Friend incarnate, the phrase is undoubtedly not meant to be taken literally and must be imbued with layers of hidden meaning. It took Thomas Aquinas to decipher its theological depths and realise that it actually meant "go to war".

A strong runner up this month was Rev Dr Dr David Wilkinson, Principal of St John's College Durham. Worried about the effects of the so-called "scandals" associated with Climate Change scientists, the good Rev Dr Dr pointed out that if only they were Christians we would be able to trust them much more and all this terrible Climategate thing might never have happened.

But the winner this month is the Extravagantly Reverend Lord Professor Bishop Baron Reverend Lord Richard Harries. In an extraordinary bout of clerical navel gazing, his lordship wondered who the Church might be discriminating against and persecuting today and came up with... no one.]]> Clemmies http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100301-094806 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:48:06 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100301-094806 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100301-081014 Rating 4 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)

Why does a loving God allow such suffering? It's a hard question. It's a very, very, very, very hard question. People have been asking it since time immemorial. There have been lots of attempted answers by many clever people over the generations.

Charles Darwin took the easy, simplistic, naive, childish way out and concluded that there was no loving God. Yet for some bizarre, inexplicable reason, Darwin continued to contribute to Christian charities doing good work. Crazy, eh?

Those of us who are better trained in theology than either you or Darwin, continue to struggle with the problem of suffering created by a good God. So what is the answer? What does modern theology, with it's razor sharp logic have to say on the subject? As a Rev Dr Dr and Principal of St John's College Durham, let me just assure you that Darwin was wrong. I haven't a clue what the actual answer is but I do know that Darwin's easy, simplistic, naive, childish way out can't possibly be the right answer.

Moving on, don't forget to donate to the relief effort.

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Read]]> Evil, Science, Wilkinson http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100301-081014 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:10:14 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=03&entry=entry100301-081014 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100228-092948 Templeton Foundation provides large dollops of money to scientists who'll say nice things about religion, about how useful and important and meaningful and stuff it is. They do a smaller scale version for journalists, one of which has just been won by Chris Mooney, the infuriatingly good looking science blogger who is often branded an "accomodationist". ("Accomodationists" are defined as a kind of fifth columnist, baby eating, treacherous paedophile in some quarters. Personally I think we need some atheists who are willing to talk to theists, smile, nod pleasantly and pretend that they really do have something to say about anything.)

As an unemployed scientist who couldn't get any more funding to apply Bayesian reasoning to Software Engineering, I thought I might have a go at applying the same maths to the God hypothesis. Bayesian reasoning is a form of statistical inference that combines "beliefs" (or "judgements", or "expert opinions" if you prefer) with more conventional statistics gathered from measurements. The word "belief" is often used in a more general sense in this field but I think its narrower definition of "religious belief" can be applied here.

It's been done before of course (what hasn't?), some people have even made a career out of it, but these were using very primitive, back of the envelope style calculations using spreadsheets and the like. I'm talking about some serious mathematical modelling, using modern tools and algorithms specifically designed to perform statistical inference. They aren't limited to half a dozen yes/no type variables. These tools can include hundreds, or even thousands of variables, using continuous, discrete or binary probability distributions.

Due to the fact that Bayesian methods can mix subjective opinions with empirical data, I'm pretty sure I can get the model to say anything the Templeton Foundation would like it to say. With no objective way to test the model, who's to say it might not even be right?

Working on something like this ticks all the right boxes for me. It mixes two of my favourite interests: maths and religion. I'd be my own boss, working from home. I might even write a popular book on the subject about how maths proves the existence of God - being even more credible coming from a devout atheist. The model would be far too big and complicated even for Richard Dawkins to dismiss it, so I should be able to milk the argument for years to come.

Unfortunately there's a down side to all this too. If they do give me a grant then I really will have to go around saying nice things about religion. You know the kind of stuff: how you can't explore the spiritual side of your soul without religion, how it inspires you to do good science, how we'd all degenerate into baby eating, treacherous paedophiles if it weren't for religion keeping us on the one true path, that sort of thing. If I say it often enough, I might even come to think that some of it's true - that seems to be pretty much what billions of existing believers seem to do. It would mean discarding every last shred of what little integrity I have left of course but, hey, it had to happen some time and besides, there's money up for grabs here and I want my share.

On second thoughts, I really don't think I could keep a straight face.
]]> Science, Not TFTD http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100228-092948 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:29:48 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=02&entry=entry100228-092948 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100227-084304 Rating 5 out of 5 (Extraordinarily platitudinous)

Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. Everyone just keeps going on and on and on about sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. It's everywhere, sex on TV, sex in magazines, sex in computer games, sex on mobile phones, sex on the Today Programme. With all this sex everywhere, won't someone please think of the children!

So why are children being hypersexualised? Some of it is the fault of the media, going on and on and on about sex all the time but mostly it's our fault, and by "our fault" I do of course mean "your fault". Sex is a dirty thing that adults do. It's not natural for children to know about sex.

In the good old days, when everything was wonderful in this country, everyone was Christian. This meant that they had morals, and by "having morals" I mean that everyone knew that having sex was dirty. They were properly ashamed about it and made sure children grew up in ignorance until they got married. Christianity invented morality. Before Christianity there wasn't any morality. Now that Christianity is disappearing and we live in this dreadful, Jesus-less barren wasteland, people are reverting to not having any morals any more.

As a sign of this decline into immorality, children are discovering sex. I wish people would just stop talking about sex as if it was something normal, there might be children listening. How are children ever going to feel disgusted by sex unless they're made to understand where morality comes from? People are just so ignorant these days about where morality comes from. They don't even understand the basic evolutionary principles on which morality is founded: morality was founded by Christianity - that's where it evolved from!

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Read]]> Sex, Marshall http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100227-084304 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Sat, 27 Feb 2010 08:43:04 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=02&entry=entry100227-084304 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100226-090346 communty and Catholic schools. I'm delighted to say that Euphobia2 has chosen it for her latest YouTube video.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MagSrvL5peA]]> Sex, Not TFTD http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100226-090346 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:03:46 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=02&entry=entry100226-090346 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100226-082402 Rating 5 out of 5 (Extraordinarily platitudinous)

The Prime Minister has apologised for sending thousands of children to British colonies. He didn't send them there personally but he apologised on behalf of society. You see, people in those days, when most people went to church, didn't realise it was wrong to tell children their parents were dead when they weren't, to split up siblings, to send them to people who didn't care about them, would deprive them of an education, put them to unpaid work and physically and sexually abuse them. In these more enlightened times, when hardly anybody goes to church, we now realise that these were great injustices.

This always happens - later generations look with dismay on the morals of their forbears. A good example of this is the Catholic Church. Being Christians, they are always quick to recognise their own faults. After a mere 2,000 years of persecuting Jews, the Catholic Church realised this was wrong and said "Oops, sorry!" And it took less than 500 years to apologise for Galileo. In this way, the church leads the world into a brighter more ethical way of looking at things.

Future Christians will probably look back in disgust at our own morals. I wonder what they'll find so lamentable in the modern church's outlook? Let me see now... no, nothing comes to mind... I can't really think of any group of people that the modern church discriminates against or preaches hatred towards... nope, nothing obvious. There might be some, but I guess we're just blinded by the standards of our time. Oh, wait, I know! You know how everyone thinks it's a really, really good idea to traffic women and children? Well, get this, as an Extravagantly Reverend Lord Professor Bishop Baron, I think that might be BAD!

Something to think about, eh?

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Read]]> Dont do bad things, Harries http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100226-082402 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:24:02 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=02&entry=entry100226-082402 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100225-083739 Rating 2 out of 5 (A little platitudinous)

One of the things we Christians do is visit those in prison. I went to one once, about 15 years ago and very distressing it was too. Jesus said we should visit him in prison and fortunately our prisons seem to be bursting at the seems with religious believers, so it is very easy to find Jesus in prison. It's easy to think about victims: the murdered, raped, robbed, cheated and abused, but what about the murderers, rapists, robbers, cheaters and abusers? We must remember that prisoners are human beings too. Jesus came to set prisoners free, which I'm sure will be a great relief to murderers, rapists, robbers, cheaters and abusers.

I knew a gentleman once. He was a vagrant in prison who wrote to me when he needed religious guidance, spiritual uplift and postal orders. He should not be in prison but we have no proper system to care for him and others like him, to rehabilitate him, to turn him once again into a respectable and productive member of society like oneself.

We should not be afraid of those in prison. Especially when there are so many other things such as ghosts, school bullies, the London Underground, drunks and everything else that just want to make you scream.

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Read]]> Justice and mercy, Sutch http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100225-083739 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:37:39 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=02&entry=entry100225-083739 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100224-080410 Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)

Babies are expensive - at least £200K and rising. But never mind that, I love babies - lots and lots and lots of lovely babies, with their big wide eyes, their wonder at the world around them and their constant endearing smile. I like to look at my own babies and think, "I made that."

Coincidentally, Jesus started off as a baby and I think this validates the choice of people to go on having babies, despite the cost involved. If the Invisible Magic Friend hadn't become a baby I think most people would just look at the cost and say, "I'm not having a baby, look at the cost involved!"

Jesus' parents had all the usual worries and responsibilities in bringing up a child. "Don't you go around preaching love and reconciliation," they told him. "People won't have it, you'll come to a bad end you know." But despite this, I still love babies and think people should still consider having them. They're lovely!

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Read]]> Priestley http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100224-080410 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:04:10 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=02&entry=entry100224-080410 http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100223-081419 Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)

Tomorrow I'll be meeting with other important people to discuss British Values. It's something that we religious and political leaders have discussed before. At the turn of the century I went to Lambeth Palace, where me and other important people discussed British Values. We had long debates on the subject and produced a paper explaining all about British Values. Then we did it again several years later and then again when we debated a written constitution. We produced an important paper on that too. I think this highlights the vital and productive work of spiritual leaders such as myself. It's all just part of the never ending round of work, work, work for we important spiritual leaders.

It's not easy to get different religions to agree on our shared British Values, or indeed on anything. Guru Nanak didn't have very much to say about British Values but he and his successors did have some values which I think is particularly relevant. I think what's really, really important is that we all just try to get along, something that I'll be explaining to other important spiritual leaders tomorrow. I'm sure we'll produce another important paper on the topic.

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Read]]> Be nice, Singh http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php?entry=entry100223-081419 Rev. Dr. Peter Hearty Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:14:19 GMT http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/comments.php?y=10&m=02&entry=entry100223-081419