Christianity has got something to do with the inauguration of president Biden, power, authority, humility and science. And is therefore VERY important.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A8_4MDznte19QtOhvSWz0jrq3IAPYH8r/view?usp=sharing
Christianity has got something to do with the inauguration of president Biden, power, authority, humility and science. And is therefore VERY important.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A8_4MDznte19QtOhvSWz0jrq3IAPYH8r/view?usp=sharing
Platitude of the Day 
The Prof does his usual TFTD of trying to link science to his IMF, this time seeming to approve of religious parts of the US inauguration ceremony which should really be a secular occasion.
I’m waiting for our next King to be crowned so that the GB population can see how ridiculously out of date that ceremony will be.
LikeLike
Wilkinson seems impressed that a bible will share a stage with a POTUS. Has he forgotten the Orange Loon already? Maybe he’d be equally impressed to see Imran Khan holding a Koran.
I’m surprised Wilkinson didn’t claim the UK must be more religious than USA because we have an established religion – which is humble – and scientific – and important – yes, it really is…
LikeLike
Wilkinson considers that ‘elements of religion… attempt to frame power and authority in a bigger perspective.’ Like many of his fellow god-botherers Wilkinson takes it for granted that the mere mention of religion adds gravitas, solemnity, and an unspoken profundity to any situation. He therefore finds it unnecessary to enlarge on this ‘bigger perspective,’ except for throwing in a suggestion that we should all feel small in comparison with his IMF’s ‘creation’ and that the vastness of the universe puts our little human problems into perspective. Those problems, however, remain just as great for those who have to deal with them, no matter how magnificent and ineffable the universe around us.
He suggests towards the end that these ‘elements of religion’ inspire humility, which enables ‘a listening to the other that heals division.’ Because we see so many examples of the various disparate religions (which each believe they are the one true religion) all humbly listening to each other and smoothing over their differences. Or have I got that wrong?
I thought he shot himself in the foot, rather, by quoting Billy Graham, whose currency has been utterly devalued; not perhaps to the extent of Jimmy Savile, but not far off.
LikeLike
I’m a bit sceptical about the exact words that Teddy Roosevelt is said to have uttered in 1900 about the Andromeda Galaxy (“It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It is 750,000 light-years away. It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our sun.”), but even if he is quoted correctly, then what it says to me is not just that the vastness of the universe puts our little human problems into perspective, but that it puts our little human-invented, middle-eastern desert gods into perspective.
And his assertion that religion inspires the sort of humility that involves listening to other viewpoints is just absurd. On the contrary: religion tends to reinforce its adherents against any truth from outside, no matter how well-attested, that might crack the carapace of faithful certainty.
LikeLike
Franklin D, not Theodore.
LikeLike
Not my area of expertise but according to Wiki, Teddy Roosevelt died in 1019 at a time when it was thought that the milky way was the only galaxy. Hubble’s discovery of other galaxies outside our own was in 1924. Maybe it’s proof of god who would obviously have known and must have mentioned it to the POTUS?
LikeLike