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My favourite comment in that article on astrology was a quote from Patrick Moore.

"The only thing that astrology proves is that there's one born every minute".

And I'm not entirely sure the engagement of William and Kate is a religion or ethics news story. Good for them, they represent future potential in the Royal Family, but I think by the time Charlie finally gets on the throne (briefly) and then leaves it for young Wombat, the whole 'Defender of the Faith' thing will either be dropped or altered.

The story on the removal of the pig just made me shake my head. I find a lot of stuff offensive, but the onus is on me to avoid taking offense, not on the part of everyone else to tip-toe around lest I get hurt feelings.

I think the election of Timothy Dolan as president of the US Bishops Conference is a major story.

Is there any old scientific evidence for psychic phenomena?

I'm not sure the will work.

If not, I'll try to find the article elsewhere.

Lord Blair article shows a healthy set of beliefs alot of people could relate to.
The Hajj article - I read somewhere about the price of going has doubled in recent years. Unscrupulous Muslim Hajj Tour operators milking the faithful. Im sure other religions have been over this territory before lol
Scotch Git- was a good read. Looks like an interesting proposal

Doctor Sheila Matthews (the adoption doctor) case was thrown out. The interesting thing was that the judgement was based not on religious grounds but on the medical 'evidence' put forward, although the religious reporting of the judgement seems to ignore this.

of the story delves a little deeper into the real reasons why she lost her case and why the bleating of religious discrimination had no bearing on the case, plus the return of an old friend and his travelling companion.

The Lord Blair article was very good and the thrust of it probably could be used to describe the effect of electing a conservative to head up the catholic bishops in NY. Oh well if it hastens their fall into irrelevancy who am I to judge.

The other interesting aspect from the Blair article is a feeling that an Anglican church which contains liberals like Blair and nut jobs like the Anglican Pastors in Uganda cannot actually function to reach out to the vulnerable in society if one lot is hating them and one is spending all its time trying not to offend the haters.

Blair's quite typical of moderate religious people. His interpretation of his faith is harmless, because he was lucky enough to be brought up with the ethical and critical tools to do so. This kind of freedom of thought is more prevalent in Anglicanism but, to be frank, even they suffer from fundamentalist interpretation. Ultimately he seems unaware of the connection between his moderate faith, which provides the bulk of numbers to the larger organisation, and the inevitable fundamentalist fringe that the larger organisation unwittingly propagates.

Oh, and has anyone ever noticed that they seem to save all the big royal weddings for when the country's suffering a really tough recession?

I kinda agree Sean. It's good that they're getting married- they come across as a nice couple, but sometimes it's hard not to think the pageantry that goes along with these events is a way of soothing the masses.
They might not be in need of so much soothing if the news media weren't so preoccupied feeding the 24hr News monster that contributes to people feeling so inundated with bad news & misery. I always find I'm much happier if I avoid rolling news and news bulletins. Im happier getting my news through Have I got New For You & Mock The Week instead lol

I loled at the Boteach article. Boteach is a sort of Jewish version of Dinesh Da Souza, only not as smart. Indeed, most *Jews* are less observant than he seems to want non-jews to be. Good grief.

Did you see Frost on Satire? Jon Stewart suggests satire is cathartic, which leads one to agree with your idea that HIGNFY is indeed the most palatable sourcevof bad news!

#11

"Indeed, most *Jews* are less observant than he seems to want non-jews to be."


I think that is precisely Rabbi Boteach's point.

This is an interesting story /news/world-us-canada-11776534

The Palestinian man facing life in Prison for his Facebook profile is absurd. The Palestinian culture is obviously not a very progressive, tolerant, open culture to be steeped in