A Simple Explanation of Islam
June 4th, 2006, search relatedRelated posts :: A Simple Explanation of Islam :: A Simple Explanation of Islam :: Probing CLouds… :: Probing CLouds…
Tags: Islam
In a message dated 04/06/2006 02:07:36 GMT Standard Time, phil at thalasson.com
writes:
In article , GEVANS613 at aol.com writes
>You [and some others on this list] may be surprised to know that in
>*real* life, I am not overtly anti-religious at all. I attend the
>Catholic Cathedral whenever there is a sung high mass - I love the
>atmosphere and chorale pieces of religiously inspired music.
I take it that the music is the only reason for your attendance.
“It has been shown, beyond doubt, that nowadays, with the poor quality
of ingredients for the sacramental bread and wine and their
lackadaisical preparation, nearly all Masses are null and void.”
Huysmans in A Rebours
Jud:
Read it again Philip old horse - * I love the
*atmosphere* and chorale pieces of religiously inspired music.*
So no - it is not just the music alone - there is [in kiddie-speak] a
*being with* - a sharing of a certain predictable, stylised, cultural milieu and
ambience which I enjoy. [Like I enjoy the atmosphere in a Mosque BTW]
The churches, the cathedrals, the shrines, the religiously inspired music,
are as much a part of the atheist’s cultural heritage as anybody else’s’,
funded, underwritten and maintained with the help of obligatory tax concessions
coughed-up by all - not just the members of the church, so I see no reason to
doctrinally avoid such places and miss out on cultural goodies and delights
simply because one does not believe in God. A hero of mine was Zinoviev [a
Communist leader] who at the height of the October revolution ran around
exhorting the Bolsheviks not to destroy their own cultural heritage by burning
churches, historic houses and palaces and demolishing statues of past Czars etc.
As for Huysman’s complaints about the quality of the ingredients and
preparation of the sacramental bread, I cannot be a judge of that because I never
partake of the holy sacrament. The wine? Maybe Huysmans was a wine-buff or a
plonky, or wanted something a little stronger - who knows? I think it’s a bit
churlish of him to criticise God’s free alcoholic handouts anyway. He could
have always dug into his own deep pockets and donated some better quality
hooch to be blessed by the priests, and put the money where his mouth is?
Cheers,
Jud Evans.
