Mark Say's Blog (3)

Orthodox autocracy in Russia

I just listened to a Radio 4 documentary on the increasingly tight relationship between the Putin government and hardliners in the Russian Orthodox Church. It revolves around the Pussy Riot case but highlights a trend in Russian society that is extremely scary.

A series of religious figures and politicians declare that any criticism of the church threatens Russian society and amounts to a crime and deserves some serious…

Continue

Added by Mark Say on October 3, 2012 at 9:42am — 1 Comment

Bishops in politics

Should we ever applaud a church leader making a political statement?

I ask because of reports in the UK that the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church of England, is ready to slam the government's Big Society programme, saying it will be an excuse to cut state support for the vulnerable. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/23/rowan-williams-big-society-cameron

Like most liberals…

Continue

Added by Mark Say on June 24, 2012 at 11:27am — No Comments

Bible in schools

Interesting story in the UK today; Richard Dawkins approves of government plan to put Bible in all state schools.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/may/19/richard-dawkins-backs-free-bible

Prompted two thoughts. One is that there's a lot of complaints from christian groups here that they are persecuted by militant secularists, and this shows that atheism is essentially a tolerant…

Continue

Added by Mark Say on May 20, 2012 at 8:23am — 12 Comments