1 – The UK will lose its triple A credit rating.
2 – The Scottish Episcopal Church will have poor statistical returns this year prompting very quiet wailing and gnashing of teeth except in Argyll.
3 – At least one Church of England bishop (and maybe a pair) will be outed. (Only time I’ve retained a prediction from one year to the next).
4 – The Scottish Parliament will vote for new legislation allowing gay couples to get married. (But no such weddings this year). The details of the new category of “belief marriages” will be substantially changed and much more heavily regulated than is suggested in the recent consultation response from government.
5 – Sadly, I expect renewed campaigning for straight people to be able to enter Civil Partnerships with preparations being made for a legal challenge for 2014.
6 – The Coalition will have lower public opinion ratings by end of year due to public concerns as austerity measures bite. It will record one of the lowest public opinion rating of any UK govenment in modern times.
7 – The Church of Scotland will have a difficult General Assembly, but one characterised by fine speeches. They will approve a report which suggests having a theological study into blessing civil partnerships but not actual marriages of gay people. (This will please no-one who has any opinions about the matter and will thus be regarded as a success by those who don’t).
8 – The Church of England will be unable to agree a way forward on opening the Episcopate to Women.
9 – Justin Welby won’t put a foot wrong.
10 – The new Bishop of Durham will come from a relatively small congregation in London.
8 responses to “Bin Ladin”
-
I agree with him entirely.
Then I think my friend that you join him in a conclusion that at this moment cannot be substantiated by fact. There is no evidence that bin Laden was executed. He died in a fire fight when the team tasked with his capture tried to do so. To claim more than the facts currently state is to jump to a conclusion based in personal prejudice.
Aside from that one discrepancy, I also agree with much of what he said.
-
It did occur to me that the UK does public rejoicing (see Friday) better than the US (see this morning).
-
We have no room for complacency – remember ‘Gotcha’ in the Falklands war???
-
Yes, that was vulgar too.
-
-
Irrespective of the terrible atrocities masterminded by individuals such as Osama Bin-Laden…and…regardless of the improbable scenario of his being captured alive and put on trial, the rejoicing that followed his death was both tacky and tactless. Comments (albeit by family members of 9/11 victims) alluding to …”God placing him in Hell to rot for eternity…” similarly did nobody any favours. If anything, the backlash from extremists eager to avenge his death (martyrdom?) will now cost further innocent lives. The phrase that jumps to mind is: ‘least said soonest mended…’
-
I’m not sure that pacifist prooftexting is any lbetter than the other kinds. It’s surely morally permissable to celebrate the death of a legitimate, significant military target. And much of the “fanning the flames” rhetoric is inane – people can argue over whether nominally Islamic terrorism can be appeased , but the idea of Al-Queda dialing back their actions or reforming their ethos because (say) the world didn’t overly celebrate killing Bin Laden is ridiculous. Wouldn’t capturing him alive and forcing him to endure infidel courts be even more provocative than a martyr’s bullet and burial at sea?
-
I don’t think I like the idea of celebrating the death of anyone, Ryan.
That’s the kind of thing we find too often in the Bible, isn’t it? And it is vulgar there too.
I don’t like lynch mob mentality no matter who is on the receiving end.
-
-
Indeed – I agree that the “get it up ye!” response very much does not represent humankind at its best. But not celebrating *anyone’s* death is quite different, to me, to the most popular current arguments that largely emphasise that Bin Ladin personally is an inappropriate figure for Sic Semper Tyrannis triumphalism.
I found the Vatican’s reaction interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactions_to_the_death_of_Osama_bin_Laden#Europe
Previous Posts
-
Film Festival
The opening movie in the Film Festival last night was Ae Fond Kiss – Ken Loache’s new inter-racial romance set in Glasgow. Having spent two days last week going backwards and forwards to Pollockshields, it was rather fun to see real life portrayed in a film. Arranged marriages, children not doing what their parents expect…
-
Harvest Sermon – 3 October 2004
The interesting thing about harvest is that people have become more and more keen on celebrating it the further they have got from being the ones who gather in the crops in the fields. The harvest festival is a festival which most people think goes back into the mists of time. We imagine joyful peasants…
-
Psephology
Do not read if you are of a nervous political disposition.So, Jody Dunn made it a near run thing in Hartlepool last night. She achieved a swing of 18%, which is very impressive.In Stirling, it would take a swing of about 16 % (Lab to Lib Dem) for a Liberal Democrat to take the seat. If…
-
Ordinations
Several people I know have been ordained this week. Inevitably, it makes me think about my own ordinations, first to the diaconate and then to the priesthood. Tomorrow I’m going to Glasgow to a first Eucharist. No doubt I’ll be thinking of my own first mass. It was outside in the open air, in the…
Leave a Reply