Comments on From Under The Duvet..: The Blame Game

"you are far across the oceanbut the war is not yo...

2006-03-04T21:25:00.000Z

"you are far across the ocean
but the war is not your own
and while you're winning theirs
you're gonna lose the one at home
do you really think the only way
to bring about the peace
is to sacrifice your children
and kill all your enemies

the politicians all make speeches
while the news men all take note
and they exagerate the issues
as they shove them down our throats
is it really up to them
whether this country sinks or floats
well i wonder who would lead us
if none of us would vote"
(Words: Larry Norman Song:'Great American Novel' 1972)yet how they resonate today...hum!?

"There are two great lies that I've heard; the day you eat of the fruit of that tree you will not surely die and that Jesus Christ was a white middle class republican. And if you want to be saved you've got to be like him." (Words Derek Webb 2006)

Despite my rather strongly worded retort, I do sha...

2006-03-04T01:08:00.000Z

Despite my rather strongly worded retort, I do share some of your sympathies. I don't like to see God used as a token or banner for someone's ideology or agenda, and so have very very sensitive feelers for anyone saying summit like that in the public. But in this case, as is quite rightly pointed here:

“I was appalled by the news this evening, which implied that Tony Blair was using God as an excuse for going to war. The excerpt from the interview that was shown gave a very different interpretation. The very thing that the newsreaders were decrying, stirring up religious hatred, they were guilty of. He said that as a Christian, his conscience was shaped by his faith in God and that God would judge his decisions. The news report implied that God told him to go to war. IMO totally inaccurate and indefensible broadcasting. Very worrying too in these unstable times.”

We have to look at how it's filtered by the media - who're more interested in a headline than any nuances or effects of what they say and pass on by distortion. If Tony had pretty much mentioned God, most reporting would’ve been various shades of lurid - partly cos there seems to be an almost pervasive secular anathema to talking about the sacred in our public spaces.

ps. I must say my fairly crude and undeveloped sense of justice was heartened to hear that the people behind that massive robbery are gradually being pulled in. Good-oh.

Ok, yes, they weren't on Bush's level and that is ...

2006-03-04T00:12:00.000Z

Ok, yes, they weren't on Bush's level and that is something I am incredibly grateful for. And I do think God should be consulted but... oh, I don't know.. I do think there has been a bit of a, as you say, knee-jerk reaction to it but I can't help but wonder what he hoped to accomplish by saying it. We all know his beliefs - how will the Muslims, and other religions which he governs over, react to this?

Rachxx

As has been commented to some extent here, I think...

2006-03-04T00:02:00.000Z

As has been commented to some extent here, I think most of the reaction to the comments is more of a joke. What he actually said, that he prayed to God in seeking to come to an understanding and decision about going to war, is hardly controversial. If religion means anything to Christians, it must embrace all parts of your life - it would be a strange act to go and exclude God from this part of his work.

What seems to be the case, certainly from the headlines that’re somehow extrapolated (with a lot of twisting) from his words, is that there are a lot of people out there that have a knee-jerk reaction ready in advance. And the majority of what I’m reading is along the lines of either “I don‘t like what he decided, so how dare he come before God and then decide differently to what I think” or else an allergic reaction to the very mention of God in public. A lot of people need to get a sense of perspective, to treat what he said with some more fairness. This is hardly George "I’ll see war as an instrument of Godly good and freedom, and not be too fussed about killing people, then go and sprinkle rose petals over Ghandi’s grave as a testament to peace" Bush territory.

Rugby: Boo!
Walk the Line: Yeah! Go and see it.