Monty Python and The Life of Brian

"The Life of Brian"... I love this movie. I used to use segments of it when I taught RE is schools. I had it worked out perfectly so as to miss all the bits with swearing in it. Except for that one day, when I was standing at the back of the classroom, day dreaming a little, without the video remote control in my hand, and Brian tells everyone who is trying to follow him to "Fuck Off!!!" I hastily made a deal with the students that involved them going out from class a little early in return for not telling anyone that there had been swearing on the TV in the chaplain's RE lesson.

But I digress...

A few weeks ago, we were watching "Monty Python's - Almost the Truth: the lawyer's cut" on the TV and there was a great segment on the time John Cleese and Michael Palin had a TV debate with The Bishop of Surrey (I think) and Malcolm Muggeridge about the whether the film degraded Jesus or not. I couldn't find that particular segment online but I did find another Youtube video on it, and it is worth a look:


I love it... I'm totally on the side of the Python crew... I love the conclusion that they come to that they can't find enough in the teachings and life of Jesus to ridicule him. What they did come up with in the end was pure gold. It's hard to imagine the movie being anything else other than what it is...

Shalom...

Blowing the Cobwebs off this Blog...

It has been ages since I've made a post on this blog and there have been many blog-able things going on. I've been a little busy with work and life, and the blog is the thing that suffers when that is the case. I just don't have, what my wife calls, "the mental real estate" to think and write about stuff when too much is happening on everywhere else in my life... Today, I just wanted to let people know that there is a great article in today's Australian called "Looking for the Real Abbott". It is about Tony Abbott's "Conservatism" and "Catholicism" (again) and how the media has been dealing with it. This article kind of builds on from my previous post (back in the dark annuls of history that it is)...

Paul Kelly (editor-at-large - what a great job title) says that the media are doing Tony Abbott a dis-service by presenting his faith in a particular way that matches a religious "narrative" about him that makes good viewing or reading, but does not present the factual story or a well-rounded picture. He puts up as an example, the ABC's Four Corner interview with Tony Abbott called "The Authentic Mr Abbott" from last Monday night, saying that Liz Jackson goes out of her way to encourage the "Mad Monk" narrative, focusing on anything negative that can be connected to his faith.

Also in the article, Kelly goes on to talk about the different approach that Kevin Rudd takes to dealing with his faith in public and asks whether the faith of our two leading politicians will become an election issue. While he says it "currently lurks in the background", I think it might be more prominent than that. The targets are seemingly too huge to resist... So, we shall see what develops... (anyway, the article is a good read)...

Shalom...

Good News Week - Religion Awards

The folks from Good News Week are pretty well known for their low tolerance of religion in most of its forms. This week on their website, they've dedicated their 2009 awards section to religion and there are four candidates (from the Pope to an Islamic magazine) copping their ire here this week. Click here to take a look (then just scroll down a little bit)...

These guys think religion is silly and have picked a few good examples here to back up their case - as most people who don't like religion tend to do. For those of us who are spiritual and religious, we need to do our best not to give people so much ammunition to back up their case. We need to stop being silly because of our religion! Anyway...

I'm reminded that Jesus also thought that a lot of religion was silly or that any kind of religion could make you silly if you let it. When he told the story about the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), he cast the first two characters as religious people who, upon seeing a wounded man lying beaten, robbed and dying at the side of the road, walked on passed because they had important religious things to do. They missed what a lot of normal (meaning "not religious") people would not have missed - that this person was hurt and in danger, and in need of help. Religion can make people silly. It can make them not see what is obviously going on around them and miss out on doing something important that could really make a difference.

Richard Dawkins - the world's most famous atheist - has often quoted Nobel prize winning physicist Steven Weinberg, who said, "With or without [religion] you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, it takes religion." This is a pretty stinging criticism of religion, but one that is not too difficult to find many cases that back it up.

We need to come back to what the Bible says about worthwhile religion; that, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:27). I think that this kind of religion is not only the kind that God would find "pure and faultless", but that others would find hard to fault and poke fun at as well. Let's make sure we keep "the main thing, the main thing" here.

Let's see people make fun of that...

Shalom...

Seeking Asylum

SBS' Insight program had a great show on this week about asylum seekers and Australia's policies and practices on border protection. Given that I wrote a post about this issue and how it was coming across in the media, I thought it would be good to pass on this show to you.

To check it out, click here .

Let’s Talk About Sex

It is entirely possible that Australia doesn’t need even one more word written or printed on the “Matthew Johns sex scandal that has rocked Australia and the NRL”… but here goes anyway…

For the past week, Australia has been talking about sex. We have been talking about it on TV and in the newspapers, we have been talking about it at home and at work, and we’ve been talking about it at the footy and at the shops. And what interesting conversations they have been. The two issues that stick in my mind are firstly, the importance of consent when it comes to sex (and what consent actually means); and secondly, the appropriateness of group sex.

So, what does consent in sex mean? Does consent mean only that someone hasn’t said no, or more that they have given their clear yes? It seems to me that sex and our sexuality is too precious a part of our own personhood and existence to not be sure in any way that all parties have agreed to be involved as a bare minimum standard! Maybe the deeper question is actually what is sex and what does it mean to the people involved? I wonder if people who go out on a Saturday night looking for sex in a place where they know there will be drinks, maybe drugs and footballers, have a high opinion of the preciousness of sex beyond how it felt, how long it lasted and who it was with. Can a low view of sex lead anywhere but eventually to pain, tears and dissatisfaction?

Regardless of what sex means for people, it is clear that the community is rallying around the idea that people need to be sure consent has been given, and not even footballers will be off the hook when it comes to the community’s mediocre standard on this. But will it be enough to stop dodgy sexual practices in football circles? As Phil Gould said on the Footy Show last week, the NRL has had multiple “wake up calls” in relation to its warped sexual culture but the incidents of sexual conquest and degradation continues. A judge recently accused a footballer of another code of thinking that he was some kind of Titan, beyond the law and the standards of behaviour that others in the community were expected to live by. My goodness, could it be true that there are hundreds of footballers of various codes out there moving through the world with that kind of attitude, particularly towards women? It is literally a time to "lock up your daughters"!

Group sex has not in my memory had such negative press, even though it has probably never been a mainstream or approved practice by many people in the community - more something that might be tittered about in a conversation or put up in a movie as some kind of rare , mountain top sexual experience for the sexual kings and queens among us. But as Phil Gould said (Yes, I know... I can’t believe I’ve quoted him once, yet twice. But I must admit I was quietly impressed by some of the things he did say on the Footy Show), as soon as a few footy blokes walked into the room that night, it was going to end in tears. Even Vossy backed up the idea that group sex would be considered by many to be a practice not looked highly upon by the majority of people in society. (Thank God for football commentators - is there nothing they don't know?)...

Another media commentator encouraged readers to imagine the scene of up to a dozen men in a dark room gathered around their team mates while they watched others having sex, masturbating, lining up to have their turn with one lone 19 year old girl. I must admit, to me it was a powerful picture of degradation of both women and sex itself. Did she say no? Did she feel like she could in that situation? Who had the power in that room? And whose responsibility was it to make sure that things were okay for her?

“Just say NO!” – good luck in that situation…

The Bible talks about sex as being something precious for people to share in a marriage relationship, and deviations from this don’t mix well with the magic and power of sex, and are against God’s intentions for it. Many Christians would see sex as something special to be shared with their life partner, something that is designed to give pleasure to the other person, in the context of their love for each other. At its core is the love and respect of the other person; their wellbeing and their pleasure. So, while the community is discussing the values of consent and questioning the appropriateness of group sex, there are some deeper questions, considerations and opinions that could be thrown into the mix to lead the conversation down deeper paths.

These have been good discussions to have, but we have a long way to go…

Shalom

To view the Four Corners report, click here . To view the A Current Affair report, click here . To view The Footy Show report, click here .

ABC Q&A - Religion, Sex and Politics

Last night, the ABC's Q&A show was entitled, "Religion, Sex and Politics" and was a very interesting watch. If you missed it and want to find out what it was all about, you can click here and get to the page where both the podcast and transcript are there for your edification.

Topics covered are alcohol use and young people, the St Mary's Catholic church situation (Father Kennedy is one of the guests), the church and sexuality and the Obama administration. I won't comment any further, I'll just bring the show and the episode to your attention. If anyone wants to chat about it, then feel free to add a comment to this post.

Shalom...