Bridge of Reason

 

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about (Mt.1:18) How it irks some people to hear the Christmas Story. How some like to debunk the whole business, setting out all the pagan motifs and festivals that have been usurped – “stolen” – by Christians to give us the familiar Christmas emblems. Oh, perfidy thy name is Christian! I recall a conversation I had with a Jehovah’s Witness who explained conspiratorially that the famous children’s “Ladybird Books” had produced a little volume explaining the origins of many of our familiar Christmas customs. He explained, sotto voce , that “they” didn’t like it and so the volume was mysteriously removed from the shelves of WH Smith. Next day I went to a book store and bought a copy off the shelf and have it on my desk as I write this. It is called “Christmas Customs”. I am not sure who “they” are but… Most of the cosy and heart-warming motifs we relish today were given us by Charles Dickens , including snow. How often have children in th...

A Weekly Bible Reading for Bridge Builders The Richmond Briefing has been a weekly feature of the Reachout web site for five years and is now available on the blog. To find out more and read earlier briefings go here Reading – The Literalist’s Christmas (Luke 2; Matthew 1&2) This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about (Mt.1:18) How it irks some people to hear the Christmas Story. This week I saw a YouTube video by a self-proclaimed atheist purporting to debunk the whole business and setting out all the pagan motifs and festivals that have been usurped – “stolen” – by Christians to give us the familiar Christmas emblems. Oh, perfidy thy name is Christian! I recall a conversation I had with a Jehovah’s Witness who explained conspiratorially that the famous children’s “Ladybird Books” had produced a little volume explaining the origins of many of our familiar Christmas customs. He explained, sotto voce , that “they” didn’t like it and so the volume was mysteriously r...

I wish to point out that the typo in the heading comes direct from the Daily Telegraph whose copy office is probably haunted by the ghost of Samuel Johnson, a man who was never that punctilious about what he put in his famous dictionary. When he was asked by a lady why he defined ‘pastern’ as the ‘knee’ of a horse, he replied, ‘Ignorance, madam, pure ignorance.’ “The village is said to have at least 12 spectres, including a highwayman, a phantom monk, the hanging body of a schoolmaster and a poltergeist in the local pub.” It seems that things that go bump in the night are not the fun-packed entertainment they are popularly thought to be. If only more would grasp this truth. Britian's most haunted village 'cancels Halloween' - Telegraph

George Orwell's 1984 is being lived out in Quebec as a repressive new law mandates that, regardless of their religious affiliations, teachers must teach and students learn the most meaningless pluralism imaginable while parents with strong religious beliefs are ignored as the state takes over their children's spiritual development. "No religious leaders are solicited for their views in this text, but Françoise David, the radical-feminist leader of the Marxist party Québec Solidaire is “interviewed.” Beside a large picture of Mme. David, benignly smiling, face upwardly tilted in the old Sovietic mode, the question is posed: “What would you say to those adolescents who don’t feel concerned about feminism?” David replies: “[Adolescents] need a feminist analysis in their life.” Paganism and cults are offered equal status with Christianity. Witches “are women like any other in daily life;” “Technologically [the Raelians] are 25,000 years in advance of us.” And considering that...