Category Archives: God

Dumb as all the rocks you’d need to stone a harlot

Posted on April 14, 2008 by acb

I have just watched a documentary about Swedish jihadis, Det Svider i Hjärtat, which has not, so far as I know, been discussed in England, though it has been shown at the Barbican, something I only found out while posting. … Continue reading →

Posted in God, Sweden, War | 1 Comment

Timewasting notes

Posted on April 10, 2008 by acb

A new hazard of technology: Roz Kaveney complains that every time she asks in a department store for a black beret, she is sent to the electronics department. A nice touch from Gideon Rachman’s FT blog: As we were assembling, … Continue reading →

Posted in Blather, God, Net stories, Science without worms, Trouty things | 3 Comments

hymns for public execution

Posted on April 3, 2008 by acb

I note that Bishop Alan Wilson is celebrating an earlier Buckinghamshire Vicar who went mad but not before writing a hymn which was was thought suitable for public executions. What hymns would readers wish to hear at such a moment … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | Comments Off on hymns for public execution

Rowan on Auden: WTF?

Posted on March 21, 2008 by acb

Last week Rowan Williams contributed a preface to the Guardian’s little pamphlet of Auden poetry. Did anyone at any stage, read what he wrote? In particular, did anyone actually read the following two sentences? The technical skill is always exceptional. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God, Literature | 9 Comments

The nerd is the enemy of civilisation

Posted on March 20, 2008 by acb

Inspired by Scott Rosenberg, I have started to read Joseph Weizenbaum’s book Computer Power and Human Reason. Weizenbaum, who died last month, was the inventor of ELIZA, the first chatbot; and he was so horrified by the enthusiastic reactions to … Continue reading →

Posted in God, Net stories, nördig, Science without worms | 6 Comments

Onward, Christian soldiers

Posted on February 25, 2008 by acb

There is a rather good and very chilling article in the most recent Atlantic by Eliza Griswold, daughter of the former Presiding Bishop, which casts some light on the reasons why Dr Akinola might want to hold a conference in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 1 Comment

Filthy synod blogging

Posted on February 13, 2008 by acb

There is something about the extreme boredom of a routine synod meeting which fires up the erotic imagination, and yesterday afternoon, as I sat in the press room trying to summon up the will to live, or at least to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blather, God | 4 Comments

Monday Press blogging

Posted on February 11, 2008 by acb

Let the record1 show that Ruth Gledhill had the only news this morning, and that her analysis piece actually moved forward our understanding of the story. She is the only person who has actually explained how the catastrophe happened — … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God, Journalism | 4 Comments

Emergency press blogging

Posted on February 10, 2008 by acb

There is so much going on in the Rowan story that most will be forgotten by Tuesday, when I come to write a proper press column, so I thought I would put some disorganised notes on the Sunday papers here. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God, Journalism | 2 Comments

I bet they kill this par

Posted on February 8, 2008 by acb

But when you open tomorrow’s Guardian there ought to be an analysis on the news pages that starts like this: The Archbishop of Canterbury, a man whose prose is as luxuriant as his beard, might not have anything in common … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God, Journalism | 3 Comments