Religion: January 2003 Archive Page

"The fact is that the world is divided between users of the Macintosh computer and the users of MS-DOS-compatible computers. I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant. Indeed, the Macintosh is counter-reformist and has been influenced by the "ratio studiorum" of the Jesuits. It is cheerful, friendly, conciliatory. It tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reachóif not the Kingdom of Heavenóthe moment in which their document is printed. It is catechistic: the essence of revelation is dealt with via simple formulae and sumptuous icons. Everyone has a right to salvation. DOS is Protestant, or even Calvinistic. It allows free interpretation of scripture, demands difficult personal decisions, imposes a subtle hermeneutics upon the user, and takes for granted the idea that not all can reach salvation. To make the system work you need to interpret the program yourself: a long way from the baroque community of revelers, the user is closed within the loneliness of his own inner torment." Umberto Eco's 1994 essay turned up on an index to Marshal McLuhan Studies.

--Mac vs. DosMcLuhan Studies)

Cranky avant-garde novelist Kurt Vonnegut on George W. Bush: "He's in the same business I'm in. He's telling stories. It turns out this is the simplest of all stories to tell. I mean, I want to hold attention when I write something. What he wants to be is interesting. And revenge is interesting. I've said there are two radical ideas that have been introduced into human thought. One of them is that energy and matter are pretty much the same sort of stuff. That's Einstein. The other is that revenge is a bad idea. It's an enormously popular idea but, of course, Jesus came along with the radical idea of forgiveness. That was radical. If you're insulted, you have to square accounts. So this invention by Jesus is as radical as Einstein's." --Vonnegut at 80Nuvo)

Thanks for the link, Jim. It is very hard to think of forgiveness when faced with images of North Korea's concentration camps.

"Israeli geologists say a purportedly ancient stone tablet detailing repair plans for the Jewish Temple of King Solomon is genuine... Our findings show that it is authentic... If officially authenticated, the find would be the first piece of physical evidence backing up biblical texts. It could also intensify competing claims to the site in Jerusalem's Old City, where the stone is said to have been found, which go to the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict." --Biblical Technical Writing: Plan for Repairing Solomon's Temple FoundBBC)

Update, 20 May -- Scientists: its a fake.

"As his twenty fourth year as Pontiff comes to a close, the physically frail yet still forceful Pope John Paul II has told his clergy to add 'Blue Stars' to the revered rosary beads. These stars will replace every fifteenth bead on the traditional talisman." --In Departure For Catholic Church, Pope Adding 'Blue Stars' to RosaryBroken Newz [satire])

The article creates an alternate history timeline in which the introduction of Lucky Charms to Poland inspires the collapse of the Communist empire. Not quite as good as The Onion's "Aged Pope 'Just Blessing Everything in Sight,' Say Concerned Handlers".

"This is the story of the revival of York Mystery Plays from the Festival of Britain in 1951 to the present day told by the many individuals who have been involved with the Plays - whether as actors, stage hands or front of house - through their personal memories, photographs and press cuttings."

--York Mystery Plays -- Illumination: From Shadow into LightNational Centre for Early Music)

A wonderful site that focuses on the music that accompanied these wonderful devotional and instructive plays from the Medieval town of York, England. (See my own York Corpus Christi Simulator.) Thanks for the suggestion, Heidi Johnson of the National Centre for Early Music, in York, England.

"Clonaid, linked with a group that believes life on Earth was originally cloned by aliens, said two women had given birth to babies it had cloned. It at first said it would present DNA evidence but has delayed doing so." --A Name for Clone Babies: 'Hoax' Wired)

More news from the department of "duh": the "cloned baby" reports are probably hoaxes. I'm amazed at the amount of press this "scientific" announcment has received, and how little skepticism I've seen in the mainstream media.