Speaking of Easter messages part 11 ...

(Above: the pond can never get enough of pictures of men in frocks).

The anonymous editorialist at The Australian delivers such a fine homily today, it would be remiss, even rude, not to celebrate its celebration of Christianity and Easter ...

It seems, just like Cardinal Pell, that The Australian has discovered Japan is based on fine, solid Christian principles:

As Cardinal George Pell says in his Easter message, our humanity is defined by how we grapple intellectually with the challenges of suffering and evil, or refuse to do so; but even more by what we do in response to catastrophes when they touch us or come close. Those who lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods in the floods and cyclone that ravaged eastern Australia, in the Christchurch earthquake and further afield in the tsunami, earthquake and nuclear meltdown in Japan last month found their courage and resilience tested to the limits in the face of almost incomprehensible suffering. At such times, societies bound by sound, solid values pull together and recover better than those wracked by discord and hopelessness.

Yes, it seems a society based on Shinbutsu shūgō , or any amalgam or variation of of Shinto and/or Buddhsim you care to make will be bound together, by sound solid Christian values, and will pull together and recover better than those wracked by discord and hopelessness.

But wait, what's this in the wiki?

About 70 percent of Japanese profess no religious membership, according to Johnstone (1993:323), 84% of the Japanese claim no personal religion. In census questionnaires, less than 15 percent reported any formal religious affiliation by 2000. And according to Demerath (2001:138), 64% do not believe in God, and 55% do not believe in Buddha.

Eek, it seems that the Japanese should be wracked by discord and hopelessness, or is it just another bit of Pellist heresy worshipping fatuousness and stupidity emanating from the anonymous editorialist?

Does he or she, in the confusion between Japan and Christianity, simply lack the guts to name Islam as the cause of all the discord and hopelessness and divisiveness in the world, as opposed to harmonious luminous Christian beliefs?

We have to think the latter, if this rhetorical flourish is any guide:

The Easter message inspires our forward-looking attitude to life, built on hope, that for 20 centuries has made enormous strides by encouraging our best endeavours to deliver progress. Backward-looking, repressive cultures fixated on past golden ages are not conducive to progress.

What, unlike fundamentalist Christians fixated on a golden age, and thinking the world kicked in to gear in 4004 BC? (Yes, we always like to role out the Ussher chronology on important occasions). Always rabbiting on about being expelled from the Garden of Eden and getting into a rage with women for delivering the apple, and the adam's apple, and believing in the serpent? (and let's not get too Freudian, or we could be here for hours).

Talk about blind superstition, or arrant mythologising, or animist tendencies:

An animist tendency that attributes everything that happens, for good or ill, to dark forces beyond our control renders us helpless victims of fate.

Ah, so that's the reason the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry (Republican, it almost goes without saying), recently issued a proclamation calling upon Texans to pray for rain for three days:

WHEREAS, the state of Texas is in the midst of an exceptional drought, with some parts of the state receiving no significant rainfall for almost three months, matching rainfall deficit records dating back to the 1930s; and

WHEREAS, a combination of higher than normal temperatures, low precipitation and low relative humidity has caused an extreme fire danger over most of the State, sparking more than 8,000 wildfires which have cost several lives, engulfed more than 1.8 million acres of land and destroyed almost 400 homes, causing me to issue an ongoing disaster declaration since December of last year ...

WHEREAS, throughout our history, both as a state and as individuals, Texans have been strengthened, assured and lifted up through prayer; it seems right and fitting that the people of Texas should join together in prayer to humbly seek an end to this devastating drought and these dangerous wildfires;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, RICK PERRY, Governor of Texas, under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes of the State of Texas, do hereby proclaim the three-day period from Friday, April 22, 2011, to Sunday, April 24, 2011, as Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas. I urge Texans of all faiths and traditions to offer prayers on that day for the healing of our land, the rebuilding of our communities and the restoration of our normal way of life.

Yes, some mumbo jumbo animist prayers should do the trick. Sweet absent lord, talk about dangerous animist tendencies.

Oh dear, as Edward G. Robinson might say in that great flick The Ten Commandments, where's your messiah now Governor Perry?

(Eek, it's a wan ton orgy of progressive sinfulness).

Have the Texans thought of cloud seeding instead?

You think I'm joshing right? Well whoever pulled the April Fool joke together did a very fine impression of the Office of the Governor Rick Perry with Gov. Perry Issues Proclamation for Days of Prayer for Rain in Texas.

But back to The Australian's anon edit:

The Easter message, by contrast, draws out the best in humanity. It urges us to forgive past wrongs, to be reconciled, to show compassion and, where needed, begin anew.

Silly me, and there I was thinking it showed the joys of persecution, and the pleasure of sending unbelievers to an eternity of hellfire and damnation, and with not a whit or jot of reconciliation, forgiveness or compassion required ...

After all, that's the only way to deal with heretics and people who get the message wrong, and the anon edit happily shows how it's done with that wicked Reverend Niall Reid:

We feel that the Reverend Niall Reid, moderator of the Uniting Church synod of NSW, drew too long a bow, however, in claiming that such catastrophes are the "inevitable outcome" of "unthinking addiction to economic growth" by powerful people "no more willing to contemplate a different way than they were when, for expediency's sake, they sent Jesus to the cross".

Well indeed the anon edit would say that, wouldn't he or she, because if you talk Niall Reid's remarks literally, it would seem Chris Mitchell, editor of The Australian, and its entire team of climate science denying columnists are just like a bunch of Romans crucifying Jesus and/or climate change science, and will therefore be shortly heading off to hell for all eternity ...

Whatever we need to learn from the unfolding science of climate change, natural disasters were part of human experience before the time of Christ. The Easter message should not be hijacked by one side of politics.

What, there were natural disasters before 4004 BC? Or was that the time when dinosaurs walked the earth with people, and caused the odd disaster?

The thought occurs to the pond that perhaps the Easter message shouldn't be hijacked by The Australian's anon edit to blather on about how Christianity has brought progress to the world.

That's how you end up with the usual nonsense about the wisdom of the markets, the wisdom of Rupert Murdoch, and the need for a complete lack of regulation so that the two wisdoms can produce mayhem.

It's how, even as The Australian's anon edit preaches a message of the unifying power of Christianity, that he or she manages to turn into a splitter, an arbiter between different theological strands, a schismatic, a factionalist, a denominationalist, a sectarian, perhaps even a cultist, as they prefer the George Pell brand of cult climate denialism over the Niall Reid brand of climate science.

And so it is with the cult of economic growth:

Nor should the pursuit of economic growth be equated with sin. Soundly and ethically pursued, economic growth is essential for lifting millions of people out of poverty, creating meaningful employment, providing healthcare and education, funding philanthropy and enhancing human dignity. On that score, the Parable of the Talents makes interesting reading.

Actually what makes interesting reading is Jeff Madrick on The Wall Street Leviathan in The New York Review of Books (outside the paywall):

In Reforming US Financial Markets, Robert Shiller ... describes new economic theories that take into account more realistic appraisals of how Wall Street works and demonstrates why more effective regulation is necessary. The old theory of rational markets, which laid the groundwork for light regulation, “is one of the most remarkable errors in the history of thought,” Shiller writes. He believes that regulators can and should decide to raise capital requirements during periods of excessive speculation.

Yes, we always turn to The Australian for the most remarkable errors in the history of thought.

There's plenty more in Madrick as he reviews a Wall Street run amok, and various responses to the rampant beast by authors and film-makers, so why not give him a read rather than the pious platitudes and multi-faceted nonsense to be found in The Australian?

That way, you can also avoid the standard set of blowhard routines, rather like the work of a puffer fish, to be found in Christopher Pearson's Tax calls PM's leadership into question.

It's a standard bout of Gillard bashing, that meanders on at great length, and really only gets going right at the end, when that great doofus Paul Howes is dragged into the mix, along with Bill Shorten, and of all possibilities and wild-eyed notions, that the Silver Bodgie himself might be called back to achieve a Hawke-like consensus on the carbon tax ...

I have to say that it made my Easter Saturday, the thought of the Silver Bodgie returning Christ-like, resurrected so to speak, to superintend a national economic summit, as he did in the glory days of April 1983. Now that puts the resurrection of the Lord into a much diminished context ...

Meanwhile, in his passing reference to the slump of the Rann government, Pearson discreetly fails to mention how in recent days Rann has somewhat carelessly lost a Minister, upper house acting Police Minister Bernard Finnigan (here).

The hapless Rann government is currently in the middle of something of a crisis, what with polling putting its primary vote below Labor in the NSW election (24%), and sundry crises erupting (MP child porn charges shatter South Australian Labor Party).

All the same it's strange, you would have thought Pearson would shed a tear for Finnigan:

Catholic observers will remember Mr Finnigan as the young graduate from Adelaide University who was not impressed with the Youth Liturgy at the regular Adelaide Sunday evening Mass in St Francis Xavier Cathedral, and who wrote about his displeasure in AD 2000, March 1995. In a radio interview this morning [27/04/06, ABC 891 Radio] he affirmed his commitment to both the ALP and Catholicism. He has been identified as 'conservative', and admits to having spoken out against 'condom culture’ in society, and in support of traditional family values.

Some have remarked that for one so young and new to Parliament - Mr Finnigan is 33 years old and single - he has been given an important portfolio within the ALP Government. Others have noted that this role has come to one who was chosen by the party rather than elected by voters. In accordance with the South Australian Constitution, Mr Finnigan replaces a member of the Upper House whose death occurred recently.

For better or worse, many see the elevation of a prominent Catholic conservative to a significant position in Government as one more indication of the growing relationship between the Catholic Church and the Rann Government in South Australia. (here in Online Catholics an independent Australian ejournal).

Yes, let's hear it for traditional Catholic Christian conservative values and to hell with condom culture. As the anon edit at The Australian would assure us, it's the only conceivable progressive way forward ...

Well no doubt more will emerge from South Australia in due course with regard to the hapless Rann government, but in the end, even the anon editorialist at the lizard oz comes around to the pond's position by noting the true meaning of Ēostre, a time of decent pagan celebration and feasting, and perhaps the odd orgy:

Periodically, the human spirit needs time out from the everyday routine to regroup, enjoy a good glass of wine and a few chocolates, a good book or movie and the company of family and friends in order to return refreshed.

Indeed. It's time for another hot chocolate and hot cross bun, and of course a prayer for rain in Texas - seeing as how it would be wrong, unseemly and unduly triumphal to tell the Governor that La Niña has sent more rain to Sydney right this minute, and perhaps Republicans should take another look at climate science before they settle for prayer ...

Yes, it's time to believe in the power of prayer, especially a prayer that a little sanity might some day settle amongst the Murdoch hacks, especially the anon edit at The Australian ...

(Below: Texas governor Rick Perry tries an unusual form of cloud seeding, or is he just taking aim at the Lord, or is it just another moment in his coyote-killing ways, as explained in Texas gov. shoots, kills 'wily' coyote during jog. Another of the many Ripley's Believe It Or Not!, the world of the weird, behind the unbelieveable moments that litter the pond).