Jul 29, 2019 03:47 AM
(This post was last modified: Jul 29, 2019 03:49 AM by C C.)
Boris Johnson’s confusing and contradictory religious history
https://www.economist.com/erasmus/2019/0...us-history
EXCERPT: Britain's religious leaders [...] are wondering what to make of Boris Johnson. As with many areas of his chaotic life, the new prime minister’s spiritual antecedents, and his present convictions, are a bundle of contrasts and confusion. In a nutshell, he has Muslim, Jewish and Christian ancestors. He was christened a Catholic by his mother. He was confirmed in the Anglican faith ... In 2015 he told an interviewer it would be “pretentious” to call himself a “serious, practising Christian”. But as a guest on “Desert Island Discs”, a BBC radio programme ... he said he would “sing a few hymns and march up and down” to keep his morale up. On the other hand, none of the music he chose to have played on the show was spiritual: it ranged from Brahms to punk-rock.
Seven Christian denominations, mostly non-conformist, have already written to him warning that no-deal Brexit, an option he is firmly keeping on the table, will exacerbate poverty and food shortages. Catholics have observed that Mr Johnson is the first person baptised into their faith who has been master of 10 Downing Street, the prime ministerial residence [...] But the Roman faith doesn’t seem to have left much mark on him...
Jewish commentators noted with approval that as foreign secretary, Mr Johnson visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem, spoke fondly of his Jewish roots, and praised Israel as the region’s only democracy. But his immediate Jewish ancestors were not devout... Meanwhile a Muslim businessman, Mohammad Amin, responded to Mr Johnson’s elevation by resigning from the Tory party in protest at the politician’s record of inflammatory references to Islamic face-veils...
Over and above these more or less tenuous connections to the Abrahamic faiths, there is another worldview which, in the view of Mr Johnson’s biographer Andrew Gimson, holds much stronger personal appeal for the new prime minister: the polytheism of ancient Greece and Rome, whose literature he studied at Oxford University. In fact, Mr Johnson has some sympathy with the view that Christianity, with its emphasis on guilt, meekness and self-denial, sapped the strength of the Roman Empire. As Mr Gimson notes, “it is clear that [Mr Johnson] is inspired by the Romans, and even more by the Greeks, and repelled by the early Christians.”
The prime minister apparently shares the classical belief in omens and portents, along with a Homeric sense that great heroes should be free to act out their passions and break free from moral constraints. All that may sound like an utter contradiction with the conventional forms of Christianity that marked Mr Johnson’s upbringing and education. But that contradiction is hardly unique to Mr Johnson. It pervades the entire cultural tradition in which he was raised...
Does secularism guarantee support for social justice? (UK)
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transfo...l-justice/
INTRO: Earlier in July, the results of the most recent British Social Attitudes Survey were released. Beleaguered journalists were busy reporting on Boris Johnson’s unfailing talent at evading questions, so coverage was unusually lite. Where there was any comment, it tended to focus on the survey’s headline insight about the decline of religiosity, with the results showing that the number of British people describing themselves as religious has dropped by more than 20% in the last decade.
There was, however, very little mainstream commentary on one of the survey’s other key discoveries – that tolerance towards gay sex is falling for the first time since the Aids crisis.
One reason for this lack of coverage might be its ostensible incongruence with conventional wisdom surrounding the liberalisation of social attitudes, which is usually attributed to the growth of secularism.
Yet recent events suggest that the findings are not so inconsistent after all, since - at least in the case of LGBTQ+ normalisation, equality and visibility - the presumed relationship between secularism and liberalisation has already been thrown into question by a string of recent backlashes.
The BSA survey is just one example of this trend, coming in a Pride Month in which MEP Ann Widdecombe assured a national TV audience that “science may yet produce an answer to being gay,” a lesbian couple were viciously attacked on a London bus, and plans for nationwide school protests against “No Outsiders” were announced – a primary school programme designed to teach children about the characteristics protected by the Equality Act, and featuring LGBTQ+ inclusive lesson materials.
Though admittedly anecdotal, these incidents give us pause to examine the tendency to treat secularism as the driving force in favour of liberal progressivism. They point to a divided social landscape in which the majority in favour of LGBTQ+ acceptance stand diametrically opposed to a small yet increasingly emboldened minority who vocally resist it.
This is a binary which is undoubtedly inflected by religion, but it isn’t one which will be resolved by further passive drifts towards secularism. If we want to bridge this gulf and ensure that social views continue to shift forwards, then we must challenge the psychology that underscores all regressive attitudes, whether motivated by religion or not. That means introspecting on the ways in which we construct culture and engender normative beliefs, and taking active steps to enshrine the liberal values of the majority into the institutions of secular society. (MORE - details)
(UK) Muslim woman yells 'shame on you' at man with LGBT flag at Pride march (video)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...march.html
EXCERPT: Muslim woman wearing a niqab shouts 'shame on all of you despicable people' in shocking homophobic rant at Pride march in London. She repeatedly screeches 'God made Adam and Eve' and wags her finger at man. The 'disgusting abuse' happened in Walthamstow, east London, yesterday. Metropolitan Police is investigating and branded the shocking rant a hate crime.
This is the shocking moment a Muslim woman spits homophobic abuse at a reveller on a Pride march in east London. The niqab-wearing woman was filmed screaming 'shame on you' to a man draped in the LGBT rainbow flag during the rally on Hoe Street, Walthamstow, yesterday. She screeches 'God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve' while a marshal in a high-vis jacket moves in to shield the clearly shaken Pride marcher. The video was shared on Twitter by Yusuf Patel who wrote: 'Disgusting homophobic abuse at those on Waltham Forest Pride today. (MORE - details - video)
https://www.economist.com/erasmus/2019/0...us-history
EXCERPT: Britain's religious leaders [...] are wondering what to make of Boris Johnson. As with many areas of his chaotic life, the new prime minister’s spiritual antecedents, and his present convictions, are a bundle of contrasts and confusion. In a nutshell, he has Muslim, Jewish and Christian ancestors. He was christened a Catholic by his mother. He was confirmed in the Anglican faith ... In 2015 he told an interviewer it would be “pretentious” to call himself a “serious, practising Christian”. But as a guest on “Desert Island Discs”, a BBC radio programme ... he said he would “sing a few hymns and march up and down” to keep his morale up. On the other hand, none of the music he chose to have played on the show was spiritual: it ranged from Brahms to punk-rock.
Seven Christian denominations, mostly non-conformist, have already written to him warning that no-deal Brexit, an option he is firmly keeping on the table, will exacerbate poverty and food shortages. Catholics have observed that Mr Johnson is the first person baptised into their faith who has been master of 10 Downing Street, the prime ministerial residence [...] But the Roman faith doesn’t seem to have left much mark on him...
Jewish commentators noted with approval that as foreign secretary, Mr Johnson visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem, spoke fondly of his Jewish roots, and praised Israel as the region’s only democracy. But his immediate Jewish ancestors were not devout... Meanwhile a Muslim businessman, Mohammad Amin, responded to Mr Johnson’s elevation by resigning from the Tory party in protest at the politician’s record of inflammatory references to Islamic face-veils...
Over and above these more or less tenuous connections to the Abrahamic faiths, there is another worldview which, in the view of Mr Johnson’s biographer Andrew Gimson, holds much stronger personal appeal for the new prime minister: the polytheism of ancient Greece and Rome, whose literature he studied at Oxford University. In fact, Mr Johnson has some sympathy with the view that Christianity, with its emphasis on guilt, meekness and self-denial, sapped the strength of the Roman Empire. As Mr Gimson notes, “it is clear that [Mr Johnson] is inspired by the Romans, and even more by the Greeks, and repelled by the early Christians.”
The prime minister apparently shares the classical belief in omens and portents, along with a Homeric sense that great heroes should be free to act out their passions and break free from moral constraints. All that may sound like an utter contradiction with the conventional forms of Christianity that marked Mr Johnson’s upbringing and education. But that contradiction is hardly unique to Mr Johnson. It pervades the entire cultural tradition in which he was raised...
Does secularism guarantee support for social justice? (UK)
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transfo...l-justice/
INTRO: Earlier in July, the results of the most recent British Social Attitudes Survey were released. Beleaguered journalists were busy reporting on Boris Johnson’s unfailing talent at evading questions, so coverage was unusually lite. Where there was any comment, it tended to focus on the survey’s headline insight about the decline of religiosity, with the results showing that the number of British people describing themselves as religious has dropped by more than 20% in the last decade.
There was, however, very little mainstream commentary on one of the survey’s other key discoveries – that tolerance towards gay sex is falling for the first time since the Aids crisis.
One reason for this lack of coverage might be its ostensible incongruence with conventional wisdom surrounding the liberalisation of social attitudes, which is usually attributed to the growth of secularism.
Yet recent events suggest that the findings are not so inconsistent after all, since - at least in the case of LGBTQ+ normalisation, equality and visibility - the presumed relationship between secularism and liberalisation has already been thrown into question by a string of recent backlashes.
The BSA survey is just one example of this trend, coming in a Pride Month in which MEP Ann Widdecombe assured a national TV audience that “science may yet produce an answer to being gay,” a lesbian couple were viciously attacked on a London bus, and plans for nationwide school protests against “No Outsiders” were announced – a primary school programme designed to teach children about the characteristics protected by the Equality Act, and featuring LGBTQ+ inclusive lesson materials.
Though admittedly anecdotal, these incidents give us pause to examine the tendency to treat secularism as the driving force in favour of liberal progressivism. They point to a divided social landscape in which the majority in favour of LGBTQ+ acceptance stand diametrically opposed to a small yet increasingly emboldened minority who vocally resist it.
This is a binary which is undoubtedly inflected by religion, but it isn’t one which will be resolved by further passive drifts towards secularism. If we want to bridge this gulf and ensure that social views continue to shift forwards, then we must challenge the psychology that underscores all regressive attitudes, whether motivated by religion or not. That means introspecting on the ways in which we construct culture and engender normative beliefs, and taking active steps to enshrine the liberal values of the majority into the institutions of secular society. (MORE - details)
(UK) Muslim woman yells 'shame on you' at man with LGBT flag at Pride march (video)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...march.html
EXCERPT: Muslim woman wearing a niqab shouts 'shame on all of you despicable people' in shocking homophobic rant at Pride march in London. She repeatedly screeches 'God made Adam and Eve' and wags her finger at man. The 'disgusting abuse' happened in Walthamstow, east London, yesterday. Metropolitan Police is investigating and branded the shocking rant a hate crime.
This is the shocking moment a Muslim woman spits homophobic abuse at a reveller on a Pride march in east London. The niqab-wearing woman was filmed screaming 'shame on you' to a man draped in the LGBT rainbow flag during the rally on Hoe Street, Walthamstow, yesterday. She screeches 'God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve' while a marshal in a high-vis jacket moves in to shield the clearly shaken Pride marcher. The video was shared on Twitter by Yusuf Patel who wrote: 'Disgusting homophobic abuse at those on Waltham Forest Pride today. (MORE - details - video)