Monday, June 20, 2011

The old foggies at qanda want to watch out for those prepared to question

qanda tonight .
Did you notice the young geek who dared to speak heresy in church last night - couldn't close him down even with an angry boy. (" don't look at me" the blessed saint of ABC gen Y said)
The Heretic used that word Liberal, and without hestitation qualification or cynicism  - and the congregation's mouths dropped - how dare he !  The point is,  he wasn't advocating one party over another , just truth telling and seeking proper scientific discussions - something  that ABCTV will go into history celebrating kindergarten level engagement on. If you are not a scientist stop telling us what we think or alternatively, "what poor scientists we must be ". What would U know really ? 

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Guilt,Original Sin, Denial and Redemption are back

Careless theologians might celebrate that , at last , the ABC has brought Guilt, Original Sin and Denial aback into  the conversation . Perhaps not so much the word "guilt "( still forbotten ) , but certainly the feeling of it.  The PM qanda and Broadcasters  preach righteousness with an urgency unheard of in their youth .  The feeling is clearly that "we are all sinners and carry a burden of guilt"  ..... it is  in the headlines and the words of our leaders ; " its the right thing to do " the word "should ".  They want to change the word but keep the sense of it - how plagerisiic and non like author like they are

BUT ,Like the worst kind of church ,  its the kind of sermon where the sinners are outside and the righteous are inside . The righteous being absolved by riding bikes and recycling rubbish. The members inside claim those outside are in denial of the truth ..... but who knows . The real truth maybe not said or said openly ( why do churches have a box for confession )- it may until dealt with remain denied or hidden.  It could be that the insiders are higher up some righteous ladder,  but who would know ? Who cares and why ?

But , no reason for complacency or ignoring the facts -  penance is no substitute for proper payment .  The big theological question is not how much I sin compared to how much you sin ( typical cheap grace scenario)  but whether by breathing or farting, we all sin.   The key question is how to take it and deal with it .
The reality is,  if carbon dioxide is the worry they say it is , we are all in the shit as it were .Original Sin is back - with a vengeance.  And the return of OS is  making people nervous about all sorts of things they weren't previously worried about - like eating meat and killing animals. If footprint is the issue , then we all share the blame . As for guilt ,you don't hear the word ,but you smell it in the wind .Powerful if not directional .( the reactionaries  biggest problem is they can't nail the future  )
The popularity of the carbon tax is understandable in this moral context . But is the CT a substitute tax , a token  tax or a proper payment or purchase or redeeming tax?
 One thing is clear ; there is a lot of tokenism in the temple taxes,  and not much true reconciliation- of who pays. This is the dumb debilitating nature of the discussion so far - it doesn't take "meeting the mark" to its logical conclusion PERSONAL responsibility accountability and effectiveness. No other way ! Also if you go into the cul de sac one way there is no option but to back out (rep ere)
Whatever happened to the Liberals love , not of temple tax,  but "user pays" - its much more truly liberal in philosophy , substance and sustainability than their dumb worship of the market.
Good theology would for clarity sake say,  clearly  that , "while original sin exists , the only way to tackle sin productively is to target particular sins and pay the full cost price for each of them  ( only suspect economists advertisers and polys would say otherwise .....but they appear to have their sway)  . A CT will not pay full price - its a token tax , and worse still it doesn't target the real sinners - only big sinners will  pay ( whatever that means - biggest thing in town will be environment court) . And while maid Julia's men will rob everyone,  good people will receive a handout and .....bless the pope . ( So like dream,  its not really funny ....is it? )  do ( predictably it is going to build the god of government ) but which more prerogative and focused taxes like full taxes have been doing ( and should still do )
The real test of a good tax is whether it works to give both  effective use of taxes and yields an acceptable level of reconciliation- but without the high and irrational cost of penance .  The CT is trying to do lots of things ----including plain tokenism and irrational guilt mediation .
More people are going to church but are they leaving with a blessing!
Sound doctrine can do what its always done - set a workable framework  for thinking about life and its challenges.