Now is the Content of my Winter

This is SO counter-intuitive. It’s really hard to get your head around. It seems plain common-sense that much of the violence we see in our world is caused by religion. And here I am trying to tell you that it’s the other way round? That violence causes religion? It’s like saying UP is DOWN. Exactly. Up IS down. That is a reality that was kindly explained to me by that nice Indian optometrist at Specsavers. “You know that our eyes actually see the world upside-down,” he explained in his emollient tones. “Eh?” I replied. I could feel a stupid look on my face. In a moment I would look like a heavy-browed Neanderthal and be saying “Wha(t)” without pronouncing the ‘t’. “Yes,” Mr Specsavers continued amicably as if addressing a small child. “The lens in the eye inverts what it sees, and projects it upside-down onto your retina.” This sounded vaguely obscene, so I just said, “Oh.” “So your eyes see the world upside-down. But fortunately our brains are smart enough to...

     I'm a Presbyterian. Pray for me.      In 2013, the Presy General Assembly of Australia affirmed the biblical definition of marriage as a “lifelong  union of one man with one woman, voluntarily entered into, excluding all others…”      The proposition is not unreasonable. Marriage, according to the Bible, is one man and one woman. It's possible to debate if this is what the Bible says, of course. It's not hard to point out that lots of polygamists are splattered about the early part of the Christian Bible, but, well, nobody was perfect then.      Anyhow, let's now cavil. This is, as I say, a very reasonable position. The Church is certainly entitled to say it. And to believe it. Indeed, I rather like it myself, probably because Judy and I entered into such a relationship almost 48 years ago. And we're still in it. So, if the Church wants to say it's the proper definition, that's perfectly fine. Fo...