Sunday, January 22, 2006

The Wazirstan Beatitudes

You couldn't make it up when Osama bin Laden drives Rogue State up the Amazon bestseller list. But for a good read I would rather go to Kurt Vonnegut's A Many Without A Country.

Thanks, Kurt, for the reminder last week that it was Bomber Command that committed the largest single massacre in European history (135,000 in a single night at Dresden) and this week:

"For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings...I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere".

May I give you a hint, Kurt. Number Ten: "thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house; ...[nor] thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass".

Many of us have a really hard time not coveting our neighbour's maid-servant, nor his ox. Me especially. We need to be constantly reminded.

For a more serious thought on religious values in America see Charles Marsh on Wayward Christian Soldiers.

Gary Wills writes:
"There is now [in the US] an inverse proportion between religiosity and sincerity."

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