Comments on New Humanist Blog: Derry methodists try to ban city's Hallowe'en fest...

Apologies, my link got truncated somehow - last pa...

2009-10-16T15:45:00.015+01:00

Apologies, my link got truncated somehow - last part should of course read "index.html"

There is a an interesting (and certainly tongue-in...

2009-10-16T15:42:58.815+01:00

There is a an interesting (and certainly tongue-in-cheek) counter-petition here :

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/satanic_rights/index.html

On the grounds that Mr. Campbell’s petition is illegal under Article 9 of the Human Rights Act 1998. The Word of God is not enforceable under UK law, but thankfully the Human Rights Act is.

> ... what's the other biggest day for satanists? ...

2009-10-16T10:39:34.740+01:00

> ... what's the other biggest day for satanists?

I'm guessing "Burn Your Baby Tuesday". They then donate the ashes to the Catholics for use on "Ash Wednesday".

By the bye, at the risk of missing something stult...

2009-10-15T17:29:58.007+01:00

By the bye, at the risk of missing something stultifyingly obvious, what's the other biggest day for satanists?

The Reverend's not actually all that extreme in hi...

2009-10-15T11:31:32.990+01:00

The Reverend's not actually all that extreme in his opinion. Halloween's routinely condemned by conservative Christians, and in the US I went to school with a good percentage of kids who didn't celebrate it because their parents considered it 'Satan's holiday'. It's got nothing to do with the Bible; it's one of those great mixtures of puritan Christianity and paganism, doubly cool because they tend towards the fun (Christmas morning, trick or treating) and inspire the occasional entertaining ill-informed backlash.

So in a way, it's good news for Derry - instead of getting into the news for sectarian hate, they're getting into the news for routine Protestant hate. Party on.

I think this is great. I love it when the over-ach...

2009-10-15T11:17:51.560+01:00

I think this is great. I love it when the over-achieving wing of a religious organization does something like this to make itself, and the organization that it represents, look utterly ridiculous.

Good for you, Rev Campbell, more like this, please! Can we perhaps look forward in due time to a sermon on the "real meaning of Christmas"? I'm sure it will be a stonker.

Actually, I'm not at all sure that "bad faith" is what the Rev Campbell is demonstrating. Bad faith is when people make a stand that they know is erroneous but insist on doing so hypocritically. In the case of the Rev. Campbell, I have no doubt that he is utterly sincere in his convictions. In that case, an accusation of "bad faith" misses the mark. Perhaps "culpable naivety" expresses it better.

I am not nominating anyone for the Bad Faith Award. There is just too much choice in all walks of public life.

Hmmmm ... the signatories to the petition appear t...

2009-10-15T10:32:47.197+01:00

Hmmmm ... the signatories to the petition appear to be significantly orthographically-challenged.

Visit the petition web site and click on the 'Signatures' tab.

Many of them, in their comments, have difficulty in spelling such words such as 'satan', 'witch' and 'wizard'.

Obviously not the brightest bunch of citizens in Derry.