A story of the secular that assumes a progressive and inevitable move from more religious to less religious is a reduction of experience to the point of actual and symbolic violence. It is an ethnocentric projection which prolongs a sense that We have superseded history to take an objective position. It seeks to de-anthropologise one set of human values in relation to another. … More The secular is not just about religion.
3.86m people (84.2%) of people living in Ireland defined themselves as Roman Catholic in April 2011, a decrease on the 87% who did so in 2006. Due to general population increase, however, just under 180,000 more people define themselves as Catholic than in 2006.
The next largest religious grouping is the Church of Ireland/Anglican Communion with 129,039 people (2.8%). … More Census 2011
In the same way as religions have to adapt their ways to be allowed to enter particular forms of being public (non-judgemental, rational, immanent etc.), many of these authors wish the field of play to be cleared so that their own tin soldiers can be placed in the ‘correct position’. They’re like the child who chides his peers for not playing the game ‘right’. … More GY802 Key Concepts In Geography 2
It seems to me now that Ireland’s complacent, property-obsessed middle classes (yes, that’s me) are in a similar position. We think that making the banks work ‘properly’ again is the objective of these ‘adjustments’. It is not for this objective that the hospital wards are closing this year. This is little short of the Irish economy being turned inside out for shareholder value. … More 3. work if you can 4. dream. 5. act
I came across this short piece of video (sorry, no embedding) last week and I am surprised by it. Perhaps I shouldn’t be; after all, writers have been telling us about American exceptionalism for about 20 years now. This is the idea that the place of religion in the US politic has not followed a … More Muslims at the Capitol
53 degrees 