The Nativity Pigs

There were pigs in my daughter’s Nativity Play. She told me as much weeks ago, but I finally saw for myself last night. They are part of a cast of anthropomorphised animals that decide to stay awake to see the arrival of their presents. Santa Claus is not mentioned, but the surprise birth of Christ will occur that very night in the animals’ manger…. So, let’s get this straight. The animals, which include the only domesticated pink pigs in first century Judea, are excited about celebrating a Christmas that hasn’t been invented yet.  What I am describing is Caroline Hoile’s “Cockadoodle Christmas”, a musical created for three to seven year olds, containing eight original songs. With weird surreal convolutions and contradictions in the plot, it is a very apt representation of Church of England religious culture.

The FIRST House on the Left - Review of "The Virgin Spring"

Plot:

A young Christian girl, Karin (Birgitta Pettersson) embarks on a journey to take the candles to the local church - a task only befitting a virgin of pure spirit. She is accompanied for part of the journey by her pregnant foster sister, Ingeri (Gunnel Lindblom) who secretly worships the Norse god Odin and has jealously wished a curse on Karin. On the journey the two part company and Ingari encounters a one-eyed man who causes her to flee in terror. Meanwhile Karin encounters two shepherds and a boy. What follows is a cycle of vicious violence and retribution that will leave Karin's distraught father (played by Max Von Sydow) praying for redemption...

Review:

I feel I must apologise first for any spoilers I might inadvertently blurt out in my review/examination of this classic picture. However, in my humble defence this is a film based on a traditional moral tale and revealing the beginning middle and end is about as harmful as telling you the full plot of Cinderella before you see Disney's interpretation. This is really a film about how the story is portrayed, interpreted and executed than the actual plot.

Seven days of change and consequences - a book review of "The Godless Boys" by Naomi Wood

Set in an alternative history where England is ruled by the Church and the secularist community has been banished to a solitary island, Naomi Wood’s debut novel,“The Godless Boys”, is a story about a dramatic week on the island. Nathaniel, the son of an original member of the secular movement, leads a gang of teenage boys, the Malades, who are determined to protect the island from any religious influence. This means intimidating potential “gots” and prowling the streets at night. Eliza Michalka lives a sorry existence on the island - a part-time prostitute and a part-time undertaker who drops corpses into the surrounding ocean - she pines after her lost love, the aloof fishmonger Arthur Stansky. However, this week all their lives will be changed when Sarah, daughter of 1976 church-burner, Laura Wicks, stows away to seek out her mother on The Island…
We are living in a time that has seen the rise of fundamental religiosity and New Atheism. Therefore it isn’t difficult to see where the author’s inspiration came from. Why she decided to set it in 1986 is another matter altogether. There is little in the way of obvious parallels with the real 1986, but I guess it helps to keep matters simple without the presence of the internet and the normalcy of mobile phones. The whole book is markedly minimalistic without being pretentious. This is perhaps reflective of the two radically opposing philosophies that form the backdrop of the story.

Wood does not explore the details of either the Christian dogma that now rules England or the strict secularist movement of The Island. Two vital dates are given for when secularists, usually involved in anti-religious activity such as church burning, were deported – 1951 and 1976 – and we are given an overview of the violent struggles between the state and rebels, but otherwise the history of the whole conflict is kept down to a minimum. Likewise aside from Christian imagery and the hatred certain characters, such as Nathaniel’s Malades, have towards religion, there are little intricate details regarding what each side actually believes. Despite one newspaper critic describing The Malades as Richard Dawkins in bovver boots, there is nothing whatsoever mentioned regarding a scientific argument against the Christians. The Secular Movement’s problems with the church are never lain out or described. Therefore, this could be a story about any society divided into polarized factions.
This leaves the story to be entirely character-driven and concerned with the relationships its players experience over seven days. One man, an ardent first generation secularist, will re-evaluate his relationship with God. Nathaniel will be made to reconsider his devotion to The Malades. Arthur and Eliza will have to look at the personal defensive walls they have created. However, the driving force for change in all of this – the story’s catalyst – is Sarah. She enters having already received a revelation after 10 years not knowing her mother had been arrested for being involving a Secular Movement terrorist attack. Although the story follows her fact-seeking mission, she seems to be the only character that isn’t experiencing personal changes in her attitude, having already gone through a dramatic personal crisis.

Despite some of its adult content, “The Godless Boys” reminds me of the typical sort of material read for GCSE English. This is not a slight on its simplicity, but I think there might be a lot teenagers can relate to in the text. “The Godless Boys” is also a story about consequences and the way different individuals react to dramatic changes. Nathaniel is a part of his tragic father’s legacy, but little does he realize he is leaving a legacy of his own in The Malades. His personal philosophy and beliefs have their own consequences. Wood succeeds in getting this across, providing certain moral twists reminiscent of David McKenna’s “American History X” that provokes a lot of thought.

Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com

Book Review: "Counterknowledge"

"Counterknowledge" is a portmanteau created by Damian Thompson to describe the mass of misinformation and disinformation being propagated by quack doctors, conspiracy theorists, pseudoscientists and pseudohistorians in the modern age. As the name suggests counterknowledge is the enemy of knowledge; whereas as one is drawn from research, experience and logic, the other comes from the imagination, superstition and irrational thinking. Thompson's book reveals how the blatant disregard for empirical facts and lack of rational thought seems to becoming ever more fashionable. Once the stuff of fringe "thinkers", urban mythmakers, New Age adherents, self-styled mystics and the paranoid, now counterknowledge is seeping into the mainstream and gaining ill-deserved respectability.

Pseudoscience has skipped the robust peer reviews and clinical testing that science has to endure. Now completely unscientific methods like homeopathy have found their way onto the NHS and being paid for by taxpayer's money. Aromatherapy has no basis whatsoever in modern science and its benefits have never been properly measured under controlled scientific conditions, and yet it has found its way into nearly every health spa, beauty treatment clinic or mainstream bubble bath company in the developed world. On the other side of the coin we have similar irrational thinking supporting conspiracy theories that scare people into staying away from modern medical procedures. Despite the huge weight of evidence of tremendous benefits incurred by vaccinations over the past two centuries, a wave of counterknowledge has prompted a reasonable percentage of parents from not allowing their children to take the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) jab.

The subject of conspiracy theories haunts "Counterknowledge" as it rightfully argues that they are the most popular form of pseudohistory being propagated. The book appropriately begins at a dinner party where a politician begins discussing his view that the 9/11 attacks were all part of a US government conspiracy. For a brief moment it seems that the politician's audience have become captivated by this theory. However, and to the author's relief, a rational thinker is present who is able to argue the ridiculous implausibility of a scheme. Science doesn't support any of the theories put forward for the destruction of the towers by conspiracy theories, especially not the controlled demolition one supported by the so-called "Truth" movement. As Thompson points out the Bush Administration certainly had its critics and enemies at the dinner, but few of them could shift their thinking from the president being incompetent or just plain wrong to being something resembled a James Bond villain!

Conspiracy theories are rife in our society and the flames of this weird way of looking at the world were appropriately fanned by a historically inaccurate work of fiction in 2003. Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" takes the thoroughly debunked research of pseudohistory, "The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail", and creates a thriller comprising of secret societies, hidden messages in works of art and a hidden truth that the heart of Christianity. Thompson rightfully puts the real history of HBHG and subsequently "The Da Vinci Code", which has its fictional story prefaced with a "fact" about "The Priory of Sion". He leads us, as Tony Robinson did in his documentary "The Real Da Vinci Code" and David Aaronovitch did in "Voodoo Histories", back to a work of alternative history created by Gérard de Sède, with the collaboration of the draughtsman Pierre Plantard in the 1940s to '60s. "The Priory of Sion" has been proven and even admitted by its creators to be a hoax created in around 1956, not the "real organization" of 1099 that Dan Brown claims in his novel's "factual" preface.

Thompson links in another important principle found in Dan Brown's book to the thinking behind counterknowledge. He demonstrates this in Brown's hero, the renegade professor Robert Langdon whose method for studying history involves making giant leaps to connect various events even when there is no sufficient date to support these claims. Such an approach is, of course, very much in line with the conspiracy theorist, but it is also in line with the methods of the hyperdiffusionist. And it is the area of hyperdiffusionism that Thompson should be most applauded in drawing attention to. This is the belief that a superior civilization is really responsible for the creation of the architecture and society of other previously thought to be indigenous civilizations across the globe. One example of hyperdiffusionism is the theory that the Chinese discovered the Americas and brought civilisation to them. This, Thompson argues is another growing form of pseudohistory and it is becoming more and more prevalent in the mainstream.

Thompson argues that there are a lot of reasons for the emergence of counterknowledge, but sees a lot of it stemming from the rise of postmodernism. It's something I had never considered before, but having now read Richard J. Evans's excellent 1997 book "In Defence of History" I can see where he is coming from. Much of the propagation of counterknowledge comes from celebrities and postmodernists. However, it has also become the unforeseen by-product of political correctness. Thompson rightfully points out how religious freedom and tolerance has allowed the teaching of creationism in some schools and the right for students not to attend classes that teach evolutionary theory on the basis of their religious beliefs. Thompson himself is a Catholic, the editor of a Catholic newspaper for that matter, but this is never something that he puts into his arguments. However, he does feel that whilst many sceptics spend most of their time combating fundamentalist Christians on Creationist theory, confronting Muslims on the issue is almost a taboo subject. This is in spite of the huge number of Muslims who do not accept evolutionary theory.

As can be imagined, "Counterknowledge" is a controversial book, even though if you break down its areas of study shouldn't really be controversial. After all, he is not the one arguing against mainstream science, history and logic as we know it. However, his critics range from obvious opponents who support the areas he attacks to even those who should be in his field. Many of the obvious opponents, particularly the conspiracy theorists who are still convinced by HBHG, often hit the author with the ad hominen argument of his Catholic faith. As previously stated, this doesn't even come into the book, although Thompson is quite vocal about his criticism of stances taken by the Vatican on creationism. Those on his side too, who have large numbers of atheists and agnostics, can also feel uncomfortable about this fact. I see it as rather refreshing. In this time where creationism has become such a loud talking point, it is worth remembering that not only did a large number of Anglicans support Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, but that the Catholic Church's current stance acknowledges it as do most rational Christians, including the Church of England.

Another common criticism from fellow sceptics comes the fact that book is quite brief, despite covering quite a variety of topics. In this respect they are annoyed it doesn't delve deep enough. I don't see this as a handicap. There are plenty of weighty books written by the likes of Michael Shermer, Richard Dawkins, Richard Wiseman, Ben Goldacre, Christopher Hitchens and so on discussing pseudoscience and mysticism, often more in the form of collected essays rather than chaptered books. If you want to go down the historical avenues you can look do no better than David Aaronovitch's book on conspiracy theories, "Voodoo Histories", or Kathryn Olmsted's "Real Enemies" or if you want to go deeper still into the roots of the postmodern problem, Richard J Evans's "In Defence of History" is a fantastic if fairly academic read. So, there is room for a lighter introductory book. What I like about it is that unlike most of the rational sceptical books I enjoy, is it leans more towards history than science and helps to give a broader view of what is happening in our society today. Its delivery makes for a very readable insight into the nonsense thinking that is creeping into our education systems, local bookstores and even at government level.

Damian Thompson's work is the perfect bait to hook the person in the street who might have half believed conspiracy theories and pseudoscience. "Counterknowledge" gives readers some straightforward and effective tools to help them lean towards rational critical thinking, science, historical theory, reason and logic.

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Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com

Running Scared from Religion: A Review of "Foreskin's Lament"

Cover of Foreskin's Lament: A Memoir

At roughly two thirds through Shalom Auslander’s “Foreskin’s Lament” the author explains in a letter he is trying to write to his unborn son:

“I know it doesn’t make sense. I know I shouldn’t believe it. I know, and I know, and I know, but I just can’t seem to get this Character out of my head. I’ve tried to forget, I’ve tried to reframe Him, to rewrite Him, to move on. I read Sam Harris. I read Richard Dawkins. It all makes sense, but none of it helps. Maybe I am beyond help”.

This really is the crux of book. One man’s battle with the ultraconservative religious conditioning he received growing up as an Orthodox Jew in Spring Valley, New York. However, don’t expect a complete overt ridiculing of religion - although it is far from respectful – this is a battle that is set to end one way: in negotiations.

This is a continuation of the theme Auslander began in his debut book, “Beware of God” and uses the same very humorous commentary style. It is this particular style that makes the whole book reads more like a therapy session than a biographical work with the author shifting between the impending birth of his first child and his experiences growing up in Spring Valley; his time spent studying in Israel, his work as a “shomer” (a watcher of dead bodies) and his eventual casting out of his community. There are plenty of times when you read the work tongue-in-cheek; wondering if this is really the work of an atheist putting across an irreverently satirical idea. The repression and hypocrisies of his family juxtaposed with their holier than thou veneers comes across as classic irreligious farce. It is arguable that Auslander uses God as a disguised metaphor for the very nature of his family and his particular community.

However, Auslander’s discussions, particularly with his wife, Orli, who regularly remarks “They really did a number on you”, are very convincing. You genuinely feel for the idea of a person fighting against his early programming through over devotion then rebellion, a return to devotion and finally an acceptance of a type compromise outside his cultural group.

“Foreskin’s Lament” is very amusing from start to finish - full of quotable lines that would move even the staunchest theologian – and despite the word “irreverent” popping up in the majority of reviews I did not find any intentional malice directed at anyone, not even God.

Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com

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