I caught sight of a celebrity tweet several days ago, carrying all the hallmarks of a Gareth Cliff tweet — inflammatory, incendiary and poking fun at someone. The stream of tweets in reply did not disappoint. Cliff of course knew exactly what he was doing, and that he would get a mixed response of supporters […]
religion
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
A birthday card for the Arch
Dear Archbishop Emeritus, Happy birthday! May October 7, the day of your 82nd birthday, be filled with joy. You are very special to many of us, and we are blessed to celebrate 82 years of your presence among us. This is a very short story of why you are special to me, and why I […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, Lifestyle
Abuse of the sacred
A campaign called “Abused Goddesses” is drawing massive engagement and attention around the world. Initiated by a women’s empowerment organisation in India, called Save our Sisters, which helps prevent the trafficking of women and children, it makes use of a series of images of Hindu goddesses, Saraswathi, Lakshmi, Durga with bruises and cuts in an […]
Posted inMedia, Tech
Star Trek, technology and being human
When I lived in the US, I made sure to catch at least one episode of the original Star Trek television series, conceived by Gene Roddenberry in the 1960s, which has spawned at least 10 feature films to date. Had I wanted to, it could have been up to half a dozen a night, on […]
Posted inEquality
Coffee with an atheist
Hey there! How you doing? I’m sorry you turned down my invitation to meet over coffee. It seems you’re really annoyed by me, when we’ve never met. I would like to understand why. It’s much easier to dislike someone when you know nothing about them. Please be assured I have no intentions of arguing. I […]
Posted inLifestyle
Dear atheist, stop talking about Jesus
If you want Jesus to go away you have to stop talking about him, and it’s perfectly okay in modern society to not believe in God, but you have to stop telling the world about it at every opportunity, or you merely affirm its existence. Let me explain: I have been fortunate to spend this […]
Posted inGeneral
Fellow Muslims, don’t be silenced by the extremists
By Sumaya Hendricks The pursuit of being a devout Muslim who strives to embody the values, personality and mission of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is inextricably interconnected with practising fairness, justice, kindness, peace and other moral superlatives. As Muslims in the 21st century, who are blessed with enormous potential and opportunity, it […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle
Diagnosing Santa Clause
“What if Santa came to hospital?” read my online update. “What diagnosis would you give him?” A team of friends gathered around to deliberate. The options were plenty; but the prognosis looked poor. Friend One went deep. “Terribly low self-esteem, of course,” she quipped, “he does feel the need to buy his friends”. Could the […]
Posted inGeneral
The technology and theology of ‘Battlestar Galactica’
One of my all-time favourite science-fiction series, Ronald D Moore’s Battlestar Galactica, which ran for four seasons in the US – from 2003 to 2009 – and was an expansion of and imaginative re-elaboration on the Glen Larson 1978 television series by the same name, is much more than meets the eye. This is true […]
Posted inGeneral
Lennon and Laing – kindred spirits
John Lennon and RD Laing – two individuals who worked in entirely different cultural fields; the one a singer, songwriter and pop star, the other a psychiatrist (perhaps experimental psychiatrist), writer and radical thinker of the left. What they had in common, was arguably the fact that they were both utopian visionaries, and both were […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
The ANC is not a broad church but a narrow cult
One of the most frightening episodes of my entire life was the time when, years ago, as a young man, I got sucked into a bizarre fanatical religious cult. No, I’m not talking about the Dutch Reformed Church. Neither am I referring to Facebook. Neither of these organisations were quite as demented as the particular […]
Posted inGeneral
Don’t touch a pastor on his studio
“Religion is the opium of the people.” – Karl Marx A good day to you in the name of my holy television set. On SABC 1’s Worker’s Prayer program early this morning, it was well when Florentina’s testimony of a reckless, sluttish lifestyle was used to much profit. Then, in a stroke of spiritual inspiration, […]