Way back in December, we had a pleasant discussion in the comments about the bible as literature. My original post, though, was about my fond memories of the Church of England:

For me growing up, the Church of England was like the kindly but eccentric old man who lived down the road. He had a whole bunch of fascinating stories and some of them may even have been true. Everyone knew him and liked him but no one took him very seriously. I have nothing but fond memories of him.

Pharyngula has a post along the same lines today. Or rather, the original post says how crazy it  that:

 the UK actually had a legal requirement “in all state schools for pupils to take part in a daily act of worship of a broadly Christian nature.”

The comments are largely from English types celebrating the fact that the daily singing of “All Things Bright and Beautiful” is what led them to decide that the whole thing was a bunch of nonsense, giving weight to my assertion that:

There is something special about the ability of a gang of 13 year old boys that generates just the right amount of scepticism especially when they confront the aged Reverend Green relating legends from the bronze age. I think you’d lose some of that in a one-on-one setting in the home.

I have often said that humanity needs some of the pomp and ceremony and tradition that comes with religion if it would only do away with the bans on shellfish and hand shandies - oh, and if you weren’t actually expected to believe any of it. Throw in a little Monty Python imagery with its Book of Armaments and some juniper berries and you’d have the perfect religion.

Fortunately, there is a religion that exactly fits this formula. It’s the Church of England, God Bless It, Daily Act of Worship and all.

It’d never work over here though.

All things dull and ugly,
All creatures short and squat,
All things rude and nasty,
The Lord God made the lot.
Each little snake that poisons,
Each little wasp that stings,
He made their brutish venom,
He made their horrid wings.
All things sick and cancerous,
All evil great and small,
All things foul and dangerous,
The Lord God made them all.
Each nasty little hornet,
Each beastly little squid,
Who made the spikey urchin,
Who made the sharks, He did.
All things scabbed and ulcerous,
All pox both great and small,
Putrid, foul and gangrenous,
The Lord God made them all.
AMEN.

TimesSelect is no longer select and Paul Krugman is free once more! And he comes out swinging!

Check out the proportion of total income that goes to the wealthiest 10% of Americans:

Oh well. Maybe some of it will trickle down.

In the scientifically literate world, and even in many parts of the United States, evolution has become mundane fact.

The Evolution of Language