Keir Starmer was at the official VE Day service at Westminster Abbey yesterday.
Someone in the clergy there, I hope deliberately, gave him the job of reading one of the lessons. The text he had to read came from Matthew, chapter 5, which includes the Beatitudes, which do, I think, provide some of the clearest indication of the teaching of Jesus, and its very radical nature.
Verse nine says this:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
It would appear that Starmer had the nerve to read this out without ever realising that this is his task in life, and that he is miserably failing to fulfil his responsibilities in Gaza.
As I asked a Spectator journalist yesterday, when broadcasting live on Radio Five, what is it about words in context that supposedly intelligent people do not understand when it suits their purpose not to do so? Keir Starmer would appear to be suffering very badly from that complaint.
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the Beatitudes, When translated from Greek into Amharic turn into verse indicative of an oral tradition – it is thus quite possible that they are very old indeed & certainly pre-date Christianity.
As for Starmer a cur/hyena in sheeps clothing that lies (below was clearly written with the Starmers of this world in mind).
Proverbs 26:23-28
Like the glaze covering an earthen vessel are fervent lips with an evil heart. Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart; when he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart; though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling. …
Everything in the Bible pre-dates Christianity. There’s nothing in it that’s original – not for nothing is it most accurately described as Plato for the people.
Thanks so much for that rousing raging proverb Mike Parr. Do any of RM’s erudite commenters know if this is what the term Rock ‘n’ Roll or the band name Rolling Stones is referring back to ?
Let’s face it – the church-going British Establishment, much like the US evangelical conservatives have always had a bit of a problem with the inconvenient Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount, or throwing the merchants out of the temple, or that eye of a needle stuff.
Come to think of it, most of the really good christians I know seem to be atheists…
Geof – as an atheist I fully concur.
A man who has no doubt sanctioned bombing in Yemen and sold arms to the extremists in Israel talking about peace – have we ever lived in such a time before where words and reality are so far apart?
Apparently the USA has decided that bombing Yemen isn’t cost effective (which is all that matters nowadays). So it will be left to Israel. Not sure what Saudi & UK plans are.
With regard to atheism, I suspect that God, like me, agrees with a lot (not all) of the complaints of atheists about the activities of religious people. (S/o calling himself God, has a Fediverse/Mastodon account which is quite interesting).
Most of my angry complaints to God about the way things are in the world, can be found already, in the Hebrew wisdom literature, and Jesus said plenty of stern things to powerful rulers and religious hypocrites. Neither he, John the Baptist or any of the Hebrew prophets would be allowed anywhere near Starmer’s Labour Party, on the basis of their former utterances, and previous relationships. They would all be refused on the grounds of antisemitism to start with, because of criticising Israel, and unacceptable support of “Samaritans”. 😉
🙂
Not just Christians, but the man Himself:
“Of course, God, like me, is an atheist . . . ”
Norman MacCaig, “A Man I Agreed With”
Mike Parr, I love that quote from Proverbs. It’s a perfect description for Trump too. Let’s hope that rolling stone comes back on him soon! Be nice to see him in a pit as well.
Thanks for the kind comment.
As for VE day – my mind goes back to an electrical engineer I worked with in Saudi- when I was young & stupid (old & stupid now). Bill McEwan, 3rd wave @ Normandy, 70% casualties in his unit and he fought his way from the beaches to Hamburg. Brave man. “Aw Mike is was nuthin, hardest thing was takin my German wife back to Scotland in ’47”. Modest as well. I will be toasting him tonight somebody worth knowing.
It’s not just Keir Starmer it’s the historical philosophy of the west. I visited a native American museum and saw a poster that said they came in ships and thrust a book in our hands that said thou shall not steal and then proceeded to steal our lands.
Why would a member of the western elite be any different today? As Naom Chomsky pointed out when he was in better health, genocide is acceptable for the west because alot of western history is founded on it.
Our present political ruling are unremittingly dim and grim.
For any who may be interested in on the ground developments regarding Starmer/Mandelson’s new bestie, POTUS Trump’s autocracy, I highly recommend having a look at Robert J Rei’s substack. Today, May 10, he is incandescant about the violent ICE immigrant deportations happening mass media sub rosa in his home state of Massachussetts.