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Saturday, October 15, 2011

On sin, heresy, and why I do not comment here on Wall Street and its occupiers

It is Saturday morning, the sun is shining, and today has the genuine appearance of being a a Day Off.

Perhaps time to write less about Anglicanland and its territorial fights, and more about myself and the wider world.

It is a sin to worry, we say, so I am quite a sinner at the moment. I am worried about tomorrow night's Rugby World Cup semi-final between New Zealand and Australia. I am worried that our captain Richie McCaw's injured foot is going to let him, the team and the nation down. I read yesterday that he has not been running at training this week. Shouldn't we be putting a fully fit No 7 out on the field against the very fit and healthy Australians?

It is heresy to deviate from orthodoxy. Orthodox thinking says that Australia rarely wins at Eden Park (it's last victory there over the All Blacks was in 1986). But orthodox thinking also says that the All Blacks crash out of World Cup tournaments (our record since first winning the trophy in 1987 is: losses in semi-final, final, semi-final, semi-final, quarter-final). One heresy will triumph over another tomorrow night. But which heresy?

Kurt in a comment below takes writers here to task for not commenting on the Occupy Wall Street movement. I cannot speak for commenters here, but speaking for myself, I would love to write about politics, national and international. I follow American, British, and, of course, Kiwi politics quite closely. However, if this blog is to have much of a life I think it needs a distinctive focus and so most of what I write is about Anglican things, and when I don't write about those things I write about closely related things, such as Bible passages, or what a distinguished theologian has written, etc.

For what it is worth, this is my thinking: the real battle over Wall Street needs to be fought in Washington, and it is noticeable how over the years the battle has been so lightly fought by successive generations of politicians. Does that mean most of the American people are reasonably comfortable with Wall Street's collusion with whomever is in power, and vice versa?

4 comments:

  1. I do wish that BBC America would show Rugby instead of these interminable re-runs of 'Top Gear.' It's a sport I wish would catch on in America. Rugby is exciting and fun to watch. Plus, it's enough like Football that Americans can quickly grasp the rules. Rugby and Football are after all close cousins.

    I will be checking the listings but I am not hopeful.

    carl

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  2. Of course, the real FOOTball is played mostly with the feet! Soccer is the most popular FOOTball played on a world-wide basis. Other games, entertaining though they are - and very dangerous for the energetic players - are mostly based on hands and other body parts (e.g. groins, backsides, shoulders and heads, that so often suffer sever injury.

    I guess Richie MsCaw is one of the few Rugby Players to sustain a severe FOOT injury. May he be quickly healed, Lord. Amen!

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  3. Couldn't care less about Rugby, but I am interested in the fact that at least some of the Occupy Wall Street protestors appear to be members of a rent-a-mob.

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  4. Soccer. Home of the insurmountable 1-0 lead.

    Wait a minute! Yes, there is at long last some excitement to report from the soccer match. Our reporter has confirmed that indeed the grass on the soccer field is most definitely growing.

    carl

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