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This is a complicated issue, George, because, without wanting to support the Office of the Holy See, and despite the influence of the fundamentalist right in US politics, it is difficult to see Christianity as having the cultural primacy it once had in the West, even though that perspective might seem different in a small town in the American Bible Belt. And so the antagonism of 'Studio Dalwood' or Joao-Toto comes over as more against individuals than cultural institutions in residence. A number of generations ago it would have been different, but not now. It starts instead to have the faint whiff of prejudice. Or, bathetically, flogging that well-known donkey who is deceased. And I have to wonder exactly how their attitudes would engage with certain large objects in the literary culture, like Dante or the Karamazov, as well as small. And again, how such 'scientific' fundamentalism sits with the highly problematic nature of imaginative creation and creations. david bircumshaw ----- Original Message ----- From: "George Simmers" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2001 2:13 PM Subject: Re: Religion (was Not Guilty) > > -- All of this is such a waste of space. As if it mattered whether you are > > an atheist or not, so what? > > Yet this is an oddly relevant theme today, when the UK census form > impertinently asks people to summarise their religious beliefs in one word - > Christian, Muslim, Jewish, none, etc. All labels for members of > institutional churches. Yet the most spiritual people I know don't have > formal religious affiliations like this. > > There's a write-in box for "Other". What to put? A hippyish acquaintance is > writing "All is One". A beautifully succinct statement of her beliefs. A lot > of my students will be writing in "Jedi". Good for them. > > I'm tempted to put "Religion: Poet", but I guess that would be a bit > pretentious. > > George > > > ______________________________________________ > George Simmers > Snakeskin Poetry Webzine is at > http://www.snakeskin.org.uk >