Hello to all. The recent exchanges have been great; I really like the bursts 
of energy that questions occasionally arouse in us as a group.
Personally I am delighted at Fraser's strong stance re personal attacks. 
'Let's be nice to each other', as I used to say to the rough boys in Greenock 
Academy intent on beating me up.

I was intrigued by Catriona's remark that "I'm a twentysomething and the
>longest I've been away from Lewis is a week. Yet, I don't feel like I'm
>being repressed by the churches or isolated because I like to go out for a
>drink and I've never felt compelled to leave the island. The Presbyterian
>churches don't, in this day and age, interfere with secular culture although
>they would - and why shouldn't they - object to one of their own MEMBERS
>going out dancing instead of to the prayer meeting. They don't impose their
>views on the rest of us anymore than any other interest group you might
>choose to name."

I'm interested in it because one of my sore points at the moment is the Lars 
von Trier movie 'Breaking the Waves'. Fraser's rules about being kind don't 
really allow me much scope but let it suffice to say that I consider it a 'bad 
film'. I think the portrayal of highland religion in that film [a huge 
international hit, criticially acclaimed, by the way, in Time, Newsweek, the 
New Yorker, and Macleans to name but four of North America's biggest hitters] 
is ridiculously inaccurate, skewed, distorted and simplistic. Is it just me? 
What do the rest of you think? Is highland religion always portrayed like 
this? Does it matter?

Happy Weekend to you all.
James

Dr James Lachlan MacLeod
Dept of History
Univ of Evansville
1800 Lincoln Ave
Evansville
IN 47722
Tel: 812-479-2599
http://www.evansville.edu/history/contacts.html



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