How do you plead ?

There have been two recent court cases in the news which have caught my attention.The trials of Steve Wright for the murders of five prostitutes in Ipswich and of Levi Bellfield in London for the murders of two other women are extreme examples of the hatred for the feminine in the world . They trigger feelings of revulsion for the two accused and there have been calls for the return of the death penalty .In our eyes they are guilty and have been sentenced to prison for life and both of them will probably never see the outside of a prison again . But it is only our view of them not the view of God ,Life or the Universe ( whatever your decription is ) .

It is only humans who dispense ' justice ' . One of the principal questions in religion is : Why does shit happen and why does God let it happen ? Some religions say that there is justice and evildoers will go to Hell or one will receive Karma if not in this life , in the next one . Neither of these two theories seem particularly truthful to me . If God wanted to dispense some form of retaliatory judgement I do not think he would wait – it would be immediate and would be commensurate with the crime . 'An eye for an eye , a tooth for a tooth . ' But our experience shows that there is no divine revenge . Some of the most heinous crimes in the world go unpunished .Many mass murderers die in their sleep without any punishment and in government circles , one will probably receive promotion and be feted as a hero .

So why is this ? My view is that the Universe sees Life differently to us .The world is a bit like Mr Magoo without his glasses – we don't see the whole picture . I suspect that God does not even see pain , death or disease . Our feelings of guilt , fear , hate etc do not even exist , as God could not conceive of such things . I also suspect that we have this same vision , but that it is clouded by our imaginary view of Life . These events are only occuring in our mind –they are not real . If the world was real , they would be terrible , but we are caught in a nightmare of our own making . The World needs to go to an optician !

My fellow Americans

It is election year in the USA and I doubt whether anybody will regret George Bush leaving the Presidential office . I think most people's view is that his successor cannot be any worse than him and his criminal posse . The choices appear to be between John McCain , Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and it is a pleasant surprise that the next President will have a higher IQ than a 8 year old , even though I am not holding my breath that there will be a great change in American foreign policy.

As an interested observer in England , the most striking difference in elections ,apart from the length of time , is the emphasis that is placed on being an American . It appears , sometimes , that there is nothing outside of the USA , that it is the whole world and Americans seem completely stunned when the outside world intrudes on the USA .About the one saving grace of 9/11 was the light , which was shone on US foreign policy and has forced the American public to question their government and its actions , even though this does not seemed to have made any difference . But what is striking is the arrogance that many Americans show to the outside world .Some of them really do think they are better than the rest of the world and their armed forces have behaved with breathtaking disdain for the citizens of the countries they have invaded . I do not let my own government , and the rest of the countries who have assisted the US , off scot free but there seems to be a difference in the attitude of the armed forces of the different countries .

However , this arrogance does highlight one of the Ego's main personality defect . It is not just Americans who think like this – it is in every human being in the world . Everybody will have someone or some group of people , who they think they are better than . Samuel Johnson was quite correct when he said that " Patriotism is the last refuge of the scandal . " The English think they are better than the French and vice versa . Men look down upon women and women look down upon men . Even in families , there is a hierarchy of power . However , when we look at the world through our true eyes , we will see that there are no differences – Life is Life is Life . The wino or the beggar or drug addict is no less worthy than anyone else . We like to use labels , but what we really are is Life . The Ego uses arrogance to continue our separation from one another ,but Life is a whole . When countries or individuals fight each other it is like the individual members of a football team arguing amongst themselves –stupid and ultimately counter productive . If we can change our perspective on the world there will be no more George Bushes in the White House .

Is the Catholic Church a paedophile ring ?

From last Thursday's Times :

" Paul Gordon has waited 30 long years for justice . This week the former " pasty-faced and weak schoolboy" who was sexually abused by a religious order who paid off his father finally saw his tormentors sent to jail.The sex abuse case is the latest to hit the Catholic Church in Ireland whose moral authority has been destroyed.

From the mid 1960's St John's National School in Sligo , northwest Ireland was a dangerous place for children.Police believe that at least 50 boys , and probably many more were abused by religious and lay teachers . "

This is just a brief outline of Mr Gordon's case- I will not give any further details because they are too sick and disgusting for my blog . But it appears plain that there was a paedophile ring operating at the school . For how long no one knows , but one of the accused a Patrick Curran was teaching at the school up until 1999.These sexual abuse stories , involving the Catholic Church have been appearing all over the world for the last 20 years or so and probably run into thousands of cases . I feel that this is probably just the tip of the iceberg as victims are loathe to come forward and deal with the judicial system , even if they can get their story believed .

The cases seem to follow a similar pattern .First , the accusations are made and then denied . The church then sets out on a course of personally vilifying the victim , whilst letting the priest continue his work .If further evidence is discovered ,the Church is then dragged kicking and screaming into the courts ,blaming the perpetrators and trying to keep the compensation costs to a minimum .But with each case that I have read about , I have been forced to face the question – is this abuse unofficial Church policy ? By the very nature of their actions it seems to me that this behaviour is condoned by the Catholic hierarchy . Are the leaders of the church also perpetrators ? How high does it go up the chain of command ? I know that it is difficult to comprehend that a religious organisation could be corrupt to this extent but I am a great believer in ' If it walks like a duck , looks like a duck and quacks like a duck ,it probably is a duck ' .

I must stress that I have had no link to the Catholic church in my life and have no feelings one way or another about it but I do have a child and would not let her within a hundred miles of a school run by the Catholic church .In the UK , when schools fail to meet a required standard they can be closed down .As an outsider , I would say that the church has not only failed to meet the required standard , but are run by men with a different agenda than most normal human beings .I would suggest that it is banned worldwide for being ' institutionally paedophiliac ' ( if there is such a thing ) and until it is determined that the abusers have been eradicated from their ranks , should not be allowed to continue .