It’s a Sunday, so it’s time to forget about astrology, and to get religious.
I was thinking about the things going on in the Anglican and Catholic churches, and how confused everyone is about theology.
For example, many Anglicans are so opposed to the ordination of gay and women priests, not to mention the consecration of gay and female bishops, that they’re tempted to leave the Church and become Roman Catholics.
However that seems a strange thing to do. Firstly there are the child abuse scandals. Not only were Catholic priests perpetrating these crimes, but their superiors were helping to cover them up. Is it better to have a bishop who is open about his or her sexuality, or one that encourages the harbouring of dark and criminal secrets?
In terms of theology, I do wonder about Anglicans becoming Catholics. It’s as if they’re knee-jerk reactionaries who don’t understand what they believe in, and don’t understand the significant differences between Catholicism and Protestantism.
Protestants don’t believe that a priest can literally change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. In fact, Protestants don’t regard priests as being particularly special – they can’t work magic and they can’t forgive our sins. At the same time protestants don’t give a central role to the Virgin Mary – she wasn’t born without sin, instead she was just an ordinary woman with an extraordinary role.
These are fundamental points, that are surely much more significant than the gender or sexual orientation of one’s priests and bishops.
Still, I’m not entirely able to forget astrology. Yesterday I was relating the sixty year cycle of Chinese astrology to the Korean conflict – it was sixty years ago that the Korean War started, and 2010 could be a significant year for the Korean Peninsular.
I then started to think about what else was going on in 1950, apart from the outbreak of the Korean War.
Well, the Chinese invaded Tibet, and sixty years later, Tibet is still an issue. Once Saturn moves into Virgo, on April 7, the cause of Tibetan independence could receive a lot of publicity.
And going back to Catholicism, on November 1 1950 we had Pius XII’s ‘Munificentissimus Deus’, which means ‘Bountiful God.’ It was basically a statement of dogma, that the Virgin Mary, when she died, went straight to heaven.
I suppose if you have a celibate priesthood this kind of thing is likely to happen. Catholic priests don’t have access to the feminine principle in the normal manner, so their imaginations have to create a substitute woman, with near-divine status.
However the really important event in 1950 was the publication of L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. This was an important event, because it arguably marks the beginning of Scientology, and sixty years later the religion is still going strong.
It’s then possible that in 2010, as the sixty year cycle closes, that there might be another chance to launch a brand new religion. After all, established religions are under fire, and if you’ve got your finger on the pulse, and a sprinkling of spiritual charisma, then 2010 could be your year.
Copyright © 2010 Archie Dunlop
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