Christianity in Britain is over.
(...)it is difficult to know what the late Beatle would have made of the Church of England's decision to ring out the tune of his most famous solo work, the anti-religion anthem "Imagine", from the bells of Liverpool Cathedral this summer. Rehearsals on hand bells will begin in March.
The 1971 song, which contains the lyric "Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try, No hell below us, above us only sky", will be performed from the world's tallest bell tower, which is 100.89m (331ft) tall, as part of the Futuresonic Festival in May.
Lennon described it as "anti- religious, anti-nationalistic, anti- conventional, anti-capitalistic".
A cathedral spokesman said he saw no contradiction in performing the piece, as much anti-capitalistic as it is anti-religious, from Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's celebrated church because Lennon's passionate embrace of the peace movement chimed perfectly with Christian values.
He said: "We obviously took into consideration sensitivities surrounding the song's lyrical content. The cathedral has been very much at the heart of Liverpool's Capital of Culture celebrations and is delighted to embrace the city's artistic energy. The proposed performance will inspire thought as it yearns for peace in a broken and troubled world. We also anticipate that the performance will be a very moving and spiritual experience and will engage with all people including those who do not usually interact with places of worship."
(...) The festival director Drew Hemment, who founded Futuresonic in 1995, said: "When the idea of John Lennon's "Imagine" being broadcast over church bells was suggested I realised that it had to happen in Liverpool and the Anglican Cathedral would be the ideal partner. The cathedral's support for the project has been fantastic and reflects this city's famous tolerance and courage. This special event celebrates the unique spirit of Liverpool that runs through both the Cathedral and Lennon's secular message."
When you have someone like Rowan Williams as your shephard, is it any wonder that the flock can go so far astray? Rumour has it he endorsed the Liverpool gig after being talked out of sponsoring a Finnish black metal festival in the courtyard of Canterbury Cathedral (not really).
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About the NYU debacle (and my post from a few days ago):
Alex Lotorto is the camera guy, and here, a blogger named Blake schools him in the vagaries of the real world --you know, the place that people like Lotorto have almost no clue about? Alex actually stops by to defend himself, which he has been doing all over the place apparently, providing even more laughs. What a generous soul, this Lotorto kid.
Is this whole "activism" fad a generational thing? I mean, I was in university about fifteen years ago, and I can remember things like the political correctness craze, which never really went away, but I cannot recall the type of "anti-authoritarian" farce seen at NYU happening very often --don't get me wrong, even prior to the No Logo Naomi Klein era there were plenty of attempts at imposing leftist dogma upon the student body.
A bit of an aside here: For an illustration of the staleness of Naomi Klein's ideas, and to see how far Ms. Klein has fallen since her halcyon days a decade ago, read Jonathan Chait's comprehensive dismantling of her and her silly little book "The Shock Doctrine" in the New Republic, which, by the way, is hardly a right-wing rag.
Anyway, what I was getting to is that nothing I ever saw or experienced in the pre-WTO Seattle era compares to the magnitude of "activism" we have seen lately, some of which is both deeply subversive and profoundly illiberal. I mean, listening to this kid Lotorto's running commentary, you have to marvel at the effectiveness of his indoctrination. It's like his profs and mentors really stepped up and brought their "A" game: He really is a "true believer", with all the "peace-building" consensus jargon and doublespeak and everything; one of those useful (in his case, useless) idiots.
Is it that the aging boomers of the left who run post-secondary education in the Western hemisphere are, at long last, beginning to contemplate their imminent passage into oblivion? Perhaps it is this awareness of their rapidly approaching dotage and destitution that has spurred some of the greying intelligentsia, who are now stepping up their efforts to indoctrinate young people into their "me generation" world view, with predictable results.
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My far-fetched prediction for 2009
The character Rorschach will become a folk anti-hero of the right following the theatrical release of the film adaptation Watchmen. Watchmen, by the way, is the best graphic novel ever written. If you only ever read one "comic book" in your life, this should be it.
