Differing views on MS society discord
I RESPOND to the report ‘‘Discord splits MS society’’ (ODT, 12.10.17).
I am a member of the MS society. I am a very content cheerful person. I play bridge and the last couple of games I played my partner and I got first for north/south, therefore I consider I have a reasonable brain. I have been bullied, and have seen bullying by the MS committee in the dining room.
I hope as many people that can will support our protest on Saturday [today] 11am at Baker St.
Arralyn Ibbotson
Shiel Hill
REGARDING the the MS society (12.10.17), Dave and Beverly Glenn as a unit are two of the most caring, understanding and compassionate people I’ve ever come across.
To claim anything else and then insinuate bullying makes the bile rise from my stomach. If there were more people who ran themselves ragged and burnt the candle at both ends to advocate and care for people with such a cruel affliction, this world would be a far better place.
The MS society will only realise how sorely Mr and Mrs Glenn will be missed when it’s too late to extend the olive branch. It is time for Dave to take the welldeserved break from the society to concentrate on his own and Bev’s wellbeing instead of pandering to the negative types. Mitch Parker
St Kilda
[Abridged]
Faith and Reason
ONCE again the weekly ‘‘Faith and Reason’’ article (ODT, 6.10.17) displays a lot of faith but very little reason, or historical fact. The writer confirms that God is indeed hidden somewhere but reveals himself in direct proportion to the faith of the believer.
The writer suggests that God does not wish to overwhelm us with irrefutable proof of his existence because good relationships are based on mutual trust and commitment and that magic ingredient, ‘‘faith’’.
There is a far more mundane and rational explanation for the ‘‘Hidden God’’ phenomenon, deeply rooted in the birth of Christianity within the Roman Empire around 33CE. Simply put, the nascent church needed to bring in recruits and the recruits had to attend church in order to access God via the conduit of the Emperor and clergy.
God remained aloof and mysterious to both impress the people and reinforce the role of an expanding and affluent clergy as the sole conduits to God. The church became increasingly hostile towards any group, or individuals, who spurned the church, or attempted to contact God on their own, in a more personal way, because by this time the church was extracting large revenue from its congregations and building even bigger and grander churches.
The Cathars in southern France in the 12th century spurned organised churches and dubious Catholic doctrine generally and were exterminated by the Catholic Church as heretics.
Joan of Arc was also burned at the stake as a heretic for claiming to communicate directly with angels outside the organised church.
Modern psychologists think she may have been schizophrenic, or similar. Even to this day organised churches and their clergy tend to act as conduits, or ‘‘holy middlemen’’, between the historically contrived ‘‘Hidden God’’ and the faithful. Stewart Webster
Halfway Bush