Hatred in Religious debates, Women Bishops and Rev

Ah term is over and at least in theory there's much more free time to be had. I've been using some of this time to surf the internet and here is some of the interesting things I've found which you might enjoy reading.

Jon Snow reflects on the hatred he sees in religious debates
"My day yesterday was book-ended by raised voices and hatred. Both outbursts involved people of the same faith bitterly arguing with each other."

Emma John in the Guardian writes an interesting feature on Women bishops which covers different sides of the debate
"In the cloisters behind the Chapter House lives Rev Jane Hedges, Canon Steward at the Abbey, and one of the most senior women in the Church of England. The 54-year-old, who cares for the Abbey's tens of thousands of visitors, was among the very first intake of women priests to be ordained in 1994. "People asked then: 'When do you think the first women bishops will be?'" says Hedges. "And I remember replying: 'I don't think there will be women bishops before I retire.'" "

Peter Rollins reflects on a quote from Paul Tillich
"In order to approach this let us begin with the rather benign claim that things exist. More than this, some of these things are conscious, i.e. there are some beings in the universe that sense the universe. And then there are self-conscious things. These are beings that are aware of their consciousness. Perhaps a way to understand the difference between mere consciousness and self-consciousness is through the phenomenon of ‘blind sight’. In blind sight a person who thinks they are blind can actually see. While the individual in question believes that she is blind, when asked to make guesses about her environment, she will be able to describe it with a degree of accuracy well above what could be considered chance. Here the individual can see while not actually perceiving themselves as seeing. In short, ‘sight’ is taking place without there being any awareness of it."

Simon Marsh reviews the second episode of Rev
"IT’S HEARTENING that the BBC want to air a programme about a parish priest let alone a series. And an absolute delight tonight to see little Adam Smallbone (Tom Hollander) – with a spot of help from the (horrendously smooth) archdeacon – see off the take-over bid of the tall and swaggering, wealthy “evangelical” Darren. There’s a touch of the prophet in old Auntie yet to be celebrated. Remember the camel and the eye of a needle?"

But anyway back to the proper point of the internet, pictures of cats: