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Nov. 6th, 2004 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamer_easyA response to that Guardian article decrying religious freedom for the UK navy's sole Satanist, but Julia Baird in the SMH: Evil really is out there, but not under pointy hats. The Guardian's piece worried this neglected the underlying power of symbols such as the Devil. Baird responded:
"...perhaps part of the reason we dismiss symbols is because we have learnt that popular representations of religion can be a distraction, and distort the idea of what good and evil is. Evil is not usually dressed in pointy hats but is often banal in presentation, if horrific in consequence. It is, for example, found in acts committed by people hunched over computers distributing child pornography, those who profit from the sex slave trade, or in corrupt institutions which fail to punish pedophiles."
She gives the example of newspapers in Wollongong so busy hunting non-existent Devil-worshippers that they failed to notice a paedophile ring right under their noses. Thought-provoking stuff.
"...perhaps part of the reason we dismiss symbols is because we have learnt that popular representations of religion can be a distraction, and distort the idea of what good and evil is. Evil is not usually dressed in pointy hats but is often banal in presentation, if horrific in consequence. It is, for example, found in acts committed by people hunched over computers distributing child pornography, those who profit from the sex slave trade, or in corrupt institutions which fail to punish pedophiles."
She gives the example of newspapers in Wollongong so busy hunting non-existent Devil-worshippers that they failed to notice a paedophile ring right under their noses. Thought-provoking stuff.
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Date: 2004-11-06 06:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-06 02:59 pm (UTC)