What's not Traditional About Same Sex Weddings?

When Christians rant on about "traditional marriage", the tradition to which they refer isn't all that old (if you exclude the fact that some of them believe the Universe is only 10 thousand years old!). But when they imply that same sex unions are a 21st century phenomenon, they're on very dodgy ground.

Here's the science part:

Prof. John Boswell, the late Chairman of Yale University’s history department, discovered that in addition to heterosexual marriage ceremonies in ancient Christian church liturgical documents, there were also ceremonies called the
“Office of Same-Sex Union” (10th and 11th century), and the “Order for Uniting Two Men” (11th and 12th century). These church rites had all the symbols of a heterosexual marriage: the whole community gathered in a church, a blessing of the couple before the altar was conducted with their right hands joined, holy vows were exchanged, a priest officiatied in the taking of the Eucharist and a wedding feast for the guests was celebrated afterwards. These elements all appear in contemporary illustrations of the holy union of the Byzantine Warrior-Emperor, Basil the First (867-886 CE)and his companion John. Such same gender Christian sanctified unions also
took place in Ireland in the late 12thand/ early 13th century, as the chronicler Gerald of Wales (‘Geraldus Cambrensis’) recorded.

Sounds like gay marriage is pretty traditional to me.

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It's Science, for God's Sake!

I watched Richard Dawkins' documentary about Charles Darwinon Channel 4 tonight. And even though Dawkins comes across as a smug English dandy, the man does put those religious nutjobs in their place! He comes across as exasperated but always logical. He also seems obsessed with Darwin. I've never read Darwin's books but I've read several of Dawkins' books and The Guardian did a really beautiful supplement on Evolution recently which summarised it very succinctly. While I am no biologist, the simple elegance of the Theory of Evolution through Natural Selection (not to mention the body of evidence to support it) makes it impossible for a sane person to dismiss it.

Despite this, insane Christians (excuse the tautology) do dismiss the theory - especially in the United States. Of course, they have to... Modern science is simply incompatible with their literal view of religion. I pity them. It's like a twenty year old still believing in the tooth fairy. Unbelieveable!

I also cannot understand so-called "moderate" Christians who acknowledge that the Creation element of their religion (chaper one of their big book) is entirely fabricated but still somehow believe there's truth in the rest of it. If The Bible was a witness in a court case, the jury would be advised its testimony was unreliable. If it wasn't so scary, it would be hilarious!

Sam Harris, author of Letter to a Christian Nation, is looking into the whole psychology of faith on his site The Reason Project. It intrigues me that so called devout Christians can make death threats in the name of their moral God while Muslims act horrified when the bloodlust of their religion is highlighted. What part of their faith disconnects them from the reality of the world about them?

I'm really starting to think that religion is a mental illness.

Oscar Buzz

I went to the opening night of An Ideal Husband at The Abbey last week. It wasn't exactly a star-studded premiere - but I did see Gaybo. (Hmm. Gaybo and I both got invites to an Oscar Wilde play. I really hope that isn't sonebody's idea of a witty guestlist.) Anyway, the play was very entertaining. It's not my favourite Wilde play but there are some cracking one-liners; some hilarious, others profound truisms. Mark O'Halloran was brilliant and I'm not just saying that because I know him! I think I can say he was the male lead but there was quite a large cast so who knows what the pecking order was! Dearbhle Crotty (my guess as the female lead) was fun although my friends thought she was a bit over-the-top. Clearly I have a different threshold for "over the top"!

The costumes were beautiful period pieces and, for once, the mens' were as interesting as the womens'. The men had formal blacktie for evening scenes but the daywear outfits were my favourites. I'd wear them!

My one gripe about the production was the set. Compared to the amazing trompe d'oeuil black and white set for last year's The School for Scandal, this set was a disaster. The floor was filthy. We could see markings for set pieces. There were exposed electrical wires - most notably the ugly plug within the chandalier.... And somebody please explain the tattered curtain that only streched across half the prosenium arch. Weird!

That said, it was a very enjoyable evening. And now I want to do a play!

Captive Audience

In Captivity at Dublin Zoo.

I heart the Olympics

The Olympics are very important to me! I'm crap at most of the sports that we used to play on the street when I was kid... but the sports from the Olympics are a different matter. For a start they are a lot more glamorous. There's synchronised swimming and diving (where I would kick-ass if I could only swim properly). Also, I can out-ribbon most people I know doing my rhythmic gymnastic and I'm not even classically trained. Actually I'm not trained at all.... I taught myself to control this very "difficult" piece of sporting equipment as part of Shirley Temple Bar's entry in 1997's Alternative Miss Ireland. Needless to say, Shirley won that year and the rest is historical....

All because the lady loves the Olympics. Yes, I heart the Olympics. But still I don't do competitive sports.

Holy God-botherer, Batman!

I finally got a chance to see The Dark Knight last night. And while I enjoyed the movie, I am not at all convinced by speculation that Heath Ledger deserves an Oscar for his role as The Joker. Don't get me wrong... he was great an' all. It's just that I hate the sentimentality surrounding the whole thing. He either does a better acting role than the other contenders or he doesn't. Just because he gone and killed himself shouldn't make him a shoo in come award season.

I do think The Dark Knight is the best Batman movie in the franchise so far (although, I'm not sure I saw the last one!). Christian Bale gets a bad rap but I quite liked him (especially with his shirt off!). I don't get Maggie Gyllenhal at all. Come back Katie Cruise. All is forgiven!

While it would be too easy to see the parallels between the fight against Gotham crime and the US War against Terror, I prefered to see it as a fight against illogical minds and haters. Batman might be the caped crusader but I definitely saw more religious zealotry in The Joker. He subscribes to an external force ("chaos") and is dogmatic about his ideals.

As Alfred the butler says, "Some men aren't looking for anything logical... They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."

These people are so happy to die for their ideas. The only way to really kill them is to prove their ideology wrong!

You can hang out with all the boys...

One of the first records I ever owned was the disco era classic Y.M.C.A. It took the world by storm in the late Seventies but now I suppose it's cheesy pop at its horrifying best! Weirdly, I see this record on children's party albums all the time. Strange; if you consider the song is about men hooking up with men in the showers of the local Y.M.C.A. (And Jesus wept.)

As a kid, I never identified The Village People as gay. (And since it was my mother who bought me the record, I'm guessing she didn't figure that one either!). The "I'm a little teapot" dance moves and the "what do you want to be when you grow up?" costumes clearly worked well as a smokescreen!

Looking at the men now, they seem strangely assexual. Like H from Steps or that children's TV presenter from Rainbow, I wouldn't wanna "do" them. I certainly didn't want to "be" any of them. I guess that's why I didn't end up becoming a construction worker when I grew up. Or a Policeman. Or a Cowboy. (Now, Wonderwoman.... she was aspirational!)

You can hang out with all the The Village People when they play Tripod on Sunday 21 September.

Hollywood Dreams