Saturday, April 07, 2007

Good Friday disagrees with me

Imagine it, you walk into a supermarket, buy a few items, remember to get sweets for the kids, go to get them but the sweet aisle is cordoned off. You ask a shop assistant why and he says it's because Jesus died this day, 2000 years ago or so.

Pure daft.

11 comments:

Jim said...

Please tell me that was a family-run supermarket, and not one of the big ones like Dunnes or Tesco.

John The Bad said...

Ok, I made a bit of a hames of that. I was making the clumsy point of imagining of it was sweets that couldn't be sold instead of drink.

Sinisilma said...

The problem isn't that you said it clumsily, it just doesn't make sense.

If we can't be sold drink because of the law, you gotta remember thats a law we made. If its out of date we change it. If not, we don't.

The problem of viewing the state as a nanny that tells us what to do is it divorces us from our own power over/responsibility for how society is run.

John The Bad said...

You're wrong. I don't think that the problem is that we have a nanny state. I said that the situation is "pure daft." The law is that we can't buy or sell drink on this day out of all the others (par Xmas day; that ban is stupid too) because of a religious belief. I think that's daft. What part of that doesn't make sense?

I believe that the law is wrong. And I know that it is our responsibility to change it.

So, how do we change it?

Anonymous said...

Im not a religious person but i would not change that law. We live in a society that drinks too much as it is. I think c-mas day would be ruined (for alot of families)if pubs opened.
If people are that hard up for a drink stock up a few days before. I dont think its that daft.

John The Bad said...

The pubs are open in the UK on Xmas day. I go up to Derry at Xmas and the pub next door is open and it's not a big deal.

I agree that closing the pubs has it's advantages but the reason behind the law is an outdated religious one. And that's DAFT!

More reasons why:

1. It would be a bigger sacrifice for Christians to stay off the drink that day if the pubs were open.
2. A lot of my friends have house parties on (not so) Good Friday with plenty of drink for all.

Reply please.

Sinisilma said...

Well, look at the evidence to hand. Paddy's day is wrecked by the pub. Crowds of people on the street drinking or doing nothing; on our nation's biggest holiday, which has religious roots, a minority get involved in celebrations, the majority head to the pub to get plastered. Even the celebrators get plastered later.

And if the pubs were closed? Would it become a 'nothing' day like good friday, or something more special, like christmas? Its not an injustice that the pubs are closed on good friday, its an injustice that it matters.

Of course, evidence suggests there's hope for us yet. on this comment line, both me and S are in favour of leaving the pubs where they are. And if wider society wanted them open, they'd be open. Maybe they will be next year.

The Irish would be Gods among men if it wasn't for the drink. We cut ourselves to pieces with it. Pour it all into the sea.

John The Bad said...

Yes, yes , yes. You're bang on! God invented drink to stop the Irish ruling the world!

I've been off the drink for over three years.

I only said to Duck the other day that I would love to see the pub closed on our national day.

But, Bob, you're still refusing to address my point. The pubs are closed, not for the good of our health but for a religious belief. That's not democratic, in fact it's theocratic.

Please address my point.

John The Bad said...

Right, let's try this.

It's not right to say that closing pubs by law on Good Friday is daft. Daft is a poor choice of word. So, let me say instead that it is wrong to enforce a rule of law, based only on a religious belief.

--

I have a dislike of religion, almost a hatred at times. This dislike can be... daft.

In my head, I have no major problem with religion. What someone believes is there own business, as long as they keep it their own business and their beliefs don't harm others. I do have a problem though, when religion is forced onto the public. Good Friday is an example of this enforced belief and, as such, is wrong.

However, I allow my abhorrence of religion to blind me. Until I started thinking more clearly, I was willing to lose any or all benefit of a ban on pubs (and there are many benefits) just to get rid of a religious law.

If the Good Friday ban was based on an old pagan ritual of fasting before Imbolc, I wouldn't want to get rid of it so quickly.

--

As per usual, the more I think about what I believe, the more unsure I am. This is a good thing.

Anonymous said...

You say in your last post you dont have a problem with religion "as long as they keep it their own business and their beliefs don't harm others"

I think you are harming yourself with something that is not an issue for the majority of people in the country. As you said people have house parties on good friday. Most people drink on these days. I dont think it is a forced belief. Its not being rammed down our throat.

The pubs shut for 2 days during the year. The country does not come to a grinding halt because of this. Religion in this country is hanging on by a thread at this stage. The last thing that influences people is religion as far as i can see.

My point being you should not let the churches stance on drinking on these 2 days affect you as much as it clearly is. The church has views on things in our society (parenting, marriage, abortion etc) which i find to be alot worse.

John The Bad said...

You're right, I shouldn't let this bother me as much as it does. My anger at Good Friday is indicative of something else. I don't know what it is but I have a few clues.

You're right again when you say that religion is hanging on by a thread. Part of me is glad about this and would like to cut the thread and get rid of it for ever.

However, and this is only really gaining strength over the past few days, another part of me wonders if what ever makes up this thread is the best part of religion; a spiritual hunger maybe. Maybe we need this thread.