Miserable sinners that we are, we'd sooner reach for the whisky than venture a prayer

Daily Telegraph ^ | December 13, 2003 | Adam Nicolson

[texasflower]

This is a very interesting article. Thank you for posting it.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

You're welcome.

[DugwayDuke]

I see you continue to do good work finding such excellent essays.

"The ancient assumption is the pessimistic one that the human condition is essentially disastrous. We are weak, incompetent and fallible. We are miserable sinners. The modern, liberal assumption is the very opposite of that. It is the essentially optimistic idea that, if only we sort things out properly, we are fine."

Could be said much simplier and more accurately as:

- The ancient assumption is the pessimistic one that the human condition is essentially disastrous and we are incapable of saving ourselves. The modern, liberal assumption is the very opposite of that. It is the essentially optimistic idea that we can, we must save ourselves.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Well, LIBERALS want everyone to depend on them and worship them.

***Conservatives who think progressives are misinformed idealists will forever be blind-sided by the malice of the left-by the cynicism of those who pride themselves on principle, by the viciousness of those who champion sensitivity, by the intolerance of those who call themselves liberal, and by the ruthless disregard for the well-being of the downtrodden by those who preen themselves as social saints.

Conservatives are caught by surprise because they see progressives as merely misguided, when in fact they are fundamentally misdirected. They are the messianists of a religious faith. But it is a false faith and a self-serving religion. Since the redeemed future that justifies their existence and rationalizes their hypocrisy can never be realized, what really motivates progressives is a modern idolatry: their limitless passion for the continuance of Them. *** Source

[Louisiana]

Good Find!!!!

Sick and Can't sleep bump.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Hang in there and give thanks you're sick in the U.S.A!

[KeyWest]

Great find. Thanks.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[Molly Pitcher]

I'll add my thanks CW!

[Ff--150]

LOL! This liberal is coming around..."This praying [deleted] could be working!?!??" [shrug]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[mombonn]

is prayerlessness debilitating?

Absolutely. Prayer should be as natural and frequent as breathing.

[G Larry]

As my brother lost his battle with ALS Thursday afternoon, I continued in prayer. However, later that evening I did pour myself a single shot of cognac to toast in his memory.
God Bless Dave!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I'm sure both were helpful. We should celebrate a good life.

[ImpBill]

Interesting read. I am not sure the author is capable of distinguishing the difference between the religious and the spiritual. But he/she is not alone I fear.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[witnesstothefall]

what marks the modern sensibility. The American religious Right hasn't made that shift,

They saved the best bigotry for last. By this construction, the US religious right (the religious Left is not acknowledged to exist by European sophisticates) does not share a modern reality. They are something else, something less than modern.

[VOA]

ping...article of interest