Not too bad

I'm out traveling for a couple of days, to the capital. I don't like it very much so I don't go there very often.

After work I checked into the hotel. Then I went for a walk in the city center, near the King's castle and the parliament building. For a while I walked behind a fat and cute girl. She was more sexy than the skinny girls I met.

I went into a bookstore and bought two books, by Stig Sæterbakken and Michel Houellebecq. Then I went to meet a friend. We had a good dark beer (porter).

It was a nice evening in this city that I don't like very much. Not too bad >:)

(Picture taken tonight when I was out walking. That's the King's castle at the end of the street.)

The lesbian bishop

Tonight I heard in the news that for the first time ever a lesbian priest has been nominated to the position as bishop in our state church. That's cool. I hope she will get the job. She will probably meet resistance from the conservative branch of the church, as usual.

I became a member of our state church at the age of 2 months. Nobody asked me, so I had no choice. Now, I'm an atheist, but I have kept my membership in the church. The main reason for this is to support progressive forces that challenge conservative religious doctrine.

I cant' see any reasons why women can't be priests or bishops, and I see no reason why lesbians can't be bishops. Probably you wouldn't notice any difference when she's standing by the altar or on the pulpit. 

Priests rarely exercise sexual activities in church, and hardly ever during mass, neither heterosexual nor homosexual This is something they eventually do on their free time, at home, or in the forest, like the rest of us. So then, what's the problem?

I think that professional positions in general should be awarded based on qualifications and skills, not on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social position or balance on the bank account. 

If God created everything (some insist He did), he also created the gays and the lesbians. He probably did with a purpose, for instance to promote some of them to bishops. Nobody knows what God thinks about this anyway, He's apparently such a revengeful despot. But I bet Jesus would a approve a lesbian bishop >:)

(I found this cartoon on the Internet. Though some groups in our Protestant state church may seem to be quite conservative, they are at least a lot more progressive than the Catholics.)

A-Z Challenge: Reflections

This was the 2nd time I did the A-Z Challenge. The first time, the theme was random. This year my theme was religion. It was a nice theme because it's it's quite interesting and challenging, and a source of an endless number of posts.

I tried to approach my theme in different ways; with humorous, sarcastic, provocative and serious posts. Sometimes it triggered interesting discussions in the comments. I appreciate that, and also that people were respectful and decent. Not net-trolls, although the theme as such may sometimes trigger strong feelings.

Unfortunately, April was a somewhat busy month. I spent 1 week on Easter vacation, skiing in the mountains, with no proper Internet connection (only cell phone), and one week business travel to the Arctic. Sometimes I had a hard time getting my posts published in due time, and I definitely got too little time to visit other participants. however, I found a few cool blogs that I followed throughout, in particular Write with Fey, Square Pegs and Tamara Narayam. The theme of the atter was one of my favorite subjects; mathematics. Maybe I'll pick that theme next time.

That's all for now, but as Arnold Scwarzenegger said: I'll be back >:)

(Skiing season ended yesterday. Now I will spend more free time in town. It's nice a this time of the year, when it hardly gets dark at all. That's great. I like the light summer nights in the north, but I will miss the snow and the skiing. Picture from my archives, taken in my hometown on a night in May a couple of years ago.)