zenpundit.com

[ by Charles Cameron — Arundhati Roy nails the relation of science and religion in a brilliant double insight — plus misc other COVID – religion articles ]
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Arundhati Roy:

Which scientist or doctor is not secretly praying for a miracle? Which priest is not — secretly, at least — submitting to science?

with this telling pair of questions incorporating a witty reversal — arguably a form of logical chiasmus — the Indian novelist and radical Arundhati Roy shows us what it is to perceive, and what it is to write.

BTW, Ms Roy continues:

And even while the virus proliferates, who could not be thrilled by the swell of birdsong in cities, peacocks dancing at traffic crossings and the silence in the skies?

Note that “peacocks dancing at traffic crossings” clearly belongs along with the goats and coyotes in the streets in my Animal Farms DoubleQuote of a few days back.

Source:

Financial Times, The pandemic is a portal

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Some religion & coronavirus articles:

Counterpunch, God’s Vengeance: the Christian Right and the Coronavirus

Steven Andrew is pastor of the USA Christian Church in San Jose (CA) who warns, “Obeying God protects the USA from diseases, such as the coronavirus.” He goes on, Bible thumping, “Our safety is at stake since national disobedience of God’s laws brings danger and diseases, such as coronavirus, but obeying God brings covenant protection. … God protects the USA from danger as the country repents of LGBT, false gods, abortion and other sins.”

Andrew is not alone in decrying the coronavirus as god’s curse.

AL Masdar, ISIS calls coronavirus ‘soldier of Allah’, threaten attacks in Chicago, London

WaPo, Can faith healing work by phone? Charismatic Christians try prayer to combat the coronavirus.

Roy and Darlene Curry say that they — like all believing Christians — have the power to miraculously heal the sick. Roy once raised a friend from the dead right at the coffin, he says. A few years ago at their house church in Severn, Md., the couple laid hands on the cancer-riddled body of a young woman who was soon disease-free.

Guardian, The rightwing Christian preachers in deep denial over Covid-19’s danger

A number of American religious leaders have endangered their flock by holding services – and by claiming the virus can be defeated by faith in God

CNN, Ammon Bundy vows to defy stay-at-home order

“Our goal is to get enough people together and secure our rights… we are not trying to provoke, we want people to be able to worship,” Bundy said in a phone interview.s for Easter gathering

Addendum:

NYT, Coronavirus Invades Saudi Inner Sanctum

Its rulers began restricting travel to Saudi Arabia and shut down pilgrimages to the Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina even before the kingdom had reported its first case, on March 2.

[ by Charles Cameron — Kurosawa, and a celebrated shot from Jean-Luc Godard ]
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Kurosawa:

Godard!

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Godard‘s shot is from La Chinoise, 1967. I don’t know offhand what film or year the Kurosawa shot is from, but I’m betting it came before the Godard. Kurosawa’s is a moving shot, the man disappearing behind the books, while Godard’s shot has to hold steady for the sake of the weapon.. Note that the gun emplacement in Godard‘s shot is within its ideological context.

In any case, a lovely pairing.

[ by Charles Cameron — not exactly surprising ]
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Here’s the tweet that set me searching:

To laugh or cry or rage. That is the question. pic.twitter.com/PWJ4zrcYRQ

— Amarnath Amarasingam (@AmarAmarasingam) April 5, 2020

And here are the results I came up with:

First, the prophecy:

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Next, the defiant pastor:

And last, the debate:

[ by Charles Cameron — in these days of #COVID19 ]
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Bikini eyes burqa and vice versa:

Question:

I mask my face against the coronavirus.
I mask my face against the leering male gaze.
I’m a male — what should I do?

[ by Charles Cameron — aha, games get real a few months ahead of reality ]
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NWC seems to have been prescient in their war gaming of an epidemic in September 2019, eh?

You’ll find the expanded game report here

So the distance between game and reality is slight —

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The distance between doll and person..

So cute this.

A Dutch school teacher who was bored at home, knitted 23 dolls that look like her pupils. "This way I don't have to miss the pupils," she told a local newspaper.

Each kid received a picture of the doll. Most said they recognized themselves in it. #coronacrisis pic.twitter.com/k2JieUkRno

— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) April 3, 2020

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And while we’re at it, La vida es sueño.