Church of England refuses to allow foreign language on a gravestone, calling it a "political statement"

Time to crank up that old Irish standard…

black-books-fran-english-bollocks

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The English like the Irish just fine, as long as they stick to being amusing and don’t try to make us feel bad about the whole 900 years of colonialism and oppression thing.

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@thomdunn -

or the legal relationship between the church and state.

Our (ceremonial) head of state is also the (ceremonial) head of the church.
The upper house of Parliament (which confusingly includes the Legislature, the Executive, and kinda the Judiciary.) consists of the Lords Temporal (born a Lord, or rewarded by the Govt.) and the Lords Spiritual (the longest-serving CoE bishops in the country, including the 2 Archbishops.).

In plenty of other ways the Church has carved out exceptions in discrimination legislation. I think they’re allowed to ignore protected characteristics if it’s specifically a religious position (e.g. preacher, not accountant).

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You know, right now, in the middle of a pandemic, I am hesitant to ask for it since many people find comfort in religion - but I have to ask, dear LOrd, if you exist, could you just smite all churches, sects and the likes, burn them where they stand if they do not cease to do harm immediately, and apologize profusely for the damage they have done and are doing?

Just burn it all down if they resist being good.

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Not my experience and I have been picked up as a terrorist susoect while living there. And I have friends tortured in NI. English people like us just fine. Ruling class are awful people just like everywhere. Irish activists have always worked with English activists, feminists, Labour activists, LGBTQ+ activists, anti racists, they are our allies.

I consider myself an anglophile culturally, same with the US, just maybe the culture, the beautiful cultures I love, are not those the Tories and Republicans seek to promote. It’s always contested.

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It’s a single rural Tory grandee who is stuck in the eighties. Quite a few of our current problems seem to be caused by people stuck in the eighties.

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The central Church in London and the Bishop of Canterbury were both quick to distance themselves from the ruling, insisting that [bullshit equivocations redacted]

If they meant that then there’d be a hell of a lot more noise coming from Lambeth Palace.

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Perhaps Australia is the pot of civilization,

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And the immortal James Nicoll quote regarding the so-called ‘purity’ of the English language: “English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and riffle their pockets for new vocabulary.”

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My great grandparents were beaten for speaking their native Scots Gaelic and later threatened with having their children taken away. After they came to Canada, they refused to teach their children the language, switching to English. My grandfather couldn’t listen to Gaelic singers because the only time he heard the sound of it was when his parents were talking over a punishment and didn’t want him to know what was coming. Gave him the heebie-geebies to his dying day.

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That’s a heart breaking story.

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Anglican churches generally do not use crucifixes, that would be Catholic

The C of E IS gross and inhumane. Religion poisons everything.

High church Anglican churches (Anglo-Catholicism) sometimes do.

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I gather that this is why “Whiskey in the Jar” has such longevity. It features an Irishman robbing and shooting an Englishman.

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they wouldn’t be harassing the family like this if the inscription were in almost any other language

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I could imagine Arabic being a similar problem and for the exact same reasons.

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they have Welsh and Latin in the cemetery already. Is the Irish language particular satanic?

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I’d be inclined to not only go ahead with the desired inscription, but also have the Gaelic inscription “(judge’s name) can go fuck himself” added underneath.
And if the self-righteous asshole kicks off, say fine, we’ll see you in court.
I have no time for dicks like this snivelling little man.

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That’s the 1780’s, right? :wink:

My great grandparents were beaten for speaking their native Scots Gaelic and later threatened with having their children taken away. After they came to Canada, they refused to teach their children the language, switching to English. My grandfather couldn’t listen to Gaelic singers because the only time he heard the sound of it was when his parents were talking over a punishment and didn’t want him to know what was coming. Gave him the heebie-geebies to his dying day.<

Thankfully, the various nations that make up the U.K. are now making sure that their various languages are being taught in schools and road and other signs shown bilingually.
My girlfriend was born over a pub in the King’s Road, Chelsea, London, which is about as English as it gets, but she speaks Welsh - her folks bought a hotel/restaurant in Barmouth, North Wales, and she had to learn Welsh, in fact she studied it to ‘O’-Level standard. She’s been trying to teach me for the last three years, and failing miserably! :grin:

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