The BBC seem to have been theming their 'On This Day' today:
Children are central.
The first reminds us that the Holocaust was not only targeted at one group but all humanity - narrower definitions of the term exist, but its origins in the Ancient Greek, ὁλόκαυστον, meaning an offering to the gods which has been completely burnt indicate the modern usage has roots far beyond the modern world.
It was an English atrocity in the 12th Century which gave us its first usage in the modern sense and its first connection with one religious group (quite a long connection too) - although the word was used before the Second World War to describe the treatment of the Armenians by the Turks in the previous world conflict.
It should not be confused with genocide - the targeting of one specific group - for fear of forgetting the mass of humanity affected -
John Donne got it right in his meditation XVII - No man is an island -
Which brings us to the second abuse - one I cannot get my head around at all. How a supposedly benign institution can condemn anything which prevents the birth of unwanted children and forces extra population onto the world is just mind-boggling. Idiocy (like something else in the toilet) rising to the top. Religion at its worst.
Number three though is great (and Happy 30th to the lady concerned) - science at its best.
Technorati Tags: BBC, Holocaust, test tube baby, Catholicism
- 1939: Nazi Germany begins the systematic 'euthanasia' of disabled children, killing many thousands.
- 1968: All forms of artificial contraception are condemned by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical 'Humanae Vitae'.
- 1978: Britain's first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, is born at Oldham General Hospital in Lancashire.
Children are central.
The first reminds us that the Holocaust was not only targeted at one group but all humanity - narrower definitions of the term exist, but its origins in the Ancient Greek, ὁλόκαυστον, meaning an offering to the gods which has been completely burnt indicate the modern usage has roots far beyond the modern world.
It was an English atrocity in the 12th Century which gave us its first usage in the modern sense and its first connection with one religious group (quite a long connection too) - although the word was used before the Second World War to describe the treatment of the Armenians by the Turks in the previous world conflict.
It should not be confused with genocide - the targeting of one specific group - for fear of forgetting the mass of humanity affected -
John Donne got it right in his meditation XVII - No man is an island -
All mankind is of one author, and is one volume
Which brings us to the second abuse - one I cannot get my head around at all. How a supposedly benign institution can condemn anything which prevents the birth of unwanted children and forces extra population onto the world is just mind-boggling. Idiocy (like something else in the toilet) rising to the top. Religion at its worst.
Number three though is great (and Happy 30th to the lady concerned) - science at its best.
Technorati Tags: BBC, Holocaust, test tube baby, Catholicism
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