Myers, Cook et al. – Recent Developments

- Original post updated with new on-the-scene account of the UCF mass in question.

- After having posted the e-mail addresses of those allegedly sending him threats and/or admonitions, Prof. Myers was shocked to discover that some of the sort of people who read and enjoy his blog were taking this as an invitation to send them threats and spam by the bucketload in return. He has called for a halt to this.

- Prof. Myers provides further information about his aims and intentions in an interview with the Minnesota Independent. Significant:

The response has done nothing but confirm [his intentions]: I have to do something. I’m not going to just let this disappear. It’s just so darned weird that they’re demanding that I offer this respect to a symbol that means nothing to me. Something will be done. It won’t be gross. It won’t be totally tasteless, but yeah, I’ll do something that shows this cracker has no power. This cracker is nothing.

Nobody is “demanding that you offer respect” to the Eucharist, Prof. Myers. There’s a neutral ground between that and “going out of your way to insult it,” though, that you might, as a rational humanist, wish to investigate.

- Scott P. Richert offers “A Tale of Two Children,” contrasting Prof. Myers with St. Tarcisius. The comment thread, as with all such threads on the internet (but not at this blog because we’re all cool here), is enough to make a man weep.

More breaking

Posting will be light today and tomorrow as I work feverishly on my appointed research (which is going rather well, but still…).  In the meantime, feel free to browse through the archives, check out a webcomic or two from the sidebar, or see what’s going on with friends-of-this-blog like Brian Visaggio at Saint Superman or Vernunft of the New Skeptic.

You can also watch these three videos.  In a recent post on Battlestar Galactica I included the first two in this series, being recordings of live performances of some (but not even close to all) of the better music from the show.

The first – “A Distant Sadness” – is a quite beautiful lament incorporating a number of exotic instruments under the breast-aching vocals of Raya Yarbrough:

The second – “Black Market” – could best be described as “freakin’ metal.”  What rock sounds like in outer space.  It’s not often you get to see a conductor head-banging while he conducts, but you will here:

The third is not from a concert recording at all, but is rather just the song as it exists on the soundtrack being played under a static image.  “A Promise to Return,” from the second season, is the piece that first convinced me that Bear McCreary isn’t just a great TV/film composer, but a great composer full stop.  If you can listen to this without being even somewhat moved, well, you’re probably a Cylon yourself:

It’s also the perfect piece of music to listen to on the first day of autumn.  Not even Vivaldi’s Autumn is so evocative of that season.  Give a listen.

Also, for those interested in comic books, movies, comic book movies and potentially ill-advised adventures in both, the first full trailer for Frank Miller’s upcoming homage to (I will not say adaptation of) Will Eisner’s legendary comic series The Spirit has been leaked here.  Stylish, sultry, and ever so slightly stupid.  I’ll be there.  I may not be happy, but I’ll be there.

A Hymn for the Church Militant

Written some time between 1904 and 1915 (scholarship is so very precise), G.K. Chesterton’s “A Hymn for the Church Militant” does not strike the note one might expect.  Why that is so shall swiftly become apparent, but it may best be summed up as a reminder to the soldier that his cause is greater than his prowess.

A Hymn for the Church Militant

Great God, that bowest sky and star,
Bow down our towering thoughts to thee,
And grant us in a faltering war
The firm feet of humility.

Lord, we that snatch the swords of flame,
Lord, we that cry about Thy ear,
We too are weak with pride and shame,
We too are as our foemen are.

Yea, we are mad as they are mad,
Yea, we are blind as they are blind,
Yea, we are very sick and sad
Who bring good news to all mankind.

The dreadful joy Thy Son has sent
Is heavier than any care;
We find, as Cain his punishment,
Our pardon more than we can bear.

Lord, when we cry Thee far and near
And thunder through all lands unknown
The gospel into every ear,
Lord, let us not forget our own.

Cleanse us from ire of creed or class,
The anger of the idle kings;
Sow in our souls, like living grass,
The laughter of all lowly things.

The second half of the second stanza should be engraved over the entrance to The Internet.