Welcome to Heather’s Homilies
The Value of Prayer
Last Friday (4 September) regular commenter on Jerry Coyne's Why Evolution is True website Ben Goren, wrote a guest piece: The One Question a Christian Can't Answer. It was about the big problem with Christian belief: why God doesn't intervene to help - the problem of...
Saint of the Week – 6 September 2015: Victoria, Australia, State Government
Unbelievable! Two weeks in a row I'm complimenting the Aussies! But credit where credit's due and all that, and if I'm nice about them now, I might not get accused of racism if I abuse them during the upcoming Rugby World Cup. 🙂 But first an update. In "Saints and...
Sinner of the Week: 6 September 2015 – Homeopathy
This wasn't my original choice for Sinner of the Week, but when I saw this particular item on One News last night, I couldn't help laughing. The TV screen showed fifteen ambulances and a helicopter lined up outside a conference, preparing to take the participants to...
Note to Subscribers
First of all, I'd like to thank you all very much for making the effort to subscribe to this website. I appreciate you all very much, and I love it when some of you also take the time to comment or even engage in a debate about the issues. You may remember I started...
Saints and Sinners – 30 August 2015: Trump’s Press Pack and No Religion in Schools
This week the Sinner is again political - it's easy to find a recipient in US politics - and the Saint award goes to Australia. Giving an award to Australia is damn near impossible for any New Zealander, so make the most of it - it might never happen again! There are...
Saints and Sinners – 23 August 2015: Rosa Rubicondior and Dr Who
It's a short one this week as I've actually managed to post a few articles. The Brickbat and Bouquet are both to entities of English origin. SINNER OF THE WEEK Dr Who I love Dr Who. I've grown up with Dr Who. It was first broadcast in the year of my birth - 1963,...
DAESH Beheads Syrian Scholar
Renowned antiquities scholar, Khaled al-Asaad (82), is dead. On Tuesday (18 August 2015) a member of DAESH chopped his head off then hung his body from a column in the town square in Palmyra, Syria. Why? Because he wouldn't tell them where some Syrian antiquities had...
What’s Important to Voters in the USA?
On 3 August 2015 Fox News released a survey of the political climate in the United States. Conducted from 30 July to 2 August by Anderson Roberts Research (D) and Shaw and Company Research (R) it has a margin of error of +/- 3 percent. (I was immediately struck by the...
Saints and Sinners: 16 August 2015 – Greenpeace and US Judge David Bunning
There was an embarrassment of riches for both the Saint and Sinner this week. For the Saint, I just need to go into full, one-eyed Kiwi mode. The New Zealand netball team, the Silver Ferns has been performing magnificently at the world cup. This afternoon they're in...
Our Planet: The Best Bits III – Swiss Alps
If you've never been to Switzerland, the typical images that come to mind are a chalets nestled in beautiful mountain passes, green meadows with Julie Andrews doing her thing, ski fields, and beautiful lakes. Whatever the image, the sky is invariably blue and clear,...
Saints and Sinners: 9 August 2015 – Burmese Government and NZ Special Olympics Team
It's a good thing I thought of a saint this week before I watched the rugby last night. Australia beat the All Blacks, and I have to be honest - Australia deserved the win. It's all a bit depressing. Later this afternoon New Zealand time it's likely to get worse too;...
Our Planet – The Best Bits II – Calbuco
I meant to post this weeks ago, and somehow it got lost in the drafts. It's an amazing time lapse film of Calbuco Volcano (Chile), which erupted on the night of 22 April 2015 and again the following morning, for the first time since the 1960s. Martin Heck and Jonas...