The internet is fizzing with demonisation of senior US political figures as the Epstein files are leaked. There are fantastic allegations of perversion and even cannibalism. Here in the UK it is possible to believe that our Prime Minister actually works to harm our country in several ways.
Can all this be simply the hysteria of ninnies?
Yet forty years ago Michael Bentine published a novel whose foreword reads in part:
I have been pondering for many years on my own encounters with the forces of evil during war and peace… newspaper headlines about drug smuggling, satanism and corruption in high places show daily that the kind of events described here are all too probable.
Bentine was a firm believer in the paranormal and yet was nobody’s fool. He was at the liberation of Belsen in 1945 and saw Hell there; like William Blake he believed heaven and hell are states of the human soul, but not merely that. Here he is in discussion with Bishop Richard Holloway (BBC1, 19 August 1988):
Either the spiritual cross-currents now flowing so vigorously are baloney or they’re not; if not, they scare me. There are reports of increased church attendance and conversions (ex-Muslim then atheist Ayaan Hirsi Ali adopted Christianity in November 2023.)
Evil may be a real force and if so blasé sophistication may not be enough to counter it.
12 comments:
I don't see how anyone can be a firm believer in the paranormal and yet not be a fool.
Bentine experienced many things. Perhaps you might read his autobiography. There is a middle ground between those who believe everything and those who believe nothing.
There is a strong strand of panic amongst Orthodox Russians at present that paganism & satanism (as 'practices') have an increasing hold within the Russian army. Seriously! Whole army units self-describe as pagan.
That middle ground would include lots of people who do not believe in anything supernatural.
@Padders: unless you maintain Bentine was lying then the incidents happened. There may be rational explanations.
@Nick: not just the Russian army. Perhaps Yeats was right and we are in a new gyre. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming
Rational explanations, plus "I don't know". Filling with Gods and other supernatural events doesn't actually answer things, and lots of theologians have figured out.
And rather a lot of Americans have taken after the first century Jews and early Christians, and are expecting the end of days, 'any time now'. Scarily, that includes many in the current administration, and a lot of generals.
It all began with 'I don't know' and it hasn't finished.
I'm not here to preach (what do I know?) but I think you're caricaturing. There are modern scientists who believe in God, and a lot of science logic and maths was pioneered by believers of one kind or another. 'Natural philosophers' saw themselves as trying to understand God's creation. Was Newton a fool?
The US people seeing current affairs in terms of the Last Days are very worrying but even more so the Iranians who are prepared to blow up the world. And here we have Starmer and co wittering about international law. If only Americans could start to frame policy in terms of something other than angels v demons and oooo isn't he awful?
There are lots of good scientists who do believe. Most compartmentalize their beliefs. However, it is notable that only something like 7% of the National Academy of Sciences express a belief in God.
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