fidzbit

Superheroes. Special Effects. The angst of self-discovery. Corrupt government agents. Supervillains. Romance. Mind-boggling plot twists and turns. Humour. The Wandavision series is shaping up to be another Marvel classic. It certainly makes for great Friday evening TV viewing. Reimagining History The feel-good factor of the early episodes has gradually given way to a more dystopian tone with the last two episodes taking a much darker turn. We have just learned that Agatha Harkness is not a background character with larger-than-life levels of kindness. She is actually a witch who has been manipulating and deceiving Wanda in order to learn the secrets of her super-natural powers. Episode 8 begins with a flashback to Salem, 1693, where Agatha is being singled out for discipline by the members of her own witches’ coven. The historical background to this scene is the famous ‘Salem Witch Trials’ which occurred in Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693. Over 200 hundred people were prosecuted as...

Last night it snowed. We woke up to a good 4 or 5 inches of white fluff, a bit too powdery for snowmen but perfect for sledding. Of course the kids and the dog were extremely excited. It doesn’t happen often and when it does they want out. Confession . While the idea of playing in the snow is appealing when there is no snow, the reality of snow is cold. Usually cold and wet. Sometimes cold and wet and windy. Left to myself, I might well take one look out of the window, shiver (or shudder?), and go back to bed with dreams of staying under the covers until Spring.  But the kids really do have the right idea. They take every opportunity they get to have fun. And there are not many opportunities to have fun in the snow . So they are up and out regardless of the discomfort. A few days ago, I read a verse in the Bible which has been bouncing around in my mind ever since. In 2 Timothy 4:2 , the apostle Paul tells his right hand man Timothy to: “ Preach the Word; be ready in season a...

It came as a surprise to many people when religious leaders in England and Wales issued a challenge to the government about the closure of churches during the Autumn ‘firebreak’ lockdowns. Similar challenges are currently working their way through the Scottish court system due to the blanket ‘Tier 4’ restrictions which have been in place since Boxing Day 2020. Some churches did continue to meet, with social distancing measures in place, choosing not to comply with government guidance ( guidance not law - contrary to some exaggerated news reports).  A conversation with a friend yesterday set me thinking about this issue of religious freedom again. Let me tell you a bit about him. ‘Malcolm’ My friend Malcom (not his real name) lives in an Asian country where Christians are a minority. In recent years they have known active opposition from a nationalist government which aligns with the majority religion. The country has no ‘welfare state’ to fall back on so if you lose your job...

So you take some photos - just ordinary things, like a trip to the park with the kids, a night out with friends, a snapshot at the beach which happened to come out as a perfect windswept portrait. You share them on facebook so your family can see. They gradually filter down into the archive of your account where you forget about them completely. Several years pass. A phone call from a friend. “Do you realise that...?” “What?! You can’t be serious?” You check out the webpage. Sure enough. That’s your face. But it’s not your body. And you have never even seen the other people on the film - never mind engaged in a sexual orgy. It’s called deepfake porn. Someone took those old pictures of you and used a computer algorithm to generate a 3D model of your face to cut and paste into a sexually explicit film. Discovering that you have been the unconscious subject of a deepfake porn film would no doubt come as a shock. Just reading about it may well provoke a sense of disgust. Perhaps more ...

When the Covid restrictions were first announced last Spring there was a tide of good will, community spirit and shared resolve. There was a new enemy but it was an enemy that we could beat if we all pulled together. The summer sun certainly helped keep the mood positive. It didn’t seem that long before things started to return, gradually, back to some kind of normality. We didn’t have to dig so deep anymore. We could relax a little. Perhaps, like me, you hoped that this was the end. It was a serious threat but by taking action together we had avoided the worst. It was not as bad as it could have been. Alas, we were wrong! We couldn’t see how bad the second wave would be. We didn’t know how many new variants would arise and that they would prove more contagious to different subsections of society. Medical friends who have been following the studies closely inform me that they always feared this. The progression models differed on the details but they all predicted that a ‘second wave’...

This is a very different blog than most that I write so please don’t feel any pressure to read on if it is not what you signed up for! Many people are juggling the balls of lockdown schooling with other responsibilities; in my case I would describe it more as dropping the balls. I hope to return to easier writing eventually but it will continue to be sporadic for a while! I started writing this as a mental exercise, in order to explore whether some of my own recent theological reading and reflection could offer any helpful insights in relation to recent political events. It addresses a topic which some colleagues and friends are discussing and this is the best platform I have with which to share my ideas. Trump, Trans, and Treason It seems bizarre to write these three words in the same sentence. Less than two weeks ago we were celebrating the end of 2020, the Year of ‘what could possibly happen next’. Alas it took only a few days to prove wrong any forecast of a return to normality....