Monday, November 09, 2009

The End of History

‘This used to be God’s country, but not anymore – and thank God for that’
A History of Scotland (BBC)

Thus, with a sound bite to make Alan Partridge shout, 'Back of the net!', BBC Scotland’s Neil Oliver ended his assessment of the Scottish Covenanters. Oliver took the utterly predictable and increasingly, it seems, BBC mandated line of telling us what an awful bigoted bunch religious people are. The Covenanters, we were told, were a ruthless power-hungry mob intent on turning Scotland into the kind of fundamentalist state that would have made the Taliban blush.

What is particularly depressing is the ‘a-historical’ nature of such programmes. That is, they seem (wilfully) ignorant of any historical perspective. Thus people and events can only be evaluated through the lense of twenty-first century liberal eyes. So the Covenanters were ‘extreme’ in their religious beliefs – but who wasn’t in the 17th Century? The Covenanters ideal was a nation converted to Presbyterian Christianity – as if the Catholic Church or the Episcopal Church would have been less zealous for their own faiths. Neil Oliver might like to think, had he lived in 1638, that he would have stood ‘above’ such squabbles but he would just have reflected the worldview of whatever 'extreme' sect he belonged to (as he clearly does in his own time).

Like Neil Oliver, I’m not a trained historian (although my wife has a first class MA in History & agrees with me if that counts?) but it seems to me that you primarily need to judge historical figures and events in their historical context. Thus the extent that something was positive or negative needs to be seen in the social & political climate of that time. For example, the Magna Carta would hardly seem a radical charter for human rights today - but it most certainly was in 1215 (something that historians like Simon Schama seem to grasp). Therefore in the context of the 17th century the desire of the Covenanters to resist state controlled religion (whatever their other shortcomings) is surely something to celebrate rather than discredit. But one wonders, if Neil Oliver is not so much interested in the 17th century as pushing a twenty-first century secularist agenda.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

‘This used to be God’s country, but not anymore – and thank God for that’
A History of Scotland (BBC)

British viewers were treated to a mess of BBC anti Christian pottage in their History of Scotland Program, staring that that little long haired dwarf and secular humanist Neil Oliver. Oliver, reading from his BBC idiot board said, “This used to be Gods Country, but not any more – then sarcastically he adds, and thank God for that”.

Oliver’s hatred and contempt, for any thought of God, and for his followers was manifest in this BBC so called History of Scotland. The Christian Scottish Covenanters were likened unto bloodthirsty bigots, and a Scottish Taliban.

If Oliver would take time to take of his BBC Secular humanist spectacles, and take a real look at Scottish history, he would see that the Christian Scottish Covenanters gave to this country a Civil and religious liberty second to none, a civil and religious liberty that has benefitted all, including him.

In this sham of a history program Oliver maligned and demonised people who were far better than him, I could add, “Shame on him” but BBC presenters like Oliver are without shame, no doubt his secular humanistic blinkers will doom him to continue being the narrow minded bigot that he is, in which case we should expect more of the same verbal Diarrhoea from him.

I know that Handy Hunters blog deals with Oliver far better than ever I could, but then, I’m an old cut and thrust man, a man of few words.