St Albans – SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR)

St Albans: Consciousness Does Not Exist – and Dubious Examples of “Christianity”! (4.4.2025)

04/04/2025 Adrian (釋大道)

The Church suppresses and disempowers the working class in every narrative it constructs. The Workers are viewed as the scum of the earth by the middle class that runs most of the UK’s institutions. The Church today remains silent as the capitalist countries it’s supports brings the world once again to the brink of war. The Church is the devil incarnate which expresses itself through the self-serving literature it’s conspired to print and circulate. The Church calls this lie “freedom of expression”. Of course, it is only freedom of its own expression. Perhaps the biggest joke is that those without theological degrees are considered “unqualified” to see all this! Oh dear, no working 90 minutes a-week (on Sunday morning if the CofE priest can muster a congregation) with a free house and income tax exemption for me, then! Abolish this subterfuge – and the Workers will be one level nearer freedom.

UK: The Kind Idiocy of Mary Augusta Ward [1851-1920]! (24.3.2025)

24/03/2025 Adrian (釋大道)

It is incredible that someone such as Bishop Smith thinks that Mary Ward – the co-founder of the “National Women’s Anti-Suffrage League” – is a person worthy of remembering when she dedicated her life to preventing society from developing – a process which required the lifting of the religious ignorance that had dominated the West for over a thousand years. Furthermore, the White, middle-class and thoroughly “male” interpretation of Christianity Bishop Smith and Ward seem to be peddling has virtually nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ – and has more in common with the ramblings of St Paul – a fantasist who never met Jesus. The situation is probably more confusing than even this – as many of the letters ascribed to Paul – particularly the misogynistic editions – are thought to be forgeries.

St Albans: Verulamium Museum! (29.5.2024)

29/05/2024 Adrian (釋大道)

Of course, Roman rule was collapsing by the time (in the 4th century) that Christianity was becoming popular throughout the Roman Empire. Some wealthy Romans tolerated Christianity prior to this date (perhaps 3rd century) as being just one of many choices of belief from across their Empire – as the Roman Authorities were not yet exclusively “Christian”. This is why Celtic Christianity was probably from Egypt and premised upon the monasticism of the Desert Fathers – having little directly to do with Rome. The Catholic Church did not arrive as a State power in England until the Norman Conquest of 1066 (isolated Catholic Churches and monasteries had arrived in England prior to this date – but possessed no political influence or power with England’s Celtic Chiefs or Anglo-Saxon Kings). In just one-hundred years of its arrival in 1066 – this new and aggressive type of intolerant Christianity had wiped-out its Celtic cousin by the 12th century.

St Albans Abbey: Clock-Tower & Exterior Structure! (29.5.2024)

29/05/2024 Adrian (釋大道)

Ordinary peasants and aristocracy would get out of bed in the morning, work, eat, rest and go to bed at night according to the dictates of the Roman Catholic Church – the monasteries of which usually followed the Rule of St Benedict – or some similar Rule. Ordinary people did not have to learn how to tell the time – as the monastic orders told them what to do and when to d it. Following the “Dissolution” – secular society had to build their own clocks and learn to tell the time for themselves. This is how the measuring of “time” was rescued from the control of the Church. After 1539 – time no longer served God – but rather the lay-society that paid for and possessed the technical skills to construct the clocks! The policies of King Henry VIII – as mad as he may or may not have been (he had around 70,000 men and women hanged during his reign) – ushered the “modern” Britain that we now live within. I doubt, however, that Henry would have envisioned the end of absolute monarchy or the trivialising of the Church!

St Albans Abbey: Main-Gate! (28.5.2024)

28/05/2024 Adrian (釋大道)

During 1381 – England came within a hair’s breadth of becoming a People’s Republic! This great effort led by Wat Tyler was eventually defeated through the duplicity of the ruling classes – but its example echoes down through history! The beginnings of this gate stem from the 11th century and the consolidation of the Norman Conquest. This was when Roman Catholicism landed in England as part of the ruling government structure. Prior to this, Celtic Christianity (probably from Egypt) held sway in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. What Catholic presence there was prior to 1066 CE was piece-meal and generally lacked any real political power or influence. The differwence between these two forms of Christianity is that although both possessed a monastic tradition – the Celtic version saw the monastery (not the Church) as the centre of society. Furthermore, the Celtic version possessed a tolerant attitude toward non-Christian beliefs – a position rejected by the Catholic variant. With the coming of the politically empowered Catholic Church – Celtic Christianity was all but wiped-out by the 12th century.