Even St Paul would have had Second Thoughts

There is that whole weird thing when you look back and think - how did we get from where we were, to where we are?

It was Eddie Izzard,  I think - and if not then it was someone who shared the same dressmaker - who said Christianity started with Jesus, all relaxed and groovy - and after 2,000 years we've managed to boil it down to mumbling in dark buildings. And you can see his point.

I mean, if at any point it had occurred to Jesus that one of the results of his life on earth would be the witch crazes of early Modern Europe, it makes you wonder what he would have thought. Maybe he would have failed to comprehend how anyone could have got from a message of radical love.

And if St Paul had been granted just one glimpse of the future...

"Dear Corinthians

Just another little note.  I was just picking the lice out of my beard this morning, when I was lifted up in a vision.

I saw what seemed to be a church, but- and I speak of mysteries here - that church met in a house where nobody lived. And on the walls of the house there were smooth stones. And on these stones were written the names of dead people who, while they were alive, were the richest people in their town.

And they were singing a lively song. And it was revealed to me - although I understand not their Germanic tongue - that the song was called "Lord of the Dance."

Sometimes, O Corinthians, I wonder if it's all worth it. Is the Olympian pantheon really all that bad?"