EGOTORIAL You mayhave noticed that this issueol Anowsof Desireappears three years late. This is not a record. We therefore break format somewhat to offer the following: Apologiesare due to this issue'scontributors for subjectingtheir materialto so muchentropy. Whilst inherentlyunfair to mentionpartiarlar names (but let's face it, who cares?),AOD offers best wishes to contributorMichael Abbott for the successof his involvementwith the Attitudeproject'. We would also like to pointout that potentialreviewers and criticsmay rest up for a while, since Paul Di Filippohas filled every available position. Special apologiesto GrahamJoyce who already contributedto AOD #7 (BloodyForeignersf some time ago.His pieceon the Greekswill indeedappear there. Arrowsof Desirepublishing history: #1 November1988 (Gen) #2 May1989 (The Rock'n' RollSfonbs) #3 November1989 (Love,Lust and Like) H April1990 (Hate,Fear and Loathing) #5 November1990 (Death) #5112 April1991 (Commenfson #5, rcsponsearticle) #6 November1994 (Religion) #7 Secondqtr 1995 (BloodyForeigners!) #8 Fourthqtr 1995 (Tobe announcedin#7 -tryto guessl Backissues are not cunentlyin print;this doesnot precluderequests for them which, if sufficientin number,will be dealt with sympathetically.A possibilityunder consideration is an omnibusreprint. Opinions welcomed. the Attitudefanzine is editedand publishedby MichaelAbbott, John Dallmanand Pam Wells. Available for the usual from Flat 4, 27 Tenont Road, London N15 3AA, UK ([email protected]).Recommended. ARROI/YS OF DESIRE 6: REUGION CONTENTS - 2 EGOTORIAL 3 CONTENTS 4 HEARTTRANSPLANT S V O'Jay 5 DEATH,RELIGION AND CONSOLATION KenLaKe 9 BUDDHISM 1O ROMANCATHOLICS ANONYMOUS 11 TANGLE DavidLangford 12 ADHERENTSOF RELTGTONSWORLD) 13 HINDUISM 14 THATOLD.TIME RELIGION MichaelAbbott 17 GOD'SJUKEBOX 18 THE RAWBRAIN DF Lewis 20 GODS lan Creasey 21 CONSIDER... NinaWatson 22 ISLAM 23 DANGER:RELIGION. AN SF CHECKLIST SteveJeffery 24 JOKE 25 CATHOLICFACTS 26 ME TALKINGRUBBISH BarryJ Bayley 29 GETRELIGION AT THEMOVIES 31 JUDAISM 32 THETEN COMMANDMENTS 33 VIRTUALJESUS S V O,Jay 36 GODAND ME HazBond 39 POEM CecilNurse 40 LOCOCITATO The Readership 54 CONTRIBUTORS 55 AND FINALLY... Listings,factual pieces and "Joke"compiled by S V O'Jay;miscellaneous quotes compiledby Steve Jeffery and S V O'Jay; And Finally...supplied by Steve Jeffery. CoverArt BruceBenedickter Interiorart: Black Flag: Cacey Goff Chile (p8), Sididis (p16), Mary Goff Wannabe(p35) ARROTYSAF DESIRE6: RELIGION HEARTTRANSPLANT S V O'Jav ...feltit was one to dealwith in the "usual"fashion, that is, omefta,but in the personalsense. Nobody should know. Well, not nobodyas such, in the Oxford senseof the word, but more realisticallyin a damagelimitation way. The less they know.The better.For all of us. Me. What changed?Later for that, but l'll point out that it seemedand seems strangethat a sharedbed couldbe so sexlessfor so long.They knew,really. A lot of other thingscould have taken excusestatus very easily,especially when the cynic has it that you're trying to deal with a fake Scousefrom Notlob (as Montywould say - or havesaid, Graham). "Do you believein a love at first sight?";'Yes, l'm certainit happensall the time";"What do you see when you tum out the light?'; darkness,ac{ually. The long riders of the imaginationassenting to apportionsomething other than a physicalexplanation to the astigmatically-enhancedpoints of light behindclosed blueeyes. We don'tget fooledagain. Are you out there, then? ls there really somethingemotional, spritual, phvsicalabout the acceptanceof the chalice,the wafer,the body, the blood? Transubstantiationof the elestricalzap pathwaysof axons into somethinglife- enhancing,lifedirecting. lt worked. 'M/hat's it like to be the most beautiful womanin the room?".'M/hen I see her, l'll ask her." Symptomor result?Remembering times past when the organisationalskill of othersovertook the real need.Bay of Pigs. Dallas.Brighton (own goal). Ready for this, perhaps,or just anotherescape clause. Please read the small print on your lackof insurance.There are no guarantees,there is no altemative. The cost in friendshipswould tend to be high, especiallyafter so long. But, well, fuck, if they'reso easilybroken (selfish again) what were they worth?The rightstuff is gonnaendure, right? (Actually, yes.) I told myselfeverything was takencare of as I got on the plane.lt had to be, didn'tit? The Churchof Spirithad failedme enoughnot to be worthmissing, the Churchof the PoisonMind left behind(or so it was hoped);all sacrificedon the altarof Churchof Self? Adequateflight, it got us there.Time willtell, it alwaysdoes. And in Arcadia1.... ARROT/YSOF DESTRE6: REUGION DEATH.RELIGION & CONSOLATION Ken Lake Let's start with a very brief commenton AOD #5, writtenunusually before I have even read it! This summer (1990) | spent a lot of time undergoing manipulationof my neck, only to be told that it is falling apart. The bones are degenerating,already I have"the neck of an eighty-year-old",and I am unlikely to see this decadeout. Suddenly,death looms: l'm nevergoing to do mostof the things I want, osteo-arthritisalready stops me from enjoyingsome of them,and penuryhardly helps. Do I reallywant to readwhat peoplenot faced by the immediateand certain threat of death have to say about it? \A/hatdoes it mean to me? And does the declaredtheme of AOD #6, Religion,actually have anythingto say to me or indeedto do with life,death or anythingelse useful? To me, death means simply waste: there's a helluva lot of shitstining antagonismto receivedideas lurking in Ken Lake'smind waiting for time to get out; there's a lot of useful information,and nearly sixty years of meaningful experiencewaiting to be shared.And beforeyou can do more than skim the surface,the bodyand the brainare to decayand be lostforever. Waste indeed! Don't bug me with sentiment I've no room for it. Sure, I enjoy good experiences,I gain emotionaland aestheticpleasure from some of them. But what kind of pleasurableemotion do you expectme to radiatenoW'? | mean,be fair - intellect, ratiocination,philosophy even; investigation,extrapolation, wonderment,these are still around,being triggered all the time. l'm willing and readyto give and take love,on a one-to-onebasis anyhow, but I am too full of angerto be capableof lovingthe world,its people- mostof whomare so fuckin' ignorant,bigoted and stupidthat I have no sympathyfor them - or even specific nations,tribes, groups or selfdeclaredcategories like fandom,lesbians, stamp collectorsor poll tax protestors. Do peoplethreatened by deathtum to religion?| dunno- I'm the Odd Man Out becausereligion has alwaysfascinated me an) I've marchedwith the SallyArmy, studied with the Witnesses,argued with ^ray. the Mormons (a singularly stupidgroup), been boredby the Bookof CommonPrayer, gloried in the poetry of the Upanishads,been repelled by the Koran,wondered at the TibetanBook of the Dead,and manya timeand oft lost myselfin the celebrationof the Mass,the central"mystery" of Christianity. For severaldecades l've taken the opportunityoccasionally to attend the Ukranian Uniat liturgy - this is basicallythe Russian Orthodoxone with a Ukranianaccent plus prayersfor the Pope, more recentlybeing celebratedin modern Ukranian rather than Old Slavonic, so l've had to learn another languageto sing along. I sometimesattend the RussianOrthodox Gathedral, and l'm a memberof the LatinMass Society $'trich celebrates the old Tridentine rite ratherthan that boringpopulist modem post-Vatican ll service. Just recentlyl've rediscoveredthe ArmenianChurch and, with the help of a liturgygiven me by AvedonCarol's parents, l'm leamingto sing in that obscure languagethe many beautifulchants of this even more obscureyet pioneering church.So l'm spoiledfor choice,if religiousexperien@s are wfratI seek. ARROWSOF DESIRE6: REUGION DEATH.RELIGION AND CONSOLANON KEN LAKE Why shouldI wantthem? Do I believein God,in the Godheadof Jesus,in the dogmasof the Catholicor any otherFaith? Do I supportthe Catholicswith their celibateclergy, the Orthodoxwhere all priestsare maniedbut all bishops celibate(coming from the monasteries),or the Armenianswho feel it's up to eachpriest to makeup his ownmind? Do I believein the infallibilityof the Pope, the collegialityof the Orthodoxmetropolitans or the separatenessthe Armenians claimamong their greatest gifts? Do I care? At varyingtimes in the past,all these - and hundredsof other - theological problemsand conceptshave grasped my attention.l've read this and that, studiedthis and that,asked the rightand wrongquestions and been givensome very dodgy answers.Why should religion be trammeledwith all these complexitiesanyway? Thereare two separateways of lookingat religion.Some see it as "the Word of God" settingout specificpattems which must be followed,specific dogmas whichmust be believed,with the threatof etemaldamnation - or at leasta nasty time in Purgatory- if you can't bring yourselfto swallowprecisely this yeafs versionof this sect's beliefs and practices.That side of religion has caused probablymore wars, deaths,tortures, unhappinesses and the destructionof more livesand soulsthan anythingelse in this world,and l've cometo feel that even if any one set of beliefsis correct,and even if someGod has actuallylaid themdown, we are betteroff ignoringthem. That may sound harsh:who am I to throw out the produc{of the love, the devotion,the researchand studyand dedicationof millionsof wonderfulpeople? My only answerhas to be that it's the sameguy who rejectsthe end productof more millions of bigoted, brutal,