This is The End

I’ve met a few Sea of Faith types - mostly clergy. They see God as a symbol, not a real being, but still love the rituals and community. No straight answers? Probably protecting their job - stipend, house, status. Feels hypocritical if they're preaching what they don't believe. If your priest's one, yeah, trust would take a hit.

Small group, still around - conference coming up. Ever talk to one openly?

I hadn’t heard of it so I looked it up and according to Wikipedia it is a movement rather than a religious organisation:

I don’t see the point of it myself. I can understand people joining a movement that promotes a philosophy or a way of life but Sea of Life is neither of those things.

Many Christians don't seem to believe in God either, has anyone come across people who belong to the Sea of Faith movement? They seem to be humanists who go through all the church and biblical stuff and believe it. Well I guess it depends on who's asking, I've met a few and have never got a straight answer out them, oddly enough they've all been in holy orders, so maybe its the benefit of being in the church they don't want to lose? I must say I do find it incredibly hypocritical and it must be very hard if your parish preist is one of these?

Yeah, I love that image - faces sliding off like cheap masks when the "right" group finally gets the spotlight. It's almost comical, isn't it? All that certainty, all those sermons, and poof - turns out the quiet ones were onto something.

And "the meek shall inherit the earth"? It feels less like a promise of rapture drama and more like... aftermath. The loud, the proud, the ones who screamed "we're saved!" - they're gone, or humbled, or just... irrelevant. Left behind? Maybe we get the quiet. No more crusades, no more "you're wrong" wars. Just people - believers, doubters, agnostics - picking up the pieces, fixing what's broken, no scoreboard.

If anything, it sounds like mercy: the earth gets a reset without the noise. We repair. We live. We don't need to prove anything anymore.

Won't it be fun to watch the faces slide off the front of some denominations heads when they realise it was one of the many other demoninations that got it right after all?

'The meek shall inherit the earth', does that mean that after the rapture the rest of us will be left in peace to follow our faiths or none and repair the world?

You get better quality food too, richer in vitamins and minerals and it tastes so much better too. There's so many "waste" products that can be used as fertilizer and mulch, to keep water in. Spent hops from beer production, seaweed that washes up around the coasts after a winter storm, wool shoddy, (the bits left over from spinning). We could leave pea and beans roots in the ground as they fix nitrogen in the soil, there are also many many plants that could be grown to use as fertilizer, like comfrey, even nettles. 

whomper said:

It's easy to imagine a world without speculators, pretty grim to imagine one without culture.

I agree.

It’s sad that people are intent on devaluing culture.

I've got a BA in History and a Creative Writing MA, which I'm sure many people on the political right would class as "phoney", but they were hard won, and deeply, deeply rewarding. 

Farage traded metals futures - he's never produced anything meaningful. I think an artist or a poet, scraping by on a low income supplemented by teaching and part-time jobs for instance is doing something far less phoney. It's easy to imagine a world without speculators, pretty grim to imagine one without culture. 

profdanger said:

The fun part is that the Bible isn’t clear on it, so is it even worth worrying about?

Exactly. 

Also, many Christians don’t believe that we will be given any signs of end times. So the America/Israel-Iran war, earthquakes, all evil etc. is irrelevant in that regard, 

profdanger said:

eschatology is one of my special interests lol

That’s interesting! A friend of mine is a priest who did a doctorate on eschatology and taught it at a university. It’s fascinating how some Christian denominations believe that theology evolves and understanding develops in things like the care of animals and the planet, while others have a very different  belief system. 

Yeah rapture is when Christians believe they will be beamed into Heaven, usually before the Great Tribulation aka the End Times. Interestingly, some think it’ll happen after. Even some others think it’ll be during. The fun part is that the Bible isn’t clear on it, so is it even worth worrying about?

(P.S. eschatology is one of my special interests lol)

So "phoney degrees" (or Mickey Mouse ones) basically means uni courses that critics slam as pointless or easy - stuff like media studies, celebrity culture, golf management, or even "David Beckham studies" from back when.

The idea's they're too fluffy, low-rigour, high-debt, low-job - basically, not "real" skills. People on the right love bashing them as woke waste, while others defend them as useful for society.

It's all politics - same people who hate them would cheer a welding cert. But yeah, if you're asking, it's mostly arts/humanities or niche "business" bits that get the label.

Yes, the fertiliser one - it's a mess right now.

Production's hit rock-bottom, and yes, Iran's conflict is choking the Strait of Hormuz - 25% price spikes just as planting season looms, with Gulf exports stalled. China's clamping down on nitrogen/urea shipments too, hoarding for their own farmers - Reuters called it "additional strain" last week. UK's CF Industries already shut plants over gas costs; we're importing more, but prices are up 40%. No quick fix - stockpiles thin, spring crops at risk.

On soil? You're dead right - overuse of chemicals wrecked chalk downs: thin soils erode fast, nutrients leach out, biodiversity tanks. Regenerative is the way: cover crops, no-till, compost rotations - builds microbes, holds water, cuts erosion. UK trials (British Ecological Society report) show it works without yield drops - minimize bare ground, nurture worms/fungi. Alternatives like SoilPoint boosters or biodynamic compost could cut reliance on synthetics.

We need creative: legumes for nitrogen, perennials for structure - not more bombs. Healthy soil = resilient crops. If we don't shift, food bills soar.

Can someone please explain what "phoney degrees" are or which subjects?

I think we could do a lot better by our soil than keep relying on the sort of fertilizers we use. Soil health is the most important thing for crop growth, healthy soil=healthy crops, the over use of these sort of fertilizers and pesticides have lead to so much erosion, especially on naturally thin soils like those on chalk downs. We need to be far more creative in how we fertilize our fields as well as what crops we grow.

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Is the rapture where Christians get carted off to heaven?

Yes, you're laying it bare, aren't you? Fertiliser at rock-bottom, Iran blowing up supplies, China playing gatekeeper - it's all piling on. And yes, the "special relationship" feels like a one-way street: we tag along, they take the glory (and the oil routes). As long as we keep exporting Beatles vinyl and Monty Python DVDs, we're golden, right?

From what I'm seeing, production's tanked - CF Industries shut UK plants last year over gas prices, and now Iran's war's choking the Strait of Hormuz. That's thirty percent of global fertiliser shipments gone. China's banning exports on nitrogen blends and urea quotas - protecting their farmers, sure, but we're left scrambling. Prices up forty percent, plants in India and Pakistan offline... UK's food bill's about to spike, and farmers? They're already warning of shortages for spring planting. No quick fix - stockpiles are thin, no substitutes.

The Blob? Spot on. Phoney degrees, gig-economy "jobs," debt up to our oxters - it's all distraction while the real system's hollowed out. Benefits or bust. And Rayner - "Malibu Stacey with a new hat"? Sharp. She's got the look, the rhetoric, but same old Labour polish - hope's abandoned at the door.

Question the relationship? Some are - Starmer's trying "cool head" after Trump snubs, but it's still "give" here, "take" there. Europe might pull us closer if US keeps ditching.

I sometimes wonder if we are at the end, but the rapture hasn't been yet, so I would think we were not at the critical point before the end. We need to keep watching for the signs. 

I hope you mean against ‘fighting back’ against the float’s theme! 

The Farmers have had enough, and are fighting back!

You did, and they were very useful in helping us understand how some rich and powerful people behave. 

One of the sickest things ever occurred on St Patrick’s Day in Co Mayo and Co Galway. A tractor pulling a trailer joined three St Patrick’s Day parades in two counties. The trailer featured an ‘Epstein Files’…………………… (Edited in case it breaks rules). The organisers cut short the parade and next year will put checks in place to stop this sort of thing happening again. 

I must admit I preferred the Rockford Files. More comforting to view.

You did, shame your government haven't acted upon them