Hard to believe

Remember, little children are not too little to go hell.” These are words from a new picture book published by a Puritan organisation in the US last month. The book, whose title I will not reveal so as not to give it free publicity, is targeted at five to nine-year olds and uses quotes and interpretation of lines from the Bible to outline the usual nonsense about hell being a place of eternal fire where sinners are “locked in [solitary] cages.”

In a note to parents, the author says: “Some parents may be thinking that this kind of exhortation to children will give little ones horrible nightmares…It would be better for them to have nightmares now while you teach them about the realities of hell…than to wind up in the reality of the nightmare that is hell.”

Ignoring the absurdity of such a place existing after death, writers like Christopher Hitchens have questioned whether any good can come from terrifying children in this way. Others, such as Greta Christina, have called it “child abuse.” Author Dan Arel suggests “a more Socratic method” of questioning children about what they think happens after death.

Meanwhile, in separate case of backwardness, a senior Vatican official has denounced the positive result of the same-sex marriage referendum in Ireland as a “defeat for humanity”. On the same day as the vote, reports emerged that Taiwanese pop songstress Jolin Tsai's song and her music video “We're All Different, Yet The Same” had been banned from broadcast in Singapore. The video has two women in a marriage ceremony kissing (with closed mouths) for about seven seconds.

Also recently, two judges in Argentina are still somehow in their jobs after saying that the rape of a six-year old boy wasn't too serious because he was “already gay”. They reduced the rapist's sentence, saying the boy was used to being abused and had “homosexual tendencies”.

In Australia their ultra-conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott blocked both legislation and the possibility of a referendum on gay marriage.

In more encouraging news, back on this side of the planet, Greenland's parliament has unanimously approved same-sex marriage and adoption. MPs in the country, which has a population of 57,000, voted to adopt Danish laws on the issue. Also, a lesbian fleeing persecution in her native Cameroon has now received asylum in Spain after a long legal battle.

Progress moves slowly in a world that calls itself modern. I wish all readers a very enjoyable summer.