c.o.e. says: 'no Blake'; e.l.p.: rocked

A report by Gnostic priest Jordan Stratford that the Church of England has banned the Blake hymn because it's "too nationalistic"...


You know, ELP did a kickass version of that back in ,73...
One of my favorite hymns and one of my favorite prog rock tracks...



















(can't mention ELP's BSS without saying "Karn Evil 9" is one of the best songs of the 20th Century --- in our family, it's a grab something to drink, dim the lights, sit down, and listen for all 30 minutes kind of song.)

Anyways, all this reminds me of Kinky Friedman's line when he ran for Governor: this is the wussification of Texas! And banning hymns on grounds of nationalism is kind of wussified. Stratford points out briefly that you can take it metaphorically, but seems post-modern liberal Christians would rather not have to do the work of taking things metaphorically. It'd be too much like eating barbecue. It'd get their hands dirty with the wrong kind of company, huh?

Folks forget: Jesus was (is!) all about the 'wrong kind of company'.