I Believe....

I've never been a religious person. Religion has been responsible for some of the most hideous atrocities in our history and continues to be the cause of a great deal of the conflicts in the world today. I really don't understand how people can reconcile the two.

Funnily enough though I like churches, I like the architecture and the peace and tranquility inside. I admire the commitment that must have gone into designing and building churches. You just don't get that now.

The thing that's really always put me off (apart from being gay) is the insistence that God is an all mighty being that created us and is continually watching over us. I've never subscribed to this. Religion and science used to go hand in hand, with religion being used to explain the things that science could not. Unfortunately the list of thing that science can't explain is shrinking by the day so what's left for religion?

The need for religion today is not in explaining the world around us, but in peoples mental well being. If it's going to be relevant today I think it just needs a bit of a refresh and readjustment to be more in line with the modern era.

If you think of the various religious texts as good moral guide books, rather than fact, they become much more relevant. If you think of God as the collective consciousness of mankind then it makes much more sense. We should all live our lives by what we consider to be good moral standards of the day, but unfortunately those standards are changing. I think the churches reluctance to accept change is damaging to it's reputation and is why fewer and fewer young people are have anything to do with it.

Without good moral guides of course standards will change. Children get their morals and standards from their parents, idols and leaders, but with no strong guide each successive generation is deteriorating. The world needs something like religion to help guide it back on track but it's failing miserably at the moment.

The world is now full of corrupt, money grabbing, selfish, arrogant people. Our politicians who should be the representatives of us all have let us down. The police seem to be inept and unable to do anything about the rising crime. There are huge numbers of parents who, having brought children into the world feel they have no responsibility for their up bringing. Where's it going to end?

In some respects I'm glad I'm not starting out in life now as I hate to think what the worlds going to be like to live in 40 years from now.

Beacon at 12 o'clock

Aghhhh. Another belisha beacon on my forehead this morning. Anyone know any miracle cures for spots?

I've had acne since early teens and when you're that age everyone tells you it's your hormones and you'll grow out of it. I remember my next door neighbour's son who was in his mid twenties at the time still had acne and I thoight that if I had spots for that long I would kill myself. Of course I didn't and you just get used to them, but that doesn't stop them from being extremely annoying on occasions.

You find a way of managing them, in my case it's Oxy 10 and a moisturiser and that keeps them down to the point where on the whole they don't affect my life too much, and a lot of the time they are not really noticable. Another handy thing is a concealer just to dull done those bright red beacons that appear in the middle of your forehead the day of an important meeting!

Anyway, here I am in my early forties still getting spots so I guess I'm not going to grow out of them!

The only real way in which it's starting to affect my life is insecurity I suppose. I started getting spots on my back probably late teens and stopped swimming at that point. I would love to go swimming again just to keep up the fitness levels but just feel too embarassed. I shouldn't have spots at my age! I did look at Roaccutane which was suggested at a health check once. Anyone any experience of it? From what I've read it seems to swap spots for suicidal depression - ummm, spots I think.

Love to hear if anyone found a cure after having acne for a long time.

Changing Attitudes

I wonder what it's like growing up gay today?

When I think it's only since 1967 that it's been legal to be gay (partially at least) in the UK. That means my parents grew up with it being illegal and that must have shaped their attitudes. Things were still very unequal with the age of consent set at 21. It's not until 2001 that the age of consent was finally made equal between gay and straight partners and it was only in 2005 when gay couples could have any sort of legal standing with a Civil Partnership.

I never quite understood the legal inequality between gay and straight partnerships. I'm sure the people that made that legislation must have been straight or they would have understood that making the age of consent higher doesn't discourage people from being gay. It may have discouraged people from admitting they were gay but the idea that you can encourage/discourage homosexuality by legislation is plain stupid.

Teens today are the first generation to grow up with near equality so my generation is the last to be brought up with a legal view that's it's wrong. This has got to have a positive effect on attitudes. I would be nieve if I thought there would be a time when there would be no prejedice as all minorities suffer that and probably always will to some degree.

There are plenty of celebreties around now who are openly gay and it wasn't that long ago it would have been the end of their career. I think people like Stephen Fry, Matt Lucas, Will Young have done more to improve attitudes towards gay people than anyone - just by being themselves. There are those of course you wish would go back in the closet like Dale Winton (who seems to pretend he's gay) and George Michael who's public exploits just reinforce stereotypes.

All we can do is get to the point where prejudice is generally seen as wrong rather than homosexuality itself. Another 10 years should do it.