Blasphemy against christianity was a crime in England until last year. In Scotland, open atheism carried the death penalty until 1825, and John Gott served 9 months hard labour in England for blasphemy as recently as 1921.

Your reference to James I is bizarre and nonsensical – he explicitly believed that monarchs were a higher kind of being than ordinary people, and published this in ‘The True Law of Free Monarchies’.

Abolition of the slave trade was a widespread movement that certainly did not depend on christianity. The Haitian Revolution was in fact led by a Voodoo priest, and the most vocal European opposition came from Enlightenment thinkers, Diderot, Voltaire and of course Thomas Paine – all of whom were famously critical of christianity.

James Vl of Scotland (& 1st of England) wanted to put the bible in the hands of ordinary folk, so he commissioned the Authorised version which became known as the King James Bible. Less than 200 years later, English monarchs had lost the ‘divine right of kings’ as enjoyed by James himself, and Christian parliamentarians had legislation passed that effectively ended the slave trade. The will of the people in a Christian country had prevailed, not Christian dictators.

In fact, by the time Christianity became a religion (actually a rather bizarre cult of Judaism at that time) in 100 – 200 AD, all vestiges of democracy in Greece and Rome had long-since vanished. Christianity was born in a world of dictatorships.

Christianity out-grew its cult status in the West by being spread through Europe following Emperor Constantine’s conversion in the 4th Century CE. Constantine was, of course, a dictator (the word Emperor gives it away…) and certainly no lover of democracy.

So no link between democracy and Christianity there, I’m afraid.

The idea that Christianity was responsible for the rise of democracy in Europe is so absurd it is laughable, in the US even more so.

Many of the early Christians were Greek (Luke for eg.). The idea of Democracy began in ancient Greece, and probably spread throughout Europe along with Christianity, though it took quite a while for these ideas to blossom into the Freedom & Democracy that exist in parts of the world today. And yeah, they have only been around for a brief moment, and are under constant threat.

Btw, I never want to see the barmaid, I have a perfect mental picture of her, it gives me the horn.

Don’t forget, there are some disqualifiers. Here’s an example: my great^n aunt was driven by her religious fervor to sneak in to the antebellum (U.S.) South and help escaping slaves reach freedom in Canada. Her faith was so strong that she continued her work even after the Southern slave owners put a substantial price on her head. Freedom(tm) and Democracy(tm) through Xtian faith, right? Only if you overlook the small but relevant fact that the slave owners / fugitive hunters who *put* the price on her head were also ardent Xtian believers.

But please, give it your best shot. It could be a slow day otherwise.

First you need to determine which faction of the Memphis Mafia you want to follow – is it the Red & Sony West faction (brutal honesty outsiders), the Jerry Schilling/Joe Esposito (Party Line insiders, change the stories as needed) faction or the Lamar Fike/Marty Lacker (explotive/opportunistic) faction or the Dick Grob/ Charlie Hodge (conspiracies galore) faction or some other random minor player like distant cousins or the mysterious close but silent ones

If you don’t want to fall into one of the major breakawy groups, you can simply buy all the Elvis movies and music, copy Elvis’ look as best as you can in your gender limitations, give generously to charities, be generous in spirit and support of your family and friends (even undeserving ones), express your creativity, and while there’s a need to indulge yourself, there’s the cautionary tale of not to excess

You should have some time of shrine in your home – as simple as a poster on the wall near a bookcase with your collection of cds, dvds and books – more devoted may have an entire room to house their collection of artifacts

And, of course, my cat. And therefore God. Thus, we come full circle and Nina’s hypothesis is proven. I shall have a cup of tea to celebrate (whilst listening to Hymn no. 374: Jailhouse Rock).

Re Elvis – I heard the other day he’s also related to every American president except Obama. You’ll have to work that into the holy text.

As Poor Richard says,”Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo!”

Nina: well you’ve convinced me about Elvis. How do I start worshipping him?