expostulation and reply

This in my inbox unsigned:

"It is God who splits the seed from the fruit stone. He brings forth the living from the dead. And the dead from the living."

Ah yes. Charming. I recognised the words and their provenance. Sura 6 from Mein Kampf.
When thugs from the peaceloving religion of Islam wish to threaten someone's life, occasionally they will do so with just such a quotation.
The really classy Irish poet whose life has just been so threatened, will often reply in like manner with a quotation of his own from Mein Kampf.
This is said to freak out the Jihadi's no end.
This morning, I was inclined to reply:

"For them there are gardens beneath which rivers flow."

My quote from Mein Kampf is meant to imply that there is an underground river somewhere with the recipient's name on it.
On mature reflection I concluded such a suggestion might be a little rarified for my anonymous threatener.
Also every Black Jacket worth his suicide vest knows I can't kill.
So instead I replied:

"Ah go blow it out your Muslim ass holes."

I hope they understand the irony.

This also in the inbox:

"James, a question. Is it ever right to show someone a diary? I have always thought that a diary cannot be honest, unless you intend never to show it to anyone.
Frances."

My reply:

"Frances, I can only speak for myself. Everything I write is meant to be seen. Even the unpublished diaries. Yes, I'm acquainted with the notion that a diary cannot be true if it's written for publication. There are those who think a public diary will by its nature almost certainly contain lies or diplomatic evasions. But someone burning their diary, or hiding it forever, may also be guilty of lying. To themselves. I try to be honest. There's no guarantee of course that I'm not fooling myself, or that the private diarist isn't fooling his or her self. It's better not to sweat it. Each of us can aspire to truth. I would be appalled at the contemplation of the destruction of any diary. In fifty years time they'll all be fascinating. In a hundred years, priceless.
J"

And then this:

"Heelz.
A letter by the great scientist Albert Einstein, in which he rubbishes God, is about to be auctioned in Britain. He doesn't seem to be too fond of your much vaunted Catholic Church either. Your comments please.
Mark Baines."

I answered thusly:

"Mark.
I'm not a big fan of Einstein. The atheistic wing of the scientific community is a bit too slavish towards him for my liking. They tend to deify him a tad.
Einstein's major theory is unproven.
The scientific community, atheists and believers among them, tend to accept that Einstein's Relativity Theory and its rival Quantum Theory, (the only other scientifically respected postulation about the nature of the universe), cannot both be true.
I would go further.
Neither may be true.
They are both intricate mathematical speculations based on massive proofs by induction.
Proofs by induction?
If we assume one thing is true, and then assume another, and then another, then we can assume the whole lot.
I am suggesting both theories are works of the imagination.
They are utterly untested and largely untestable.
Useful as perspectives on reality.
But by no means the summation of truth.
Perhaps I am not an objective judge.
My own scientific theories have been largely ignored by the scientific community and this might have coloured my attitude to Einstein.
Heelers Proposal On Wave Forms sank without trace in the halls of academe.
This classic dissent from Einstein's theory had advanced the proposition that light has no speed.
It has no mass so it has no speed.
Therefore e does not equal mc squared anywhere in the universe outside of popular music.
Ah.
They called me mad.
Mad.
Mad, I tells ee.
Nyah, ha, ha, ha.
Sorry.
Lost it there for a minute.
Anyhoo.
Einstein's reputation as a scientist doesn't impress me much.
I am more impressed by the persistent anecdotal evidence that he may have been that human rarity, a genuinely nice guy.
As for the letter currently being auctioned.
I haven't been able to obtain proof that it is genuine.
I have however obtained a statement by Einstein on the Catholic Church which does appear to be genuine.
That is to say, Time Magazine claims he made the statement to them in 1940.
Einstein's statement about the Catholic Church is below.
All the best.
James."

Albert Einstein said:
"Being a lover of freedom when the Nazi revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers, whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks. Only the Catholic Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing the truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced to confess that what I once despised, I now praise unreservedly."
(Albert Einstein, quoted in Time Magazine, December 23rd 1940.)