Trinidad Archdeacon offers services as hangman

The West Indies spiraling crime rate has prompted a Trinidad archdeacon to offer his services as a hangman.

In his sermon to the congregation of St. Stephen’s Anglican Church in Princes Town on Palm Sunday, the Ven. Edward Primus stated the murder last week of a woman and her two children was evidence of the moral collapse of society.

“Two children and their mother chopped to death. Hang him high! If they do not want to do it, I will! You have to fight fire with fire sometimes. My heart is bleeding. How many more must die before we act,” Archdeacon Primus told the congregation, according to Newsday.

Narcotics trafficking and gang violence has rising dramatically in the West Indies in the recent decade, and in 2008 Trinidad surpassed Jamaica as the region’s murder capital. Trinidad recorded 550 murders in 2008. In January the Home Office reported there were 772 murders in England and Wales committed in 2008. Read more
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ARCHBISHOP’S HOMELESS CHARITY SUSPENDS CHRISTIAN FOR ANSWERING QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS FAITH TO COLLEAGUE AT WORK

AN employee at a Christian ‘homeless’ charity, whose Patron is the Archbishop of Canterbury, has been suspended for answering questions about his faith to a colleague at work.

David Booker, aged 44, a Christian from Southampton, has worked for the English Churches Housing Group for almost four years .On 26 March, whilst working an evening shift, he had a 35 minute conversation with female colleague Fiona Vardy. Ms Vardy asked him about his faith and beliefs. During the conversation he was asked the Church’s teaching on homosexuality and same-sex marriages, which Mr Booker explained. The conversation was free-flowing and Mr Booker clearly explained that he had homosexual friends and that he was not homophobic.

The following day he was summoned by his employers and told that he was suspended for “events that happened last night”. On March 30, the he was given a formal suspension notice alleging that: “ On 26 March 09, whilst on shift with Fiona Vardy, you seriously breached ECHG’s (English churches House group) Code of conduct by promoting your religious views which contained discriminatory comments regarding a person’s sexual orientation.”

Threatened with the sack for ‘gross misconduct’ under the charity’s Culture and Diversity Code of Conduct, Mr Booker has sought the advice of the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), who in turn have instructed Paul Diamond, the leading human rights lawyer to represent him.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, barrister and director of CLC said: “Mr Booker has been suspended since 27 March for two weeks pending investigation. No date has been set for the investigation and disciplinary hearing. This case shows that in today’s politically correct, increasingly secularized society, even consenting reasonable discussion on religion between two employees is being twisted by employers to discriminate and silence the Christian voice and freedom of expression.

“To date, the English Churches Housing Group is funded largely by churches throughout Hampshire, who we are sure will be shocked at the attitude and action taken by a Christian organisation towards a Christian employee. The Archbishop of Canterbury, as Patron, has confirmed the Church’s teaching on marriage, same-sex relationships and homosexuality and that is in the public domain. We are interested to know whether his Patronage is now under threat under the charity’s Culture and Diversity Code of Conduct?”.

ECHG (English Churches House Group) has recently been taken over by Society of St James ( a charity providing homes for the homeless).

ENDS.

For further information:

Andrea Minichiello Williams (CLC): 0207 4675427, 0771 2591164
(Credit to Anglican Mainstream)

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Another close second for British National Party

Source: The British Democracy Forum

The BNP came second in the Manchester City Council (Moston Ward) election on the 9th April, polling 23% of the vote and beating the Liberal Democrats and Conservative Party. This is the first time they have stood in this ward.

Labour 1,353, 38.7% (-10.8%)
British National Party 815 (23.3%)
Liberal Democrat 696, 19.9% (+ 7.2%)
Conservative 558, 16.0% (-13.9%)
Green Party 74, 2.1% (-5.7%)

See their earlier results for this year here.


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Are boys naturally violent?

You don’t have to thrust a plastic gun into the hand of a toddler to teach him about violence. He is perfectly capable of fashioning, and deploying, his own weapons from the stuff around him. Branches become swords, remote controls are transformed into death sabres, saucepan lids are magicked into trusty shields.

In fact, a toddler intent on waging war, often against an invisible enemy, is an awe-inspiring vision of energy, resourcefulness, creativity and imagination. And yet, to my reckoning, such behaviour is in danger of becoming pathologised. Several mothers at my daughter’s school have stopped going to the local playground because the play has become a bit rough. This includes waving broken branches around (“it could poke someone in the eye”), tearing around at high speed (“someone could get knocked over”) and shouting at younger children (“bullying”).

When a parent explained this to me, I returned an analysis of the situation: yes, there is one boy in this gang of terrors that might have behavioural problems, but they are just young boys letting off steam after a day in the classroom. Boys are a bit more rough and tumble than our girls, I shrugged, and we can always intervene if things go awry.

I might as well have admitted to having had Pol Pot over for dinner. Read more
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UK Launch of Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans

JULY 6, 2009, WESTMINSTER CENTRAL HALL, LONDON

BOOK ONLINE HERE

THE launch in the UK and Ireland of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA), an orthodox Anglican movement for mission at global and local level, is to take place on July 6 in London.

The Fellowship is the outworking of last year’s GAFCON conference in Jerusalem, at which 1200 delegates signed up to the Jerusalem Statement. Those attending Gafcon 2008 represented some 40 million Anglicans world-wide, 70% of the total active membership of 55 million.

The launch event, entitled ‘Be Faithful! – Confessing Anglicans in Global and Local Mission’ will be held at Westminster Central Hall from 10.30am-5.30pm. The aim is to encourage and envision Anglicans who are committed to the orthodox teachings of the Anglican Church and who are passionate about global and local mission. It will be the first of regular ‘fellowship’ events both in the UK and across the world.

Speakers at the July 6 gathering, where around 2,300 bishops, clergy and laity are expected, will include contributors from across the Anglican Communion, including Bishops Keith Ackerman (President of Forward in Faith North America), Wallace Benn (Bishop of Lewes), John Broadhurst (Chairman of Forward in Faith UK) and Michael Nazir-Ali, Dr Chik Kaw Tan plus Archbishop Peter Jensen (secretary of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans www.fca.net). They, and others yet to be announced, will also lead gatherings in London churches on Sunday July 5th. the day before the launch.

Tony Blair tells the Pope: you're wrong on homosexuality

Tony Blair has challenged the “entrenched” attitudes of the Pope on homosexuality, and argued that it is time for him to “rethink” his views.

Speaking to the gay magazine Attitude, the former Prime Minister, himself now a Roman Catholic, said that he wanted to urge religious figures everywhere to reinterpret their religious texts to see them as metaphorical, not literal, and suggested that in time this would make all religious groups accept gay people as equals.

Asked about the Pope’s stance, Mr Blair blamed generational differences and said: “We need an attitude of mind where rethinking and the concept of evolving attitudes becomes part of the discipline with which you approach your religious faith.” Read more
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I’ve yet to encounter a child who was born truly evil

In my work I have yet to encounter a child who was “evil” — born bad. Rather, children behave badly because of what has been put into them and how they have been brought up. Violence is frequently the result of other violent acts.

Children often experience violence in their lives and, while the source of that violence is usually a child’s parents or carers — last year, for example, more than 60 per cent of children murdered in this country were killed by their parents — child-on-child violence remains common.

As a result, children are often very astute about managing threats of violence and this is one reason we have seen younger and younger children prepared to carry knives.

Feeling that the “adult world” fails to take their fears and anxieties seriously, children turn to each other to sort out problems and, sadly, this often ends in tragedy. Read more
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Bishop of Rochester: Ignore our Christian values and the nation will drift apart

Ed: I am reminded of the words of Leo Amery in the House of Commons on 2 September 1939, when Arthur Greenwood stood up to speak for the Labour Party following Neville Chamberlain, and Amery called across the floor to him, 'Speak for England, Arthur!', implying Chamberlain had not. Who, now Rochester is going, will 'speak for England'?

I have resigned as Bishop of Rochester after nearly 15 years. During that time, I have watched the nation drift further and further away from its Christian moorings. Instead of the spiritual and moral framework provided by the Judaeo-Christian tradition, we have been led to expect, and even to celebrate, mere diversity. Not surprisingly, this has had the result of loosening the ties of law, customs and values, and led to a gradual loss of identity and of cohesiveness. Every society, for its wellbeing, needs the social capital of common values and the recognition of certain virtues which contribute to personal and social flourishing. Our ideas about the sacredness of the human person at every stage of life, of equality and natural rights and, therefore, of freedom, have demonstrably arisen from the tradition rooted in the Bible.

Different faiths and traditions will not necessarily produce the values and virtues which have been so prominent in the history of this country. It is quite wrong to presume that they will, as Gordon Brown appeared to do last week in his speech calling for "value-based" rules at St Paul's Cathedral. Some faiths may emphasise social solidarity more than personal freedom, others publicly enforce piety over a nurturing of the interior life and yet others stress honour and shame rather than humility, service and sacrifice. It may be, of course, that there is a useful overlap among these traditions in terms of values by which to live. It may also be that people of different faiths can "own" many of the values produced by a Christian framework in this nation, but this cannot take place in a vacuum.

One of the surprising aspects of what you could call our values vacuum is the historical amnesia which is so prevalent today – or, rather, a selective sort of amnesia. The perfectly virtuous pages of history, such as Magna Carta, the campaign to abolish the slave trade and, later, slavery itself, the easing of conditions of labour for men, women and children and the introduction of universal education, which all took place under the inspiration of the Christian faith, are forgotten or ignored. Instead of which we get large doses of guilt along with an emphasis on our involvement in the slave trade, religious and ethnic persecution, exploitative colonialism and other wrongs which certainly need repentance. But repentance for past wrongs without the celebration of what has been good has deprived people of a common vision by which to live and a strong basis for the future. Read more
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Order of Service for Jade Goody's funeral

Courtesy of the BBC here, though sadly (typically?) they report nothing of what Corinne Brixton said in their coverage of the funeral here.

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BNP continue strong polling

Ed: For those who are interested, the BNP is continuing to poll strongly where it chooses to put up candidates, as the results of recent bye-elections show.

The BNP target is not simply to win bye-elections, however, but to get a high enough percentage of the vote later this year to elect one or more MEPs.

It does seem that telling people "Don't vote BNP" is not having a sufficient effect.

Leeds, Temple Newsam
CON 1785
BNP 1502
LABOUR 1476
LIB DEM 1468
GREEN 137

Dormanstown, Redcar and Cleveland
LIB DEM 809
LAB 667
BNP 305
CON 125

Skircoat, Calderdale
CON 1277
LIB DEM 1259
LAB 274
IND 238
BNP 235
IND 229
GREEN 92

Sevenoaks
BNP 408
LAB 322
CON 247

Source here.

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Top British judge attacks European Court

Lord Hoffmann, the second most senior Law Lord, accused the Court of going beyond its jurisdiction and imposing "uniform rules" on states.

He said rulings that had gone against domestic decisions were "teaching grandmothers to suck eggs".

The judge insisted he supported the European Convention on Human Rights but not the institution that applies the law.

In a lecture to fellow judges, published this week, Lord Hoffmann said the European Court, in the French city of Strasbourg, was unable to resist the temptation to "aggrandise its jurisdiction" by laying down a "federal law of Europe". Read more
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Hate cleric, Abu Qatada, issues rallying cry from prison

The extremist cleric Abu Qatada has issued a 6,000-word rallying cry to his followers from inside one of Britain’s most secure prison units.

The Palestinian preacher hails the “victory” of the Mujahidin and claims that his treatment has helped to radicalise a new generation of young British Muslims.

Despite demanding his freedom, he says that “the gift of prison” has helped him to lose more than 50lb (22kg) in weight. He even suggests that a vigorous exercise programme appears to have cured his diabetes and back trouble.

The cleric boasts of being told by Bilal Abdullah, the NHS doctor jailed for the car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow in 2007, that he was heavily influenced by the cleric’s taped sermons. He describes the bomber, who narrowly failed in his attempts to blow up a nightclub and airport terminal, as “truthfully a man from the men of Islam, in knowledge, action, steadfastness and manhood”. Read more
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New President of Episcopal Divinity School: 'Abortion is a Blessing'

The announcement on Monday, March 30 that The Rev. Dr. Katherine Ragsdale was appointed as the sixth and newest president of Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) in Cambridge, MA, has orthodox and pro-life Episcopalians shaking their heads.

Ragsdale, who is an outspoken advocate of abortion and LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender) rights, was the unanimous choice of the Board of Trustees and will begin her duties on July 1, 2009.

In addition to the press release and public letter concerning the appointment, the EDS website also has a link to Rev. Ragsdale’s sermon blog. There, the first sermon is entitled, “Our Work is Not Done.” The content has been cited and circulated on a large number of pro-life and conservative Christian blogs. An excerpt follows:

“When a woman wants a child but can’t afford one because she hasn’t the education necessary for a sustainable job, or access to health care, or day care, or adequate food, it is the abysmal priorities of our nation, the lack of social supports, the absence of justice that are the tragedies; the abortion is a blessing.

“And when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive, respectful relationship; has every option open to her; decides she does not wish to bear a child; and has access to a safe, affordable abortion – there is not a tragedy in sight -- only blessing. The ability to enjoy God’s good gift of sexuality without compromising one’s education, life’s work, or ability to put to use God’s gifts and call is simply blessing. Read more
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TEC Bishop-Elect Replaces New Testament Reading with Quran Passage

Here is the bulletin insert [46kb PDF] on the Second Sunday After Epiphany, January 20, 2008, for St. Paul's Marquette, at which Kevin Thew Forrester presided, and substituted a passage from the Quran (13:20-23) for the New Testament reading. The Quran reading is at the top of page 3.

Reader: A reading from the Quran

In the name of God most merciful most compassionate. Is he, then, who knows that what has been revealed to those from thy Lord is the truth, like one who is blind? But only those gifted with understanding will reflect. Those who fulfill God’s pact and break not the covenant. And those who join what God has commanded to be joined, and fear their Lord, and dread the evil reckoning. And those who persevere in seeking the favor of their Lord and observe prayer and spend out of that with which We have provided them secretly and openly, and repel evil with good. It is these who shall have the best reward of the final Abode. Amen

Reader: Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

Assembly: Thanks be to God.

Read more

Link to Wikipedia article on Forrester

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Bishop Michael Nazir Ali – ‘Enough is Enough’

Two very different interpretations of Bishop Michael Nazir Ali’s resignation have emerged in the British press today.

Melanie Phillips offers a careful assessment based on the facts of Dr Nazir Ali’s ministry and sees it as a shocking indictment of the Church of England that a bishop should have to resign in order to defend the teaching of the Church and its members effectively.

In contrast the Daily Telegraph’s George Pitcher speculates that the bishop mistakenly gambled on GAFCON becoming predominant and his departure signifies its demise as an effective movement in the Anglican Communion. “The traditionalist schism” we are assured “has fizzled out”.

While I have no privileged access to the thinking behind Bishop Nazir Ali’s decision, in retrospect we can see that even some two years ago he gave a strong hint that he might take such action, and for reasons which seem to have totally eluded George Pitcher.

In an address of 2nd April 2007 (subsequently published by Latimer trust as ‘Truth and Unity in Christian Fellowship’, Latimer Briefing 7), well before GAFCON was under consideration, he warned of a point where it would be no longer possible with integrity to work with the grain of the Church of England because of its chronic tendency to capitulate to the surrounding culture. There will come a time when “we will have to say ‘Enough is enough. We need now to bear prophetic witness to the culture around us, to the state, even within the church.’” (Latimer Briefing 7, p12)

It seems that Dr Nazir Ali has himself now come to that point where ‘Enough is enough’. Read more
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History has been 'feminised' says David Starkey as he launches Henry VIII series

British history has become "feminised" by female authors who concentrate on subjects like the six wives of Henry VIII rather than the king himself, Dr David Starkey has said.


By Stephen Adams, Arts Correspondent
Last Updated: 11:32PM BST 30 Mar 2009
History has been 'feminised' says David Starkey as he launches Henry VIII series
British history has become "feminised" by female authors who concentrate on subjects like the six wives of Henry VIII rather than the king himself, Dr David Starkey has said. Photo: MARTIN POPE

Speaking shortly before the launch of a new Channel 4 series to mark the 500th anniversary of the Tudor monarch's accession to the throne, Dr Starkey said he found it "bizarre" that so much historical effort was now focused on the monarch's wives.

In an interview with the Radio Times, out today, Dr Starkey said: "One of the great problems has been that Henry, in a sense, has been absorbed by his wives. Which is bizarre.

"But it's what you expect from feminised history, the fact that so many of the writers who write about this are women and so much of their audience is a female audience. Unhappy marriages are big box office."

He said that in his new series, Henry VIII: Mind of a Tyrant, "we're trying to say, 'Hang on a minute, Henry is centre stage.'

"This is Henry – wives appear simply to explain or complicate the story of Henry. This is his development, his psychology and, above all, why he matters."

Prominent female authors to write about Henry VIII and the Tudors include Lady Antonia Fraser, whose titles include the best-selling account The Six Wives of Henry VIII; Alison Weir, who wrote a book bearing the same title; and Jessie Childs, author of the prize-winning Henry VIII's Last Victim.

Talking to The Daily Telegraph, Dr Starkey said that while writing about Henry VIII, "even I fell into the trap of subjugating the history of Henry ... to that of his wives".

He said he did so because "they are a gift to the writer – you end up with six stories for the price of one."

But he warned that the "soap opera" of Henry's personal life should come second to the political consequences of his rule, such as the Reformation and the break with Rome.

Dr Starkey went further, by saying that modern attempts to paint many women in history as "power players" was to falsify the facts.

He said: "If you are to do a proper history of Europe before the last five minutes, it is a history of white males because they were the power players, and to pretend anything else is to falsify."

For example, while he considered Elizabeth I to be a great monarch, "the way she is presented as some sort of female icon is ludicrous".

During Victorian times her conduct was regarded as "perfectly deplorable", he added.

Dr Starkey insisted: "I'm not joining forces with Fathers for Justice, it is simply saying that our new world has its own set of prejudices, its set of distinctive lenses, and we need to be aware of them." Read more
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BNP to launch advertising campaign featuring Jesus Christ

The extremist British National Party (BNP) is to launch an advertising campaign featuring Jesus Christ.

The far-Right party will use the advert which features a bible verse quoting Jesus' words about persecution, in the run up to the European Elections in June.

It comes after the Church of England passed a resolution at its General Synod last month banning clergy from being members of the party.

The advert features a picture of Jesus Christ on the cross and quotes a part of a verse from John's Gospel (John 15:20) in which Jesus says: "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you". The verse comes in the context of Jesus' teaching about love.

The advert then asks: "What would Jesus do?".

The thinktank Ekklesia has monitored attempts by the BNP since 2003 to present itself as a ‘Christian Party’. It has also warned that misleading stories about ‘Christian persecution’ in the UK, as well as appeals by church leaders to recover the idea of 'Christian Britain', have played into the hands of the far-Right

In recent years the BNP has used religious rhetoric with increasing frequency. In recent local elections, the party's literature included copies of the controversial Mohammed cartoons. It also helped establish a 'Christian Council of Britain'.

The goal is to appeal to those in the population who identify with Christianity, but feel panicked both by 'liberal secularism' and the growth of Islam. Read more
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Tory councillor quizzed by police after making 'homophobic' joke about transsexuals

He thought he was just making a humorous remark.

But not everyone saw the funny side to Conservative councillor Jonathan Yardley's suggestion at a police liaison meeting that transexuals could call themselves both male and female.

Unbeknown to him, a transgender person was among the 50 members of the public present, and a complaint - thought to have been made by the person's partner - was later recieved by police about Mr Yardley's 'homophobic' comment.

It resulted, claims Mr Yardley, in him being 'put through the mill' by officers and told to be more careful what he jokes about.

Today Mr Yardley, 48, said: 'I find it ridiuclous you can get in trouble over an off the cuff remark with no malice intended. I didn't even know there was a transgender person there.

'There are much more important issues that the police should be spending their time on. These are the politically correct times we live in, you can¹t make jokes any more.'

At the meeting which landed him in hot water the public had been given handsets allowing them to electronically answer 36 questions that were being flashed up on screen as part of a presentation.

The first few questions, as is usual at the quarterly meetings in Wolverhampton chaired by Mr Yardley, the city council's Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Community Safety, were intended to establish the demographic of the audience.

The audience was told by a police authority worker: 'Let¹s start with an easy question to get us going: Press A if you're male or B if you're female'. The transgender person's partner then asked: 'What if you're transgendered?', and Mr Yardley said: 'You could press A and B together.' Read more
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Save our churches by buying one

Twelve Churches, which opens at Bonhams in London tomorrow, will feature a series of paintings and limited-edition prints of historic churches by Gerard Stamp, the acclaimed artist.

All the works will be on sale to the public, with proceeds going to the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT), the charity that cares for historic churches across the country.

The Sunday Telegraph's Save our Churches campaign has called on the Government to increase the level of funding to preserve historic churches and allow church buildings to be made more suitable for community use.

The campaign has been supported by politicians, celebrities and church figures, including David Cameron, Archbishop Rowan Williams, Joanna Lumley and the CCT. Read more

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Archbishop confronts BBC Director General over its treatment of religion

Dr Rowan Williams warned Mark Thompson at a meeting at Lambeth Palace that the broadcaster must not ignore its Christian audience.

His intervention comes amid mounting concern among senior members of the Church of England that the BBC is downgrading its religious output and giving preferential treatment to minority faiths.

The corporation recently sacked its head of religious programmes, Michael Wakelin, a Methodist preacher.

The emergence of a Muslim as the front-runner to succeed Mr Wakelin, along with the recent appointment of a Sikh to produce Songs of Praise, has raised fears within the Church that the Christian voice is being sidelined.

Mr Thompson caused controversy last year when he suggested that Islam should be treated more sensitively by the media than Christianity because Muslims are a minority religion. Read more

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