Rwanda 'to boycott Lambeth 2008'

Another group of Anglican leaders is planning to boycott the fellowship's once-a-decade assembly as divisions over the Bible and homosexuality threaten to split the world Anglican Communion.

The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda said June 19 that its members won't attend the Lambeth Conference next year in England because some Rwandan bishops weren't invited.

A few Rwandan bishops oversee the Anglican Mission in America, a breakaway group of theologically conservative parishes that are not recognized by the Anglican Communion.

The communion's spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, has said that he did not invite bishops connected to the Rwanda-led mission or to other breakaway groups because he believed it would disrupt efforts at the conference to keep Anglicans together. Read more

Church of England coalition to tackle liberals

Senior Church of England conservatives are plotting a new coalition to mount their biggest offensive yet against their liberal opponents over issues such as gay priests.

According to insiders, they are planning talks at this week's General Synod aimed at uniting a broad spectrum of evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics to act together during crucial debates.

Supporters of the new movement believe that it could gain the backing of up to half of the Synod, the Church''s "parliament", frustrating the efforts of liberals to promote their agenda. Its leaders are expected to include prominent clergy and lay people within the Synod and the Archbishops' Council, the Church's managing body. Read more

Chelmsford 'Gay Day'

Chelmsford Gay Day - 2nd September 2007Based in three venues in Chelmsford, Essex - Chicago Rock Cafe / Smiths2 / Q-Ball Read more

"No King, no Bishop": How Gordon Brown has deconstructed the Church of England

[...] As Canon A 6 says, ‘The government of the Church of England under the Queen’s majesty by archbishops, bishops, deans, provosts, archdeacons and the rest of the clergy and of the laity that bear office in the same is not repugnant to the Word of God’. Deny the role of the Queen, however, and you pull the plug on the rest. Read more

See also No King but Caesar? The Headship of the Church in Anglican Theology (pdf file)

Brown gives up PM's rights on appointing bishops

Ed: And now the Church must do the serious work advocated here.


AFTER WEEKS of speculation Prime Minister Gordon Brown this afternoon unveiled a range of constitutional changes that will see a change to the way that bishops in the Church of England are appointed. Read more

'Islamist' is the word for these terrorists

[...] Six weeks ago, David Cameron wrote an article in the Observer criticising those who used the word "Islamist" to describe the ideological roots of the terrorist threat. Yet "Islamist" is an accurate description of a global ideology that has been slowly incubating for decades. It took 69 years between the writing of the Communist Manifesto and the imposition of Bolshevik terror on Russia after 1917. Hitler's hatred of Jews was derived from writings and ideologues active before he was born. The Islamist equivalent of Marx's revolutionary appeal can be found in the writing of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, with a growing presence in Egypt, as well as off-shoots such as Hamas and a European network, including prominent members of the Muslim Council of Britain.

Writing in the 1930s, Hasan al-Banna declared: "The Koran is our Constitution. Jihad is Our Way. Martyrdom is Our Desire." At a stroke, the history of modernity that is based on separation of faith and democracy, church and state, politicians and priests was overturned. Today, it is al-Qa'eda and the myriad Islamist outfits from Indonesia to Britain who are inspired by Islamist ideology to carry out evil acts. Read more

The man who 'refuses to lead a dying church'

[...] Nixon believes many of the United Methodist churches are "beyond the winds of opportunity for institutional renewal."

"We will close thousands upon thousands of churches in the next 30 years," he says.

Giving clues to what thriving congregational ministry may look like in United Methodism in the years ahead, Nixon calls United Methodist church planters to "believe in the Great Commission more than institutional survival [and] to love God and lost people more than it loves preserving its cosy fellowship and church traditions."

Nixon also suggests churches, especially in urban areas, share space and ministry. While some United Methodist churches may not currently be equipped to reach a specific population group in the local community, sharing space with another church that may be well suited for reaching a younger population or particular ethnic group can be effective. Read more

Preaching the gospel at Speakers' Corner

[...] Last year I explained the gospel in Arabic for 10 minutes to Abdallah, a man of about 60 from Kuwait. He was ill and was in London for treatment. What amazed me is that he did not stop me once with any of the usual Muslim objections; this was most unusual. He gratefully accepted a gospel portion in Arabic and we said a warm goodbye. Perhaps he was a dying man seeking for the truth. This year there was Muhammad, a 44 year-old Algerian who looked seriously ill. He came up with the usual Muslim objections to the gospel, but then listened carefully as a friend and I explained how our sins can be forgiven through faith in Christ.

The crowd goes away, but the seed has been sown in many hearts. Perhaps this side of eternity we will never know who has turned to the Lord as a result of a young girl's testimony or the faithful preaching of a veteran open-air warrior. Think of British people who have been told of a good church in their hometown, or of Arabs going back to the Middle East or North Africa with a copy of God's Word in Arabic. Or think of those Chinese tourists taking the New Testaments back with them to a communist land.

Here and there one hears how someone who is now in Christian service became a Christian through being given a tract at an open-air meeting. Pray that those contacted this year at Speakers' Corner will turn to Christ as a result of what they heard there. Why not consider coming along yourself next year to lend a hand - you will never be the same again! Read more

Schoolgirl Banned from Wearing Anti-Abortion T-Shirt

A 16-year-old mother has been banned by her secondary school for wearing a T-shirt protesting against abortions in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Sarah Scott, who gave birth just four months ago, was told that she must not wear her black T-shirt with the words "Abortion is Murder” printed on it. The school said the T-shirt was offensive.

The young mother was also issued with the warning that her daughter may be excluded from school if she wears the T-shirt again, reports the BBC.

However, Scott, who wore the T-shirt on a non-uniform day, has hit back at the staff of Banff Academy by saying that she is being unfairly targeted and that her freedom of speech is being violated. Read more

The growing impact of 'torture porn' in mainstream cinema

[...] Something has, however, changed profoundly with the advent of 'torture porn' as a mainstream genre and the proliferation of real-life terrorist beheadings on the internet. The will and reach of the censor is slipping: increasingly, we will have to take responsibility for ourselves.

We might begin by questioning if we ever have the moral right to watch terrorist victims such as Daniel Pearl or Nick Berg being beheaded. I do not think we have, because the argument that has always prohibited the watching of child pornography - that the helpless victim was unable to give or withhold consent to the act or the filming - applies equally to al-Qa'eda's home-made snuff films.

The cinematic child of voyeurism and terror, 'torture porn' is a genre that gorges on the world's horrors and regurgitates them, but learns nothing from them.

The more of it audiences consume, the less they understand. In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four the panicked hero, Winston Smith, describes a nightmarish night at the flicks, as the audience relishes the sight of a boatload of enemy refugees being bombed, and roars with laughter at a mother's hapless struggles to protect her small boy from death.

We are not so very far away from that now. There must come a point at which audiences ask a different question from what will the torturer do next to his victims on screen? We must ask what watching him is doing to us. Read more

What tattoos say about us

Ed: An old article that for some reason showed up in my Google Alerts today. Still, it is an interesting read.

[...] The tattoo is thus the art form of the cultural vandal, and it is no accident, as the Marxists used to say, that the cultural vandal’s views should almost always be expressed with inarticulate sub-demotic vulgarity.

It is also no accident that some members of the middle classes should have adopted a typically proletarian form of bodily adornment as a badge not only of independence, but also of liberal virtue. A tattoo establishes them as tolerant, open-minded, and sympathetic towards those below them in the social scale: the highest virtues of which they can conceive. The tattoo thus appeals to the kind of modern bourgeois who believes that foulness of language is a token of purity of heart, or at least of sincerity. The tattoo, like the constant resort to the swearword, is an attack on bourgeois propriety, and as such a demonstration of largeness of heart and generosity of spirit.

Of course, this antinomianism (itself so tiresomely bourgeois) has a tinny ring. I am reminded of the recent obituary of a British pop star in The Daily Telegraph (the fact that this newspaper, once the favorite reading matter of retired admirals pickled in port, should carry obituaries of pop stars at all is itself a cultural shift of some significance). The subject of the obituary was said to have been so irritated by what he considered the false gentility of the school he attended that he forever after used the demotic speech of South London. In other words, he adopted, in the name of authenticity, a form of language that was not his own and did not come naturally to him. The fate of all people who imitate others to achieve authenticity is to live a lie. Read more

Changing Attitude challenges Bishops Akinola, Minns, over 'condoning lies and violence'

[...] The Episcopal Church is being judged because it elected and consecrated Bishop Gene Robinson in accordance with its own polity. Archbishop Akinola and Bishop Minns will be judged if they condone something far more serious - a deliberate attempt to destroy the reputation of a fellow Christian and to put him at risk of serious violence, because, as an openly gay Nigerian Anglican, he stands in the way of their attempt to prevent the full inclusion in the Anglican Communion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. Read more

Changing Attitude Nigeria holds children's party at orphanage in Port Harcourt

This past weekend, Sunday 17 June 2007 at The Orphanage Home, Borokiri, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, forty-eight lesbians and gay men from all over the city of Port Harcourt created history for LGBT Christians in Port Harcourt and Nigeria.

Out of the sheer need to show love and compassion to the abandoned children, Changing Attitude Port Harcourt which represented members of the Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic Churches held the first ever children's party for the children of the orphanage. This is the first time gays and lesbians have come under one umbrella to make a positive change for charitable causes in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

CAN Port Harcourt bought gifts for the children, comprising of baby pampers for the infants, provisions for their consumption, and toys and drawing books to broaden their young minds for great things.

Present at the gathering were gay and lesbian Christians who have learnt to love and accept ourselves for who we are. What we believe in has helped us to see that what is missing in society is what is missing in us - a little heart, a lot of brother- and sister-hood, and to see that we must speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of our society. Read more

Shopkeeper fined £250 for hitting back against thieves

A shopkeeper has been fined £250 and given a criminal record because he fought back when he was attacked by shoplifters.

Jacob Smyth chased three youths out of his hardware shop in Penzance, Cornwall, when he was set upon. When he was kicked in the groin by one of the hooded youths who had stolen cans of spray paint Mr Smyth hit back.

Police issued fixed penalty tickets to the shoplifters but charged Mr Smyth and a colleague with assault.

Yesterday he pleaded guilty to assault at Truro Magistrates’ Court. He claimed after the hearing that he had been advised to plead guilty because otherwise he could have faced a six month prison sentence. Read more

The terror trail that links Robespierre and the Haymarket bombers

At a time when Islamist terrorism seems to have returned to the centre of London, it is easy to forget that during the 20th century terror was used on a vast scale by secular regimes. Today suicide attacks are automatically linked with a belief in martyrdom followed by paradise in the afterlife. Yet suicide bombing of the kind we now confront is a terrorist technique that was developed by people with no such beliefs. Though they claim to reject all things modern and Western, Islamist terrorists are continuing a modern Western tradition of using systematic violence to transform society. The roots of contemporary terrorism are in radical Western ideology – especially Leninism – far more than religion. Read more

Church split feared as Pope backs return of 'anti-Semitic' Latin Mass

Ed: The Independent appears not to know about the Church of England's Collect for Good Friday, which reads, "O MERCIFUL God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor wouldest the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; Have mercy upon all Jews, Turks [Muslims], Infidels, and Hereticks, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen."

A plan by the Pope to authorise the widespread return of the controversial Latin Mass, despite concerns that parts of it are anti-Semitic, has provoked a backlash among senior clergy in Britain and threatens to divide the Catholic Church worldwide. The 16th-century Tridentine Mass - which includes references to "perfidious" Jews - was abandoned in 1969 and replaced with liturgy in local languages, to make worship more accessible to the bulk of churchgoers. But the Pope announced on Thursday that a long-awaited document liberalising the use of the Mass, which some clergy fear will also limit the Church's dialogue with Jews and Muslims, will be released next week.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, has written to the Pope to say that no changes are needed. Concerns about the prospect of the introduction of the Mass were also underlined on Thursday at an unusual meeting to underline resistance to it. But the Pope subsequently issued a statement revealing that he had illustrated "the content and the spirit" of next week's document, which will be sent to all bishops, accompanied by a personal letter from him.

There have been months of debate about the impending statement within the higher echelons of the Church. Cardinals, bishops and Jewish leaders are concerned by the text of the "old" Mass, which has passages, recited every Good Friday, which say Jews live in "blindness" and "darkness", and pray "the Lord our God may take the veil from their hearts and that they also may acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ". Read more

Naples Mafia drives priest out of city

The local Mafia in Naples has forced a priest who preached against crime to quit the city.

The Camorra, which masterminds a significant part of Europe's cocaine trade, threatened to kill Father Luigi Merola if he did not leave.

The final warning came in the form of a photograph of the priest with a bullet entering his mouth. Father Merola was in charge of the parish of Forcella, a violent neighbourhood in the heart of the city which is controlled by the crime gang. He has had a police escort for the past three years and last week, a 30-year-old man was shot just outside the priest's church.

Although he was popular in the area for his fight against organised crime, the local curia finally decided that it was too dangerous for Father Merola to remain. Read more

First artificial life 'within months'

Scientists could create the first new form of artificial life within months after a landmark breakthrough in which they turned one bacterium into another.

In a development that has triggered unease and excitement in equal measure, scientists in the US took the whole genetic makeup - or genome - of a bacterial cell and transplanted it into a closely related species.

This then began to grow and multiply in the lab, turning into the first species in the process.

The team that carried out the first “species transplant” says it plans within months to do the same thing with a synthetic genome made from scratch in the laboratory.

If that experiment worked, it would mark the creation of a synthetic lifeform. Read more

Magistrate walks out over Muslim woman's veil

A magistrate is facing an inquiry after refusing to deal with a defendant wearing a full Muslim veil, the Judiciary of England and Wales said yesterday.

Ian Murray walked out of the case at Manchester magistrates' court yesterday because Zoobia Hussain, 32, of Crumpsall, Manchester, was covered by a hijab.

Hussain's lawyer, Judith Hawkins, said her client was "shocked and distressed" and found Mr Murray's treatment of her "insensitive and unacceptable". Read more

Burnham-On-Sea Royal Mail staff join nationwide post strike

Ed: Amidst the divisions in the Anglican Communion, the bombs in London and the floods in Yorkshire, this was a headline and a story I could not resist for its brilliant take on global issues. There will, whilst things like this persist, always be an England.


Postal deliveries and collections were cancelled in Burnham-On-Sea on Friday (June 29th) as Royal Mail staff in the town joined a nationwide strike over pay and conditions.

This was the picket line outside the town's Royal Mail sorting office in Dunstan Road on Friday morning, where only senior management were working.

Read more

Connecticut church faces eviction from property

The pastor of a Bristol parish that voted itself out of the Episcopal Church in May has been removed from ministry by the Connecticut Diocese, and church members have been given until July 8 to vacate their building.

Connecticut Bishop Andrew Smith said the Rev. Donald Lee Helmandollar "renounced his orders" and was deposed - the equivalent of being defrocked - on June 13 by the clerical members of the diocesan standing committee. Smith said he has since written to leaders at Trinity Episcopal Church informing them that the diocese intends to take over the property July 8. Read more

Kenya to Consecrate Suffragan Bishop for U.S. Parishes

The Anglican Communion Network welcomed news today that the Anglican Province of Kenya has elected the Rev. William Murdoch suffragan bishop of All Saints Cathedral Diocese in Nairobi. Bishop-elect Murdoch will join Bishop-elect Bill Atwood in supporting Kenyan clergy and congregations in the United States. As he takes on this new responsibility, Murdoch will continue to serve the Network as dean of the New England Convocation. Read more

Marriage rate hit by crackdown on immigrants

The number of Britons choosing to marry has fallen to its lowest level since records began after a government crackdown on bogus weddings.

The marriage rate fell by 10 per cent to 244,710 in 2005, down nearly 30,000 from the previous year, according to figures released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics.

The drop was a return to the trend of long-term decline that had been interrupted by rises in the rates between 2002 and 2004.

It coincided with a Home Office initiative to halt sham marriages in which foreign nationals attempted to avoid immigration controls by gaining instant British citizenship.

Since February 2005, all non-British or European Union citizens have been required to obtain a Home Office certificate of approval to marry - a long and costly process.

Only those choosing Church of England weddings have been exempt, and vicars have noticed a sharp rise in the number of migrants approaching them over the past two years. The dioceses of London and Southwark issued new guidance to clergy last week to ensure they were not unwittingly conducting marriages of convenience. Read more

No-smoking signage for churches may not be 'reasonable'

[...] York Minster reported no difficulty: a spokeswoman said it had glass doors where a notice could be placed. Anni Holden, speaking for Hereford diocese, said that, despite concerns, the churches there would be conforming.

They are less compliant in parts of Suffolk. “Anyone trying to put up a notice on a medieval church would need a faculty to do so, and wouldn’t be granted one,” said a spokesman for the diocese of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich on Tuesday.

The legal advice is that there is no exemption for churches. The concession has been granted of a review in three years’ time, when churches could lobby that the signs are unnecessary. But one barrister, David Lamming, a member of the Ecclesiastical Law Society, concludes that churches and cathedrals “can safely ignore the new signage regulations” on the grounds that it is “reasonable” not to put up a no-smoking sign in a sacred building in which no one would consider smoking. Read more

"Sydney proposes alternative to Lambeth Conference"

Ed: A bit of headline over-statement, as yet, I think.

CONSERVATIVES are planning an alternative meeting in the UK at the same time as the 2008 Lambeth Conference, it emerged this week.

The diocese of Sydney’s standing committee agreed on Monday that the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, and his five regional bishops should attend the Lambeth Conference next year. Yet members were exercised by the invitation to bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States who “agreed to or participated in” the consecration of the Rt Revd Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, a gay man living with a partner.

The resolution advises Dr Jensen and the bishops not to accept the invitation “without making public in protest, speech and liturgical action, both prior and at Lambeth, our diocese’javascript:void(0)
Publish Posts principled objections to the continued participation of those whose actions have expressed a departure from the clear teaching of scripture and who have consequently excluded orthodox Anglicans from their fellowship.”

The resolution goes on to request that Dr Jensen approach “other orthodox bishops of the Communion with the purpose of meeting in England at the time of the Lambeth Conference for Christian fellowship and the planning of joint action within the Communion to contend the faith of the Apostles once delivered to the saints”. Read more

New report: frustrated older clerics are ‘demotivated’

Ed: That'd be me, then!

[...] The report calls for “strategic solutions” to help the thousands of clergy in their 50s and early 60s, who will not get a post as one of the 373 bishops, deans, archdeacons, or residentiary canons. “How can the Church develop a culture which cherishes its ordained human resource?” it asks.

There are more than 10,000 parochial clergy and chaplains in sector ministries. Half the Church’s incumbents are 50 or above, and 39 per cent are 56 or older. “Given these statistics, not being appointed can hardly be viewed as failure,” the report says. Read more

New Church of England Study Resource Explores Ordination

The Church of England has published a new resource to help any members preparing for ordination this summer. Read more

Babies born out of wedlock rise by a fifth

Ed: Given the disadvantages to the individual and society, is this trend an example of what is sometimes called 'structural' sin?

[...] Campaigners yesterday linked the rise to Gordon Brown's tax credit system, which is far more generous to single parents than to couples.

They also blamed the continuing decline in the status of marriage and worries about the cost of divorce, heightened by big money court settlements.

Academic Patricia Morgan, author of a series of studies on family breakdown, said: "Tax credits have played a big part.

"Two out of three of the babies outside marriage will have been born to couples with one eye on the benefit authorities. There is strong state incentivisation of lone parenthood."

Earlier this month former Labour welfare minister Frank Field condemned the 'brutal neglect' of two-parent families in the benefits system.

His research showed that a single mother with two children under 11 on the minimum wage received tax credits last year that took her weekly income to £487 if she worked only 16 hours a week.

But a two-parent family with one earner would have to put in 116 hours of work on the same pay to get the same money.

Children born to unmarried couples are far more likely to end up in single-parent families than those born within marriage. A typical cohabitation lasts three years, while marriages average 11 years. Read more

Gene Robinson MAY be invited to Lambeth 2008

Ed: Contra Ruth Gledhill's own headline 'Gene Robinson 'to be invited' to Lambeth, says ABC, I note that the leaked letter (who leaks these things for goodness sake?) from Lambeth Palace only says, "The Archbishop is therefore exploring inviting Bishop Robinson to the conference in another status." He may yet decide it can't be done, especially when the poo hits the fan, but we will see. (Stifles yawn.)

A number of Anglicans in England have been writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury in protest at his decision to leave Gene Robinson off the invitation list to Lambeth. I have been 'leaked' one of the letters sent back in response. Signed by Canon Flora Winfield, of his office for International, Ecumenical and Anglican Communion Affairs, it reflects on the Archbishop's concern about the 'canonical impediment' to Bishop Robinson's consecration. The letter concludes: 'The Archbishop is therefore exploring inviting Bishop Robinson to the conference in another status.' Full text printed at the end of this post.

A source tells me he will indeed be invited as an official guest, with a voice but no vote, in the same way that eight TEC delegates were invited to the ACC meeting at Nottingham. Ecumenical guests would fall into the same category. Martyn Minns will not be invited in any category however. The two more recent consecrations, including that of Bill Atwood, have not been discussed yet. Read more

UK Civil Partnership statistics 2006

There were 18,059 civil partnerships formed in the UK between December 2005 and the end of December 2006. A total of 16,173 took place in England with 1,131 in Scotland, 627 in Wales and 128 in Northern Ireland. Almost 2,000 partnerships were formed in December 2005. On average, 1,600 partnerships were formed each month between January and March 2006, falling to 1,500 between April and September and 800 between October and December.

More men than women formed civil partnerships. In 2006, 60 per cent of all civil partners were male compared with 66 per cent in December 2005. In England, 9,913 male and 6,260 female partnerships were formed up to the end of 2006. The corresponding figures were 633 and 498 in Scotland, 318 and 309 in Wales and 71 and 57 in Northern Ireland.

Male civil partners tended to be older than female civil partners. The average age at formation in the UK in 2006 was 47 for men and 44 for women compared with 54 and 46 in December 2005. The average age of all partners in 2006 was highest in England (46) and lowest in Northern Ireland (41). The average age was 45 in Wales and 44 in Scotland. Read more

UK marriages decline 10% between 2004 and 2005

In 2005 there were 283,730 weddings in the UK, down nearly 10 per cent since 2004 when there were 313,550 weddings. Marriages fell in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland for the first time in three years. In England and Wales marriages fell by 10 per cent in 2005 to 244,710, which is the lowest number of marriages since 1896. In Northern Ireland marriages fell by 2 per cent to 8,140, while in Scotland they dropped 4 per cent to 30,881. Read more

I also want women to dress modestly - and the men, too

[...] So when did we stop understanding when to dress modestly?

The answer is very recently, according to Professor Aileen Ribeiro, an expert on the history of dress at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, who says that in the past the rules on appropriate dress were widely understood. She says that plunging necklines for women and tight trousers for men have been recognised as sexually provocative since the Middle Ages.

But in previous generations, church and society dictated what was allowed. 'Many people no longer know what is appropriate unless it is written down,' she says. 'Hence our anxiety over what to wear on a formal occasion when instructions are not given. 'And when it comes to your village church service, the churches are often so desperate for churchgoers that they don't say what they think the rules should be. If they did there would be complaints

What does it say about the spirit of the age?

Professor Ribeiro sees the willingness to expose too much flesh in all the wrong settings as a sign of indifference, a lack of sensitivity.

And I agree that to go to church in shorts or with your knickers on show is symptomatic of an 'If it's fine with me, then to hell with you' approach to life. It's the kind of attitude that leads so many people to bawl down their mobile phones on the train or to turn up their iPods so that everyone has to endure the infuriating sizzle of leaking sound. Read more

Horror movies no longer scary, just revolting

Ed: Surely with the soul as with the computer, garbage in, garbage out (contra Philippians 4:8).

It's hard, right now, to be a fan of the ever-reviled horror genre without wanting to poke your own eyes out, or perhaps go at them with a blowtorch, as they do in Hostel.

It's not that the new wave of films are morally reprehensible or have the very fabric of society in their sights; they're just unspeakably nasty.

As someone who would put The Shining, Psycho, Alien and Don't Look Now way up on the list of the greatest films ever made, I do wish this weren't the case.

Those are all movies that have given a lot of us sleepless nights over the years, stuffed with powerfully graphic imagery, taking no prisoners in terms of who is victimised, and made with an absolute determination to torment and disturb their viewers.

But Saw III? Vacancy? Captivity? This is a different breed of film entirely, and disturbing in quite another sense. Read more (caution)

It really is love at first sight

Ed: And now for some good news ...

Countless poets, musicians and artists may have offered less austere definitions of love at first sight, but the natural phenomenon is no fleeting fancy.

New research has revealed that nearly four out of ten relationships which had their roots in instantaneous attraction are still going strong a decade later.

At a time when the nation is witnessing its highest rates of divorce,

38 per cent of Britons who got together with a partner they fell for the moment they met are still together. And with 87 per cent admitting they still believe in the principle of love at first sight, the spirit of romance is alive and well. Read more

Hospitals see 14% rise in drink victims

Ed: Just a question - are these people victims of drink? Did the alcohol somehow drink them?

Hospital admissions for drink problems soared 14 per cent after Labour relaxed the licensing laws in November 2005.

There were 187,640 alcohol-related hospital admissions in England during 2005-2006, compared with 164,787 the previous year.

The number of deaths climbed from 4,037 in 2004 to 6,570 in 2005, according to figures from the Information Centre for Health and Social Care.

They also show a doubling of alcohol-related hospital admissions in the past decade, up from 89,000 in the mid-1990s.

The figures include adults needing to be admitted for hospital treatment for intoxication, mental and behavioural problems, but do not include physical injury and accidents linked to alcohol.

Most worryingly, the number of children needing hospital treatment has risen by a third in a decade as binge drinking by teenagers continues to climb. Read more

Is the Army becoming Presbyterian?

[...] The chaplains’ profiles on the official website certainly suggest not only that the Free Churches are over-represented, but also that most Anglican chaplains are evangelicals.

But it does occur to me that traditionalist Anglicans and Roman Catholics have only themselves to blame: both Churches are so full of sanctimonious pacifists that it’s no wonder that chaplains are hard to find. Evangelicals, in contrast, will not rest until the last atheist has been rooted out of his foxhole. And good for them. Read more

How the Chinese see us: a nation of drunken youths

[...] "I went to Leeds – it was rough and dirty. Girls danced on tables with no underwear – wore short skirts, were vulgar."

"Gentle country not true, too many drunk people, terrible young people everywhere."

"Young people get drunk – the behaviour would be frightening."

"I hate the teenage people with little education, gathering around, holding booze, talking rubbish."

"Bloody terrible young people – not so well educated, very rough – drunk culture."

"Fighting in the street, drunken hooligan."

"Crime of youth, doing nothing, in the street threatening people."

"There is an emptiness in night life there – party, party and nothing else – at the night the people are boring. When I went to England, I thought there would be something special in culture – people would say interesting things – speak about plays or stories. I thought it would be a garden of thinking." Read more

Jonathan Edwards 'happier without God'

[...] The upheaval of recent months has not left Edwards emotionally scarred, at least not visibly. “I am not unhappy about the fact that there might not be a God,” he says. “I don’t feel that my life has a big, gaping hole in it. In some ways I feel more human than I ever have. There is more reality in my existence than when I was full-on as a believer. It is a completely different world to the one I inhabited for 37 years, so there are feelings of unfamiliarity.

“There have also been issues to address in terms of my relationships with family and friends, many of whom are Christians. But I feel internally happier than at any time of my life, more content within my own skin. Maybe it is because I am not viewing the world through a specific set of spectacles.”

“The only inner problem that I face now is a philosophical one,” Edwards says. “If there is no God, does that mean that life has no purpose? Does it mean that personal existence ends at death? They are thoughts that do my head in. One thing that I can say, however, is that even if I am unable to discover some fundamental purpose to life, this will not give me a reason to return to Christianity. Just because something is unpalatable does not mean that it is not true.” Read more

Australian Churches slam stem cell legislation

The Catholic and Anglican churches both believe legislation passed by the NSW Parliament to overturn a ban on stem cell research was wrong.

The bill to allow the research, also known as somatic cell nuclear transfer, passed state parliament on Tuesday night after a 27-13 conscience vote in the upper house.

The Catholic Church described the legislation as immoral while the Anglicans said it had serious ethical implications.

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, said he did not believe there had been a wide enough debate on the issue. Read more

Weather prophets of doom

[...] 'There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing,' I was told once by an English weather stalwart. This and other aphorisms, which some might find helpful in today's climate, can be mused on at Yakism's Page. But what of those who believe that global warming, if it exists at all, is God's way of bringing about the apocalypse?

This is what the Bible says: 'When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale; the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place ...' Revelation 6:12-14. The last red moon visible from Britain was in March this year.

But we are just one little country. The Heat is Online is tracking extreme weather conditions round the world and inputting six-monthly logs of the results. RaptureReady's Tom Strandberg believes 'global warming could very well be a major factor in the plagues of tribulation.' Reading the news these days is a lot like reading the Bible, says the Victorious prophecy site. Apocalypse soon brings together weather events and other extremities with religious beliefs. Bible Prophecy is more specific, linking weather and other news to particular Bible passages. Read more

Jews, Unitarians 'kicked off' main Church-State body

Writing in 2000, the Bishop of London, the Right Rev Richard Chartres, was characteristically munificent in his praise of the Churches Main Committee. 'In its work of conveying to the Government the views of the Churches on the legislation and other matters directly affecting them, [it] has the distinct advantage of Jewish representation,' he wrote in a booklet, Wrestling with Caesar. 'It is a personal view that this diversity could be developed to mirror the new religious culture of Britain in a field where faith communities have so many interests in common.'

Seven years later, the Churches Main Committee, set up in 1941 to liaise with Government over public policy and law making, has indeed examined its make-up with a view to developing it to bring it more in tune with modern times. The review was set up in 2005 and chaired by Tory MP Peter Bottomley.But far from expanding the membership of 39 religious groups, it is to restrict it to particular Christian bodies only.

Out will go the United Synagogue (Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks), the Unitarians, the Christian Scientists, the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, the London City Mission and the Seventh Day Adventists.

In will come... well.... nobody. Read more

A briefing paper on the Anglican Covenant by Andrew Goddard

[...] There are no solid reasons - either in principle or pragmatically in the current political context - for evangelicals or anyone else to object to Synod making a commitment to positive participation in the covenant process. There are many reasons - theological and political - why evangelicals and others who share our commitments to world mission, to learning from Anglicans around the globe, to safeguarding biblical faith and to facilitating harmony among Anglicans should wish the Church of England wholeheartedly to support the covenant process. Indeed, in terms of our life together as a Communion, the covenant process is - like the Windsor Report in which it originated - now 'the only poker game in town'. If the Communion is to have a future together then the form of this will be discerned in and through this covenant process. For the Church of England to abandon that process through non-participation, or destructive participation, would therefore be for the eye to say to the hand 'I don't need you' and for us as a province to embrace a vision of Anglicanism in which every one does what is right in their own eyes. Read more

Rwanda will not attend Lambeth 2008

COMMUNIQUE FROM THE HOUSE OF BISHOPS OF THE PROVINCE OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF RWANDA

In response to the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Honourable Rowan Williams, inviting the bishops to the Lambeth Conference 2008, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda, who met in Kigali on 19 June 2007, resolved not to attend the Lambeth Conference for the following reasons: Read more

Side door 'open' for same-sex blessings in Canada

Despite the news headlines, the Anglican Church of Canada did not close the door on same sex blessings at the Church’s General Synod in Winnipeg this past week. Nor did the Church take the steps specifically requested by the leaders of the global Anglican Communion – known as Primates.

By General Synod declaring that same sex blessings are compatible with Anglican core doctrine, nothing now stands in the way of these blessings continuing in the Diocese of New Westminster (in the Vancouver area) and being introduced into dioceses throughout Canada.

The Primates have called for a clear, unambiguous endorsement of traditional Church teaching on sexuality and an end to same sex blessings, as has been practiced in the Diocese of New Westminster since 2002. This General Synod has created confusion and ambiguity. By its action – and lack of action – the Church has clearly signaled that it does not value walking with the global Anglican Communion. Read more

Modern day slavery?

Ed: Reading this, I just thought 'What kind of life is that?' And I suspect it is widespread.

The work-life balance of the UK's lawyers is to come under scrutiny as part of a Law Society review to see why record numbers appear to be leaving the profession.

Some say the popular belief that the life of a City lawyer is all about big bonuses, expensive holidays and flowing champagne is misguided and, in fact, the career is more likely to end in emotional or physical breakdown.

One City lawyer, Zoe (not her real name), explains how her job brought on anorexia and depression, and ultimately forced her to leave a top law firm. Read more

New Archdeacon of West Ham announced

The Revd Elwin Cockett, currently Team Rector of Billericay and Little Burstead, Rural Dean of Basildon, and Chaplain to West Ham United Football Club, has been appointed by the Bishop of Chelmsford as Archdeacon of West Ham, in the Diocese of Chelmsford, in succession to the Ven. Michael Fox, who retires in August. The Archdeaconry of West Ham includes the London Boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, and Waltham Forest.

The Revd Elwin Cockett writes: “There are not many more exciting places to be at the moment than the Archdeaconry of West Ham, with all the challenges and opportunities represented by the 2012 Olympics and the regeneration of East London and the Thames Gateway. I very much look forward to listening to, and learning from people across this vibrant and diverse Archdeaconry as we seek together to serve God and to be 'salt and light' to the world around us.” Read more

150,000 gay pupils suffer abuse

More than 150,000 pupils have been targeted by school bullies because they are gay, research suggests.

Two-thirds of lesbian and gay pupils have experienced homophobic bullying, ranging from verbal abuse to violence and even death threats, the survey by equality organisation Stonewall found.

About half of teachers did not intervene when children used homophobic language like "dyke", "queer" or "rug muncher", the study said.

And some pupils even claimed their teachers joined in with the abuse. Read more

Teachers ‘hold back on gay bullying’

HOMOPHOBIC bullying is endemic in Welsh secondary schools and teachers are reticent to take action, according to a report published today.

The survey by Stonewall shows almost two-thirds of lesbian and gay pupils have been victims of homophobic bullying.

It said half of teachers fail to respond to homophobic language.

One Welsh teenager said, “They know how to handle racism but they don’t clamp down on people for being homophobic.”

The School Report, the largest poll of young gay people ever conducted in Wales and the rest of Britain, shows the extent of homophobic bullying by pupils and even staff.

Teenagers in Welsh schools described to the survey how they had been bullied and said more should be done to train staff in how to tackle the issue.

One 14-year-old, said, “I can’t tell anyone because, basically, no one knows that I’m gay. I got punched in the corridor today, for example, and I can’t tell a teacher because it will involve coming out.”

Another pupil, aged 16, said, “I was once threatened by a friend’s brother over an instant message that he would beat me to death on the streets if he saw me or torch my house whilst I’m sleeping in it.”

Stonewall Cymru estimates there are several thousand gay and lesbian pupils in secondary schools in Wales.

Policy officer Matthew Batten said, “It’s estimated that 6% of the population is gay so you would probably have two or three gay or lesbian pupils in a class.” Read more

Sydney Standing Committee welcomes Attwood, protests Lambeth

The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Sydney has passed resolutions welcoming the consecration of Bill Atwood by the Archbishop of Kenya and protesting at the invitation list to Lambeth 2008. Read the resolutions here.

Canadian Synod agrees gay blessings 'not against core doctrine'

Canada's Anglicans narrowly voted Sunday against letting priests bless same-sex marriages, but they also agreed the blessings do not conflict with their church's core doctrine, a step opposing sides agreed opens the door to such ceremonies in the future.

The moves by the Anglican Church of Canada came at a time when divisions over the Bible and homosexuality are roiling the world Anglican fellowship.

The resolution that failed would have let priests conduct blessing ceremonies for gay couples who have already married in civil ceremonies, but would not have allowed priests to actually marry same-sex couples. Civil marriages for gay couples have been legal in Canada since 2004.

The resolution required a majority rule in three orders - the laity, clergy and bishops. It failed only in the order of bishops, which voted 21-19 against it.

"There is no question that there was a lot of disappointment on the part of some people and a lot of pain, and some people will be saying, 'How long, oh Lord, how long will this conversation continue?' And it will continue," said Bishop Fred Hiltz, who was elected to lead the Anglican Church on Friday and voted for the resolution.

Gay rights activists, however, took solace in an earlier vote Sunday, in which the Anglicans agreed that same-sex blessings do not conflict with the church's core doctrine. In that vote, the clergy and the laity were combined and voted 152-92 in favor; the bishops voted 21-19 in favor.

"We now have theological agreement that same-sex unions are not in opposition to doctrine and that's a big deal," said Chris Ambidge, president of the Toronto chapter of gay advocacy group Integrity. "However, it's just a 75 percent win because there's no pastoral benefit to gay and lesbians with what has happened today. The church approved things in principle, but said we're not going to do anything about it." Read more

Canada two votes from gay blessings

Canadian Anglicans failed by the narrowest of margins on Sunday night to agree to allow their churches to bless the committed relationships of same-sex couples.

In a tense vote after nearly two days of debate at the church's synod in Winnipeg, lay and clergy members voted in favour of a motion that would have allowed dioceses in Canada officially to authorise blessings. But the church's bishops voted against the move by 21 votes to 19, meaning that the motion failed, because it needed to be passed by all three groups. Read more

Is sexuality a communion-breaking issue?

Ed: Here is the dilemma of the Anglican Communion in a nutshell. On one side are people like Archbishops Hutchinson and Ndungane, and on the other those like Jim Packer. Dividing them, and us, is whether anything people say or do regarding same-sex relationships can be a reason for division in the Church.

Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, at the opening service of General Synod in the Cathedral Church of St. John in Winnipeg:

[...] Certainly one of the most difficult items for our discernment will be the question of how to proceed on the issue of same-gender relationships. Related to it are other questions. One is the deeper question of how Anglicans receive and understand Scriptures in the light of modern scholarship and contemporary experience. Another is how our decisions will impact our sister churches in the Anglican Communion. And beside that is a question as to the nature of the Communion, and the appropriate relationship between provincial autonomy and global interdependence.

Another way of putting that is, how do we wish authority to be exercised or limited within our family of churches? And perhaps most important, how will our decisions witness to the Good News of God in Jesus Christ for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters within the Church and outside it. There are of course many other questions to consider in the hard work of discernment over this issue. We are taught that the first principle of moral theology is obedience to conscience, and I ask each of you to embrace that principle, and with it the ethic of respect for the conscience of those who disagree with your own. The second principle of moral theology is to inform your conscience to bring it, if possible, into line with the teaching of the Church. And here careful listening using the Anglican approach of Scripture, Tradition and Reason will be helpful.

At the end of the day, when decisions are made, they will not be unanimous. Differences will remain, but the unanimous opinion of the Theological Commission (and of many other sources) is that the question of same-gender blessings should not be a communion breaking issue. So the alternative to that is that in keeping with a long Anglican tradition, we make room at the table for those whose views we do not share. For the table is the Lord's and not our own. And it is He who invites us to share the life that is offered there for the sins of the whole world. [...] Read more


Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane at the Sung Eucharist at Westminster Abbey, 17th June:

[...] There are areas of life where we have made great changes – not to Scripture itself, but to how we understand it. For example, it is entirely clear that slavery is accepted within the pages of the Bible. Even St Paul says 'Let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called. Where you a slave when you were called? Don't be concerned about it!' 1 Cor 7:20.21. It is wonderful that this year you have celebrated two centuries since the abolition of slavery. Tragically, today there are terrible new forms of slavery, and I am very honoured that the United Nations has invited me to host an international conference on tackling human trafficking later this year.

We have changed our position on lending money at interest – though I must say I am often rather less convinced that we were right!

We have changed our position on contraception. And we have changed our position on the role of women in the Church. Even where we disagree on this, we find ways to agree to disagree.

But we have NOT changed our position on Jesus, and I do not see that we could, and still call ourselves Christians. If anyone wants to pick a fight with me about my faith, let it be on the grounds of my relationship with Jesus, and my belief in who he is: the belief to which Scripture attests and the creeds affirm.

Jesus remains the eternal Word made flesh. Jesus remains the second person of the Trinity, pre-existent from before all time, taking on human form. Jesus remains fully God and fully human – the double homoousios to which the Nicene creed affirms. Jesus remains the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, who breaks the chains of death. No-one else can do this. Jesus remains the crucified one who was raised to new life. In twenty-first century scientific terms, we do not know how to describe his risen body – but we do know he was raised, and we do know he ascended, and we do know he sits at the Father's right hand, where he ever makes intercession for us.

Jesus Christ remains the same, yesterday, today and for ever!

So, even though some of the church is in turmoil over issues of human sexuality, that should never become the touchstone of orthodox belief. Read more


Jim Packer, responding to the Canadian St Michael Report in Spring last year:

[...] The Report equates core doctrine with what is affirmed in Anglican foundation documents and argues that blessing same-sex unions, whatever else it is, is not a violation of core doctrine, but is an adiaphoron, a secondary matter, which does not warrant any breach of church communion. But the reasoning on which this conclusion is based is not the whole story, though it is indeed part of it. However, a sounder, profounder concept of what in the past has been called heresy is: any belief or practice that negates any part of the New Testament gospel of Jesus Christ, understood as the divinely revealed truth that shows our sinful race the way of salvation from sin and sin's consequences. This concept covers not only doctrines of the Creeds and Anglican foundation documents, but also the practice of faith in Christ, repentance, obedience, life in the Spirit, and personal holiness, according to the Scriptures.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 lists behavioral habits that, if not repented of and forsaken, keep people out of God's kingdom, and male homosexuality is explicitly included in the list (vss. 9-11). Paul goes on to celebrate the power of the Holy Spirit sanctifying persons at Corinth who had previously lived in the ways he has mentioned. It seems undeniable that he would have viewed blessing same-sex unions as sanctifying sin, and thus as a denial of an essential ingredient in the gospel, namely repentance of all one's sins and forsaking of them. And the gospel as such is surely the church's core doctrine.

The gravity of the homosexual lifestyle as Paul views it warrants the description of it when found in the church as practical heresy; which raises the question, whether the suspending of full communion pro tem is not warranted and indeed needed as a disciplinary measure, aimed at bringing offenders to repentance. The Report fails to face this issue of conscience and wisdom, which arises from straightforward biblical exegesis and for some is very real and pressing. Read more

Church faces new gay row over Canada

Canada's Anglicans could dramatically deepen the rifts within the worldwide Church over homosexuality this weekend by giving approval to gay blessings.

Such a step by the Canadian General Synod would all but extinguish the chances of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, averting schism.

Observers say the vote, which would give individual dioceses the discretion to allow same-sex blessings, is "on a knife-edge".

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, who is attending the Synod in Winnipeg, issued a coded call for unity, urging delegates to take account of the wider Church.

But most of the Canadian bishops, including the primate, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, are liberal on the issue. Read more

Uganda Elects Bishop for Congregations in U.S.

Realignment of North American Anglicanism continues to gain momentum as the Province of Uganda announced today that they have elected the Rev. John Guernsey to serve as bishop for their 26 congregations in the United States.

Bishop-elect Guernsey is the dean of the Anglican Communion Network’s Mid-Atlantic Convocation. He will continue in that role, as well as rector of All Saints’ Church in Woodbridge, VA, even as he takes on new duties for the Anglican Province of Uganda. He joins Bishop Bill Cox of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone and Bishop-elect Bill Atwood of the Anglican Province of Kenya as another domestic bishop cooperating in ministry with the Network. The Network has strong links with many international congregations under overseas jurisdiction through its International Conference. It also works to bring together orthodox Anglicans of many jurisdictions through the Common Cause Partnership. The first-ever Common Cause Council of Bishops is scheduled for September 25 – 28. Read more

Liberal elected Canadian Primate

A liberal-leaning bishop who has expressed support in the past for full acceptance of gays and lesbians was elected Friday to lead the Anglican Church of Canada.

Bishop Fred Hiltz of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island was chosen on the fifth ballot by clergy and lay people at the church's national meeting. Among the three other nominees for the post was Edmonton Bishop Victoria Matthews, who would have been the church's first woman leader.

The vote came one day before the assembly, called the General Synod, is to decide whether to allow Anglican priests to bless same-sex couples – a step short of performing same-sex marriage, which is legal in Canada.

Chris Ambidge, president of the Toronto chapter of gay advocacy group Integrity, said Hiltz “has long been an advocate of opening church doors to all people” and that his election signals to gays and lesbians “that they are welcomed and affirmed in their church.” Read more

EU Committee wants 'creationist' teaching banned

The theory of evolution is being attacked by religious fundamentalists who call for creationist theories to be taught in European schools alongside or even in place of it. From a scientific view point there is absolutely no doubt that evolution is a central theory for our understanding of the Universe and of life on Earth.

Creationism in any of its forms, such as “intelligent design”, is not based on facts, does not use any scientific reasoning and its contents are pathetically inadequate for science classes.

The Assembly calls on education authorities in member States to promote scientific knowledge and the teaching of evolution and to oppose firmly any attempts at teaching creationism as a scientific discipline. Read more

Opinion: Chelmsford needs a lead on Back to Church Sunday

I apologise. I’ve tried to say nothing on this topic but, like Jeremiah, “I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.”

As readers of this blog will have gathered, I think Back to Church Sunday is a great idea. It isn’t perfect — what is? For a start, it is pragmatically focussed rather than theologically driven — it is about bums on seats, but this doesn’t necessarily mean souls in the Kingdom.

Nevertheless, it is the best thing to come along for some time — possibly since the abortive post-war report Towards the Conversion of England. At last it is being suggested that we all do something to bring people to church.

So why is so little coming from the centre of our diocese to encourage, or even, it would seem, to recognise the value of, Back to Church Sunday?

Admittedly, the first I heard about it being taken up here was in an ad clerum (a pastoral letter to all the clergy) from the diocesan bishop. There it was noted that a presentation had been made about Back to Church Sunday at the Diocesan Synod in March and that the Synod had agreed to endorse it. We were told that more information would soon be available and that materials could be ordered from the Diocesan offices.

Since then we’ve also had a letter from Stephen Webb, the Diocesan Chief Executive Officer. In our local, Colchester, Area newsletter, there was an article by Canon Penny Horseman encouraging parishes to get involved. In general, the diocesan staff have been prompt and willing to answer queries.

But the diocese is not led by the staff of the Diocesan Offices. It is led by the bishops. So where is the episcopal leadership?

I have a regular Google ‘news alert’ running for Back to Church Sunday (amongst other things), so that if anything appears anywhere on the internet on this topic — for example in an online version of a local newspaper, on a website, or even on my own blog — I get an instant e-mail telling me about it. But ‘Chelmsford Bishops’ and Back to Church Sunday seem to go together like snowball and hell.

Apparently this is because ‘the diocese’ has decided not to make a big, coordinated effort this year. Rather, it is going to leave it to interested parishes. Next year, those parishes will be invited to ‘share their stories’, and then we will really have a go.

But this is daft! First, the great value of Back to Church Sunday is the potential for area impact. It is not just a case of one, slightly weird or very keen, church doing it, but everyone having a go. Where this has happened, for example in the Diocese of Oxford, it has clearly worked. By leaving it to the parishes to work in an uncoordinated fashion, diocesan central has so far reduced the potential impact of the whole event.

Secondly, you can’t do Back to Church Sunday every year! It cannot become like Christmas — the one Sunday when we expect those who haven’t been since last year’s Back to Church Sunday to turn up. Doing Back to Church Sunday at half-cock one year in the belief that we can ‘really’ do it next year is like trying to see if a match works by lighting it so you can save it for later. A year half-done is a year half-wasted.

Frankly, I’m tired of blogging away on this website about Back to Church Sunday in Chelmsford as if all were well with the approach our diocese is taking, when it is not. It is not too late to ‘rally the troops’, but it is getting close.

Revd John P Richardson
22 June 2007

Alas, poor Britain. The best name for it is Absurdistan

I love Britain as much as anyone, and I certainly believe it is our openness that makes it such an attractive place. But I can’t share the optimism about our multiculture, and much more importantly, my own impression is not of the triumph of the British spirit but of its steady subversion by an ever-growing dependency culture.

In its funny little way the news this week that the Advertising Standards Authority had banned reruns of the 1950s egg advertisements that featured Tony Hancock was more compelling evidence on the state of modern Britain than even Marr’s obiter dicta.

“Go to Work on an Egg” was unacceptable, we were told, because it encouraged an unhealthy lifestyle. I had no idea that we had a government body that still operated on Stalinist principles but there it is. How long will it be before it is not just the free speech of advertising that is curtailed but the evil practice it promotes, and we ban egg consumption along with smoking? Goodbye England. Welcome to Absurdistan. Read more

Episcopal Diocese sues three break-away parishes

The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego is suing three breakaway parishes - including one in Fallbrook - over who owns and controls the property of the local churches.

The property dispute stems from the decisions of the three parishes last year to split from the Episcopal Church as a result of a theological divide within the denomination nationwide in recent years.

Moves such as the Episcopal Church's ordination in 2003 of an openly gay bishop have gained more media attention, but have grown out of a broader theological dispute about what the Bible means, who Jesus Christ is, and whether the Bible and other doctrine should be re-evaluated and changed because of today's culture, said Eric Sohlgren, an attorney for the local breakaway parishes. Read more

Blair 'will become Roman Catholic'

Tony Blair is "certain" to become a Roman Catholic shortly after he steps down from office next week, friends of the Prime Minister have told The Independent. They believe it will happen "sooner rather than later".

Mr Blair is likely to discuss his conversion with Pope Benedict XVI, with whom he will hold talks in Rome tomorrow after attending his last summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.

Aides say that in the private one-to-one meeting, he will also discuss his plans to set up a Blair Inter-Faith Foundation aimed at fostering closer links between people from different religions. Read more

Canadians may elect woman Archbishop

Canadian Anglicans - not usually the most demonstrative or cantankerous of folk - are preparing to take decisions this weekend which could see both the election of the world's first female archbishop and, if they then also endorse official blessings for gay couples, the end of the worldwide Anglican communion.

The Canadian church's three-yearly general synod in Winnipeg has to elect a new primate and the favourite is the female bishop of Edmonton, the Right Reverend Victoria Matthews.

Bishop Matthews, 53, became the first diocesan woman bishop in North America 10 years ago and is now thought by many observers likely to become the first woman archbishop in 2,000 years of church history. Many Anglican provinces still do not allow women's ordination and the Church of England is still wrestling with whether its women clergy can eventually become bishops. Read more

President of the Episcopal Church's House or Deputies discusses Episcopal Church's response to Windsor Report with Canadian General Synod

[...] During both question-and-answer sessions, Anderson was asked about reports that the Episcopal Church is "falling apart." She told both groups that a small number of dioceses have members who are upset with the Church's decisions, but that each of those dioceses include "faithful Episcopalians" and "we're making every effort to attend to their pastoral needs."

The vast majority of Episcopal Church dioceses, Anderson said, "are moving forward in mission with great enthusiasm" and Episcopalians at all levels of the Church are engaged in mission with Anglican Communion partners, especially through the work of Episcopal Relief and Development.

"Many people were relieved to hear that because the questions were asked out of deep concern," Anderson said after the sessions.

Earlier in the day June 20, Anderson preached at noonday prayer held in the Synod's plenary hall. Preaching on Mark 2:15-17, Anderson reminded worshippers that Jesus dined with outcasts and sinners while the Pharisees, "the self-proclaimed powerful," wanted to define who was holy.

"Let us ask Jesus to help us break down the barriers of exclusion and self-important power that keep us apart from Him and each other," she said.

Echoing the Synod's theme of "Draw the Circle Wide. Draw it Wider Still!" Anderson concluded, "Let us ask Jesus to help us turn the pyramid of power into a powerful circle of reconciliation, healing and inclusion." Read more

Gay Anglican Leaders 'Stand Strong'

Out gay Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire and Nigerian gay Anglican leader Davis Mac-Iyalla, who are at the center of the schism of the U.S. Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion, shared their stories and messages of gay liberation on June 19 at Holy Apostles Church in Chelsea with a standing-room only crowd of mostly gay men.

In his sermon, Robinson spoke of the crucifixion of Jesus and how that kind of torturous execution was used by the Romans because they "wanted it to be very clear how any challenge to the powers that be would be dealt with. He was a threat and he was nailed to a cross. Shouldn't we be more of a threat?" Jesus' challenge to the status quo "was very political," he said. "We have got to do systemic political work." Read more

Canadian Anglicans vote Saturday on same-sex blessings

Even if the Anglican Church of Canada votes on Saturday to approve same-sex blessings, the spokesman for the world’s top Anglican says the Canadian denomination will not be kicked out of the global Anglican communion.

“No scenario could emerge” from this week’s Anglican general synod that would lead to the Archbishop of Canterbury expelling the Canadian church from the 76-million-member global Anglican denomination, says Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion.

The right-hand man to Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, told CanWest News Service Thursday: “There’s no question the Anglican Church of Canada is a valued member of the Anglican Communion. There’s never been a scenario considered that would lead to the exclusion of the Anglican Church of Canada.”Read more

Review - The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left

[...] At 16, having felt socially isolated at school because he wanted no part of gang or popular culture, the author began his adolescent revolt. He fell in with Islamists at the East London Mosque, who were much frowned upon not only by his father, but also by the congregation of the Brick Lane Mosque (once a Huguenot church, then a synagogue, and now a mosque, reflecting the successive waves of immigration into the East End over the last three centuries), which the author had previously attended.

The East London Mosque was the scene of struggles, sometimes violent, between various Islamist factions, whose adherents were all young men. They disagreed over such matters as whether it was permissible to take part in the British political system, and whether the best tactics were mass preaching or the establishment of an Islamist conspiratorial vanguard. The parallels with the history of communism are striking. Like Marxists, Islamists also believe that a state of affairs can come about—if only one follows the correct prescription—in which all human problems as we have known them will disappear. Read more

CofE Review Recommends Talent Pipeline for Future Senior Appointments

Future senior office-holders in the Church of England could be identified and developed through a ‘talent pipeline’, a new report recommends.

The report also calls for greater diversity among such office-holders, welcoming the work to ensure that women are not discriminated against and calling for greater effort to ensure that the holders of senior appointments broadly reflect the diversity of the clergy from which they are drawn.

Talent and Calling, published today, is the report of a review group appointed in response to a General Synod motion which called for a review of the law and practice regarding appointments to the offices of suffragan bishop, dean, archdeacon and residentiary canon. (The method of diocesan bishops had been reviewed previously and therefore did not form part of the group’s remit.) The group was chaired by Sir Joseph Pilling. Read more

Open to Question? Fulcrum discussion on the doctrine of the Trinity

On the Fulcrum 'Open Evangelical' website, the discussion thread on Defining Evangelicalism has now drifted into questions about the doctrine of the Trinity. Officially, it must be emphasised, Fulcrum is committed to Trinitarianism. The interesting issue, though, must be the extent to which, when you declare yourself 'open' to other insights, these can include insights counter to long-established traditional understandings even of God, and on what grounds you are going to 'hold the line'.

It is worth remembering that in the late nineteenth century, the great divide in the worldwide Student Volunteer Missionary Union (the precursor of the Student Christian Movement) was not over the doctrine of the atonement but over Unitarianism, which was then very popular. By 1913, the doctrinal basis of the then-SCM was phrased in such a way that, as one leading figure commented approvingly, "[It] does not contain a statement of the Godhead of Jesus as a doctrine ... it is not intended to contain it ... [but] it does contain that attitude towards Jesus Christ out of which the belief in His Godhead, as a doctrine, springs."

I am reminded of Oliver Hardy's famous refrain to Stanley Laurel, "Here's another nice mess you've gotten me into." Read on here.

Thousands expected for Back to Church Sunday

More than 17,000 people are expected to return to church in September as Back to Church Sunday expands to take in 1,700 churches across England.

Resources to invite a friend Back to Church and to welcome them on Sunday, September 30th are now being delivered to more than one in 10 of the Church of England's churches.

With 19 dioceses taking part this year, the 1700 churches involved is a tenfold increase on the 160 churches that took up the venture when it began, in Manchester, in 2004. Read more

Robert Gagnon responds to Canadian case for same-sex blessings

A paper by John Thorp (professor of philosophy at the University of Western Ontario) was sent to all the delegates to the 2007 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada just a few weeks before the Synod meeting pushing the case for blessing homosexual unions (“Making the Case: The Blessing of Same Unions in the Anglican Church of Canada”).

I have just completed a full response: “Case Not Made: A Response to Prof. John Thorp’s ‘Making the Case.’” Circulate and post as widely as you wish—especially if you know some way to get it to the members/delegates of the General Synod. Download here.

Vatican's 'commandments' for good driving

The Vatican has issued a set of "10 commandments" for motorists to promote safer driving.

The "Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road" call on drivers to respect speed limits, refrain from drinking before driving and avoid cursing.

Roman Catholics are also urged to make the sign of the cross before setting off on a journey.

This is said to be the first time the Vatican has specifically dealt with the growing worldwide problem of road rage. Read more

Teenage abortions hit all-time high

More teenagers are having abortions than ever before, fuelling a significant rise in the number of terminations in England and Wales.

The abortion rate is continuing to rise with the biggest increase among under-18s.
The total number of abortions was 193,700 in 2006

Despite huge Government spending on contraception education, 19-year-olds are now the most likely of any age group to have an abortion, with 35 in every 1,000 undergoing the procedure, according to official Department of Health figures.

Previously the highest rate was among women aged 20-24 years.

The number of s aged under 16 and under 18 having abortions also increased last year, increasing concern that the procedure is now being seen as a form of contraception. Read more

Ruth Gledhill's blog: spot the difference

It has been pointed out to me that Ruth Gledhill has made some minor changes to her blog on Wycliffe Hall, previously linked here. If you read the old one and want to play 'spot the difference', it's on the same link as previously, here.

New body may close, merge, dioceses

Ed: The actual title of this item is rather misleading!

Analysis: changing the way the Church of England chooses bishops
Monday, 18th June 2007. 4:42pm

By: Jonathan Petre.

WHAT are bishops for, and do we need so many of them?

This question, or a more colourful version of it, has often popped unbidden into the thoughts of exasperated parish clergy.

Now, however, it also appears to be a topic much on the minds of the bishops themselves. The looming prospect that dioceses and bishoprics could face a Beeching-style axe is concentrating minds wonderfully, it seems.

Under legislation expected to receive Parliamentary approval and Royal assent this summer, a national body will be given sweeping powers to recommend the closure or reorganisation of dioceses and the scrapping of suffragan or assistant bishop posts. Read more

Analysis: More U.S. Episcopalians Look Abroad Amid Rift

The Anglican archbishop of Rwanda was first, then his counterpart in Nigeria. Now Kenya's Anglican archbishop is taking a group of U.S. churches under his authority, and Uganda's archbishop may be next.

African and, to a lesser extent, Southeast Asian and Latin American prelates are racing to appoint American bishops and to assume jurisdiction over congregations that are leaving the Episcopal Church, particularly since its consecration of a gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003.

So far, the heads, or primates, of Anglican provinces overseas have taken under their wings 200 to 250 of the more than 7,000 congregations in the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of Anglicanism. Among their gains are some large and wealthy congregations -- including several in Northern Virginia -- that bring international prestige and a steady stream of donations. Read more

Canadian Anglicans to vote on issue of same-sex union

The religious world will be watching Winnipeg as Canada's oldest Protestant church struggles to avoid a schism in the church, writes Richard Foot.

Trapped for more than a decade inside a wrenching cyclone of doctrinal disputes, the Anglican Church of Canada will try to chart a path through the storm at a historic meeting in Winnipeg.

More than 400 bishops, clergy and members of Canada's oldest Protestant church will convene today for the church's General Synod -- the first such national meeting in three years -- to elect a new Canadian leader and to vote on whether to let priests bless the partnerships of same-sex couples.

However the church decides to treat its gay and lesbian members, the outcome is certain to spark recriminations -- and possibly a schism -- in Canada and abroad. Read more

How 'institutional guilt' shoots us in the foot

Ed: This is how the nuanced reporting of an internal report criticising the Church of England for being 'institutionally racist' got presented in Iran. One wonders at (a) the satisfaction caused to Islamic leaders and (b) the embarassment caused to Iranian Christians. Go to the front page if you want to see what this stands alongside.

Black and Asian clergy members are unlikely to reach high office in the Church of England and minorities are marginalized in parish churches.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, little has been done to confront "institutional racism".

The newspaper quoted Rev. Rose Hudson-Wilkin, chair of the committee that produced the report, as saying "Whether consciously or unconsciously, they are not encouraging black people who are in their churches to come forward."

The report shows there are some who are aware of the issue and acting to improve the situation, but the church is still a long way from reaching an acceptable level of equality. Read here

Report identifies BBC bias

The BBC has failed to promote proper debate on major political issues because of the inherent liberal culture of its staff, a report commissioned by the corporation has concluded.

The report claims that coverage of single-issue political causes, such as climate change and poverty, can be biased - and is particularly critical of Live 8 coverage, which it says amounted to endorsement.

After a year-long investigation the report, published today, maintains that the corporation’s coverage of day-to-day politics is fair and impartial.

But it says coverage of Live 8, the 2005 anti-poverty concerts organised by rock star campaigners Bob Geldof and Bono and writer Richard Curtis, failed to properly debate the issues raised. [...]

The report concludes BBC staff must be more willing to challenge their own beliefs.

It reads: “There is a tendency to 'group think’ with too many staff inhabiting a shared space and comfort zone.”

A staff impartiality seminar held last year is also documented in the report, at which executives admitted they would broadcast images of the Bible being thrown away but not the Koran, in case Muslims were offended.

During the seminar a senior BBC reporter criticised the corporation for being anti-American. Read more

Church of England is institutionally racist

The Church of England is "institutionally racist", a damning internal report has concluded.

the Rt Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali: Church of England 'institutionally racist'
Rare seniority: the Rt Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali

Ethnic minorities are being marginalised in parishes and black and Asian clergy have little chance of reaching the Church's higher echelons, says the study, to be released this week.

It warns that too little has been done to tackle "institutional racism" - the phrase used to devastating effect by Sir William Macpherson, the former High Court judge, in his findings on the bungled police investigation into the murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

The report, commissioned by the archbishops of Canterbury and York, is expected to spark a fierce debate at next month's General Synod in York. Delegates will be asked to examine the clergy's failure to "integrate and utilise" the gifts of ethnic minorities.

The report was drawn up by the 15-member Committee for Minority and Ethnic Anglican Concerns (CMEAC). The committee's chairman, the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, said that the existence of racism in wider society was not an excuse for it within the Church. Read more

Conservative Evangelicals publish diocesan scoreboard

Following the publication of the Furlong Table, ranking dioceses according to the number of women employed and the number of female 'senior clergy', the Benn Table has now been published ranking dioceses according to the number of their Conservative Evangelical bishops. The results are as follows:

1st: Chichester
Number of Conservative Evangelical Bishops: 1
Change in position since 2000: 0

2nd (equal): Oxford, St.Albans, Ely, Worcester, Leicester, Southwark, Ripon, Durham, Liverpool, Hereford, Peterborough, Salisbury, Wakefield, Truro, Sheffield, Southwell, Norwich, Derby, St.Edms & Ipswich, Chelmsford, Lincoln, Manchester, Gloucester, Bath & Wells, Canterbury, York, London, Newcastle, Coventry, Guildford, Bradford, Lichfield, Chester, Birmingham, Rochester, Carlisle, Exeter, Bristol, Portsmouth, Winchester, Sodor and Man, Blackburn
Number of Conservative Evangelical Bishops: 0
Change in position since 2000: 0

A further table is planned for comparison in 2012, though if Bishop Benn has retired by then it will make for a great improvement, since all the dioceses will move to first (equal).

Canadian Anglican Church confronts the issue of homosexuality

[...] What's at stake in the homosexuality debate, Hird argues, is the authority of the Bible. If liberal Western Christians can simply "pick and choose" to reject biblical passages, Hird said, what's to stop them from dismissing or reinterpreting other teachings in the Bible, particularly those about Jesus being the only way to salvation?

Asked about the regret some leaders feel over the fact some African Anglican leaders aren't focusing on combatting hatred, poverty and disease in Africa, but instead are making pronouncements on homosexuals in far away North America, the B.C. priest acknowledged he could understand the criticism.

"It is sad what's happened," Hird says. "I wouldn't have chosen this conflict." Read more

Scottish children's pipe band abused at English village gala

Ed: first you divide, then you conquer.

A CHILDREN'S pipe band had to receive a police escort after they were subjected to anti-Scottish abuse at a gala day in England.

The Annan Juvenile Pipes and Drums - whose average age is 12 - were abused with taunts, foul language and missiles as they marched through a village in Cumbria, wearing traditional Scottish dress.

Organisers of the march have apologised and condemned those who launched the attack against the children.

Police are treating the incident, in Aspatria, as a race-hate crime. Read more

Women Clergy pressure group publishes diocesan scoreboard

Numbers of women clergy deployed in the dioceses in the Church of England have risen to an average of 25.8 of all clergy in the dioceses. Women now account for 17% of full time stipendiary clergy in the dioceses and for 8% of senior posts, including deans, archdeacons, other cathedral clergy and area deans.

These statistics have been gathered for the second time in five years in the Furlong Table, named in honour of the late Monica Furlong. Furlong, a witty and incisive writer and observer of the Church of England, and also a fearless and tireless campaigner for the ordination of women, suggested to a group of young female ordinands that statistics be gathered to monitor the deployment and promotion of women clergy in the Church of England.

The first Furlong Table was produced in 2000 for GRAS, the Group for Rescinding the Act of Synod, by Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, Catherine Butt and Leah Vasey-Saunders, all then students at Cranmer Hall theological college in Durham. The updated figures for 2005 have been produced by the Reverend Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, now Chaplain and Solway Fellow of University College, Durham. Read more

Update: See here for the corresponding Benn Table.

Anglican split comes closer as US church rejects demand over gays

The impending division of the worldwide Anglican communion came a step closer yesterday as the rift over the way the church deals with homosexuality descended into acrimony.

The US Episcopal church rejected the demands of the rest of the church, headed by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, that it should fall into line by refusing to conduct blessing services for gay couples or elect more gay bishops and allow disaffected conservative US congregations to have their own leadership. Read more

Synod member urges Gay vicar set to 'wed' male partner to honour his celibacy vow

A GAY vicar has been told to 'comply with the teachings of Christ' and abstain from sex when he 'marries' his male partner later this month.

A member of the Church of England's ruling General Synod has urged The Rev Michael Peet, rector of Bow in the East End of London, to remain faithful to his ordination vows.

The Advertiser has discovered that Mr Peet, the rector of the 700-year-old St Mary's at Bow Bridge, is to 'marry' his long term partner Raymond Port in a civil partnership ceremony at the end of the month.

His move has surprised parishioners, with at least one member of his flock deciding to leave his congregation over the partnership.

Anglican bishops issued guidance two years ago allowing clergy to enter into civil partnerships... but only if they pledge the relationship will be celibate. Read more

Ruth Gledhill: Who is the 'nasty party'?

At about the time the Wycliffe Hall story was broken in the Guardian, 'Inclusive Church' Putney vicar Giles Fraser wrote: 'Anglicanism is fast becoming the nasty party at prayer, with traditionally inclusive theology being submerged by a bargain-basement prejudice that damns to hell all those who disagree.' One of the aspects I've been enjoying about this story is the holy, inclusive unity it apparently confirms there to be between Giles, scourge of the conservative evangelicals, and 'open evangelical' Fulcrum vicar Graham Kings, of St Mary's Islington. (Does Kings know that in one article on Giles' Inclusive Church website, he is described as 'odious', along with Bishops Wright and Scott-Joynt?) Kings has behind the scenes been defending his chairman, the popular Elaine Storkey, broadcaster and Wycliffe staff member apparently threatened with disciplinary action. But Richard Turnbull, evangelical principal of Wycliffe who has been bearing the brunt of the attacks, the latest being a letter calling for him to resign sent by three past principals, could be forgiven for wondering who really is the 'nasty party' in all of this. Now a fightback is beginning, with a strong open letter of support for Turnbull posted this lunchtime on the AM website. Read more

Open letter in support of Wycliffe Hall, Richard Turnbull

Signed by:

David Banting (St Peters Harold Wood)
Richard Bewes (Former Rector of All Souls Langham Place)
Mark Ashton (St Andrews the Great, Cambridge)
Clive Hawkins (St Marys Basingstoke)
Paul Williams (Christ Church Fulwood, Sheffield)
Andrew Wingfield Digby (St Andrews North Oxford)
Michael Lawson (Archdeacon of Hampstead, former Vicar of Christ Church, Bromley)
Read more

UK teenage crisis 'due to drink and drugs'

Teenagers are in the grip of a sexual health crisis fuelled by a "celebrity culture" that condones alcohol abuse, drug addiction and promiscuity, Government-funded advisers warn today.

A daily diet of celebrities in sexualised poses, taking drugs and getting drunk has led to increasing numbers of children "defining their lifestyle" around drugs, alcohol and sex in their early teens, with Britain now having the highest rate of teenage pregnancies and sexual infections in Europe, they say.

Despite this, Government campaigns have failed to make the link between drugs, alcohol and sexual health - even though many drugs increase sexual desire, leading to more sex and more drinking, the Independent Advisory Group (IAG) on sexual Health and HIV reports. Read more

Hollywood hints: abortion will go the way of slavery

[...] We go to the cinema in large part to be inspired; to be reminded that, while we go through our real lives making messy moral compromises and falling way short of our ideals, there are some people, on screen at least, who do the good and moral and honourable thing. And confronted with the awful trauma of an unwanted pregnancy, almost all of the time choosing to have the baby is the good and moral and honourable thing to do.

[...] After years of wondering whether we’ll ever change society’s permissive attitude towards abortion, I’m convinced that we will some day come to view it in the way we now view slavery, a moral abomination that generations simply became inured to by usage and practice.

The big difference, of course, is that abortion is worse than slavery. Not just in the obvious sense that it involves the taking of life rather than liberty. But because our current debate suggests that deep down most of us really know there’s something quite wrong with abortion. Read more