Bishop Bob Duncan addresses the Anglican Communion Network

[...] In whatever way God’s call on our lives is to be lived out in the months and years ahead, few in this hall anticipate that the Episcopal Church will turn around in the last days before September 30th, or that the Episcopal Church has any intention of leaving room for those of us whose commitments to “the Faith once delivered” created the Anglican Communion Network and have sustained its vision and its witness. Because our sense of order is such that we have always sought to be Christian first and Episcopalian next, we find ourselves on this present Way of the Cross. Such is the increasing de-formation of the denomination whose priests and bishops, whose laity and deacons, we have so faithfully been, whose vision once upon a time was like the one we still hold, of a Church that is truly evangelical, truly catholic, and truly pentecostal. This is the context in which we meet for this fourth Annual Council of the Anglican Communion Network. Read more

No comments will be posted without a full name and location, see the policy.

Nigerian Anglicans Will Not Succumb To Pressure From The West, Says Akinola

[...] Like a joke, they thought that as Africans, we don't know what we are doing; particularly, the Americans and you know they always have their ways politically and economically. So, we have been dragging it since 1998 and Africans and some of our other colleagues in America, England and South Asian, we have maintained our stand that we will not continue with any of our church that ignore what the bible says. We have had several conferences and several meetings, attended several commissions to see how we could reconcile the western people with the so-called conservatives, all to no avail. In fact when America tried to ordain a practising homosexual as bishop, many conservatives broke communion with them. So today, we are in a state of a broken communion in the Anglican Church wordwide. This is critical and fundamental because when we say we are in a state of a broken communion, it means that the other group has been ex-communicated as it were or orstracised and you are not in fellowship with them anymore until that communion is restored. Read more

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Church of England's longest-serving priest dies

A Staffordshire clergyman, who celebrated 70-years of priestly ministry last September, has died at the age of 98.

The Revd Raymond Bristow is believed to have been the longest-serving priest in the Church of England.

Until last October he was still assisting with services at St James' Church in Norton Canes, near Cannock.

He regularly celebrated the midweek Mass and assisted at the principal Mass every Sunday. Read more

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Comments policy

As of now I am introducing a new policy on posting comments to this blog and to The Ugley Vicar. Comments will only be posted if accompanied by a real name and location, though in the interests of safety I will allow a broadness of location.

The following are acceptable:

J Smith (Anytown OR Anycounty)
Jane Smith (Anytown OR Anycounty)

The following are not acceptable:

Jane (Anycounty)
Jane Smith
Smithy (Anytown)

Back to Church Sunday: participating churches in Chelmsford

I have discovered on the Diocesan website a full list of churches in Chelmsford which are participating in Back to Church Sunday. You can read the list here and you can add your church's name if it is not listed.

Posts being advertised at Wycliffe Hall

Anyone interested in a job at Wycliffe Hall? Mostly in admin. Two of the posts are newly created. See here.

From The Times: "I’m single, I’m sexy, and I’m only 13"

[...] Log on to social networking websites such as MySpace or Facebook, view the videos on YouTube and you’ll find explicit photos of girls, as young as 14, posing in their underwear or flashing for the camera. It’s not only socially and morally worrying, but new research indicates that such practices may cause long-term damage to young women’s mental and physical health.

Grace, 15, attends a girls’ school in North London. She has a MySpace and Facebook page and her photo galleries are littered with pictures of her gangly frame dressed in bra-tops, tight shorts and miniskirts. She sees it as keeping up with fashion, just like having her tawny hair highlighted. “Mum doesn’t like my clothes, she says I look too old, but I’m just wearing what everyone else is. There’s nothing wrong with it. I think Mum would freak if she saw my MySpace though; it has everything on it. She does say that I’m growing up too fast, but I think that’s good.” Read more

Saddest quote of the year?

Interviewer to Gene Robinson: And you must have been helpful to [your wife] through her second divorce as well?

Gene Robinson: 'That’s right. Absolutely. Our love for each other continued right through that time and I think she still considers me a confidante and companion on the way. In that sense I think marriage is for a lifetime, even if you get divorced. It is a lifetime relationship.' Read more

Report on June meeting of Chelmsford Diocesan Synod

This report is submitted by Trevor Ireland, who has also added his own estimate of the value of each item.

Report on Diocesan Synod AD 16th June 2007

We met in a marquee at Bishopscourt and were welcomed personally by the Bishop and his wife. In our hymn we asked God that we might know what it is in Christ we share, for God to help us to seek true discernment sustained by Christ and in an age of change and doubt, to keep us faithful to the Gospel. In our Psalm we asked God to defend our cause against an ungodly people, to be delivered from the deceitful and the wicked. In our Responsory we asked God to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. In our prayers we asked to follow Christ more nearly. Very encouraging.

Notices

Synod was directed to a motion from Havering Deanery. The motion calls upon Diocesan Synod, "in view of widespread ignorance of the Bible in society......," to reaffirm its confidence in Articles of Religion 6,7,19,20 and 21, to express its appreciation for the work of The Bible Society, to look for the gift of the Bible to remain central in ordination and coronation services, to encourage clergy and readers to give teaching the Bible a high priority in the nurture of God's people, and to request Church of England Synods to adopt a symbol of this confidence such as The Year of the Bible recently celebrated in France. The motion suggests 2011, the 400th anniversary of the Authorised Version as a suitable occasion. Those who know how I have worked for Bible study to be central to all church meetings (currently dropped by both Deanery and Diocesan Synods, though part of both for many of my years of involvement) will expect my support for this motion. I have signed and will support the motion. If you advise your views to me I will endeavour to present them in debate.

2008 Budget

Synod received a presentation of the 2008 draft Budget paper DS(07)9. This has been submitted as a consultation document to the parishes. Deadline for responses, 31st August 2007.

Reports

The Bishop's Council Report DS(07)4 and Finance Committee report DS(07)5 were presented and received. Reports available if required.

Good News Story

Peter Hillman told us of Legacy XS, a "Fresh Expression of church" which was, for me, "mind blowing". Creating a community is key to the ethos of the organisation and the heart of Legacy is the worshipping community. This community meets at the XS Centre where "church" is an indoor skatepark. As part of their "services" young people use the sports they love (mainly BMX and skateboarding) to express themselves in worship. Consider these comments from their publicity : (Legacy) is a church plant and mission organisation rolled into one.....for without mission the church can degenerate into a special interest group or social club....it is always Him that brings people to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.......our task is to help people along the way by sharing our lives with them, telling our own story and more importantly His.....the truth is this is all very experimental.

Whilst I would not want a skateboard ramp in my church, I also do not want liturgy turned into a concert (however beautiful the voices or the music), however the key to the use of both is mission and this experiment is doing it!! See http://www.legacyxs.com/

Annual Reports to Synod

This document was received and should be available to every parish. In 28 pages it reports on the work of the Diocese. Obtainable from the Diocesan Office.

Questions

These included: What percentage of clergy who have completed enhanced CRB checks? - just under 50%. Why is Diocesan correspondence still wrongly address? - being addressed!!! How many churches are admitting children to Communion and when will this be Diocesan policy? - numbers being obtained and currently a parish can choose to do this.

Ministerial Review

The Archdeacon of Southend presented paper DS(07)6. Clergy will obviously watch points, but it was emphasised that training and review go together. In response to the suggestion that candidates for ordination should be examined in their ability to proclaim the Gospel, for therein lay the "freshness", the Archdeacon confirmed that "proclaiming afresh" was not scope for a rewrite. Praise the Lord.

Deanery Visions

Paper DS(07)7 was noted and although the timing is slipping, Steven Webb is committed to painstaking review of Deanery submissions. Bishop John linked the Diocesan work with that of General Synod, where a Diocese will have to reflect what has been put up in Deanery Visions to allow greater local freedom, so start planning your use of GREATER LOCAL FREEDOM now.

We were joined by those who were to receive the DAC Design Awards 2007.

Quite possibly the most stupid piece of journalism yet about Gene Robinson

Ed: This is even worse than is usually managed by The Independent. Kudos, if that is the right word, to The Scotsman.

FORTY years after the decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales, American The Rt Rev V Gene Robinson, the world's first openly gay bishop, explains to ANDREW COLLIER in an exclusive interview what it's like to be many Christians' number one enemy.

THE Devil has arranged to meet me in the lobby of a London tourist hotel. It's an odd choice of venue: Westminster Cathedral, the great temple of Roman Catholicism in England, is close by; and a glimpse of the fire and colour of Hell would have been more interesting.
USwitch Loan Ad

Nor does he look like Satan. No horns, no tail, no pitchfork, no smoke and sulphur. He's of medium height, thinning hair, wearing a smart shirt and tie. He's immediately warm, friendly, open and assured. I like him.

Yet millions of Christians the world over are convinced - absolutely assured - that this man is the Antichrist. They believe he is the Devil, sent to destroy the church from within. Read more

Guardian apology over 'Nazi' jibe

Ed: the Guardian has printed the following apology regarding an article by Jonathan Aitken in their 'Comment if Free' column:

In a Comment article, This isn't the Anglican split, page 28, July 5, it was stated that Dr Elaine Storkey, in a meeting of staff and students, compared the principal of Wycliffe Hall, Dr Richard Turnbull, to "one of the Nazi defendants at Nuremberg". This was incorrect. She did not compare Dr Turnbull to the Nazi defendants or use the words quoted. We apologise for this error.

On the Fulcrum and Thinking Anglicans websites this has produced interesting reactions for such a limited statement. The phrase 'spitting chips' comes to mind.

Archbishop of York: exclusive interview

[...] "As long as someone does not deny the very basic doctrines of the Church - the creation, the death, the resurrection of Christ and human beings being made in the image of God - then the rest really helps but they are not the core message.

"And I haven’t found that in Ecusa or in Canada, where I was recently, they have any doubts in their understanding of God which is very different from anybody. What they have quarrelled about is the nature of sexual ethics."

He nevertheless emphasised that Dr Williams does expect those who attend Lambeth to abide by the decision-making processes of the Anglican Communion. Read more

Ninety-nine names of Allah sung in church

[...] Tavener, a religious pluralist wanting to create unity across religious boundaries, seems to have reached the perfect equilibrium in bringing together different religions.
This piece was commissioned by the Prince of Wales, the future head of the Anglican Church of England, performed at the chief Catholic Church in the country, was about the Qur`anically inspired Names of Allah, and its structure had its basis in Hindu philosophy. “This is the most important work that I have ever written,” Tavener said. “It is a kind of ‘summation’ of all that I have tried to do over the past 60 years. If the work contributes towards healing a shattered world, then this is of great importance.”
However, the audience of the première consisted almost solely of the ‘typical’ crowd, with very few Muslims or Hindus making the effort to attend. The general reaction amongst the Muslim community, however, was very positive, with Leicester-based Shaykh Imam Ibrahim Mogra, for example, welcoming this work on the ninety-nine Names of Allah being “put to music because they are so wonderfully emotive. When you hear the words sung, it creates a sense of ecstasy, a buzz” according to The Independent.
There was not unanimous approval of Tavener’s work with a handful of protestors gathered outside the Cathedral. They were unhappy that this performance, based on an Islamic understanding of God, was allowed in a Christian place of worship and had thus lobbied strongly to get the concert cancelled. However, the organisers and the BBC Symphony Orchestra stood strong in the face of this protest, and the performance was broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Read more

Survey Reveals Global Day of Prayer London ‘Uplifting & Inspiring’

The London Global Day of Prayer event, which gathered about 18,000 worshippers at West Ham United stadium on Pentecost Sunday was officially a great success according to a new survey.

The recent survey, carried out by Premier Christian Radio on behalf of the GDOP London, revealed an extremely high level of “satisfaction” among those that attended the event, with 95 per cent of people saying they would be excited by the prospect of a similar event taking place in 2008.

It was also found that 97 per cent of tickets were largely purchased in advance, and encouragingly 81 per cent of those surveyed claimed that their main motivation for attending was prayer. Read more

English Bishops Divided over Episcopal Church's Lambeth Participation

If The Episcopal Church does not respond affirmatively to the primates’ February communiqué by the Sept. 30 deadline, as many as 60 percent of the Church of England's 114 bishops would share a sense of solidarity if bishops from the Global South declined to attend, according to the Rt. Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, Bishop of Winchester.

In an interview with The Church of Ireland Gazette, Bishop Scott-Joynt said convictions among the British House of Bishops are strongly held on both sides of the issue. If all bishops from The Episcopal Church are not given the chance to participate, he estimated the other 40 percent of the Church of England bishops would consider staying away in solidarity with The Episcopal Church. Read more

U.S., African Anglican Bishops Meet to Forge Stronger Relations

U.S. Episcopal bishops and Anglican leaders from Africa concluded a six-day conference Thursday that was arranged to strengthen relationships and build new ones.

Bishops representing 22 dioceses in the United States and 29 dioceses in Africa convened in Madrid, Spain, for the July 21-26 consultation titled "Walking to Emmaus, Discovering New Mission Perspectives in Changing Times." Convened by Trinity Church Wall Street and hosted by the Reformed Episcopal Church of Spain, the meeting was closed to the media and the names of the participants were not disclosed. Read more

Without gay priests Church would be lost claims Bishop Gene

The openly gay bishop whose ordination sparked the crisis in the Anglican Communion has claimed the Church of England would be close to shutting down if it was forced to manage without its gay clergy.

The Bishop of New Hampshire in the US, the Right Rev Gene Robinson, who is divorced and lives openly in partnership with a gay man, said he found it "mystifying" that the mother church of the Anglican Communion was unable to be honest about the number of gay clergy in its ranks.

He said many of the English church's clergy lived openly in their rectories with gay partners, with the full knowledge of their bishops. But he criticised the stance of bishops who threaten the clergy with emnity should their relationships become public. Read more

This is the way the Church will end ...

A Grade II listed church in Cornwall, established more than 100 years ago, is to be closed down after receiving a quote for repairs totalling more than £500,000.

St Paul's Church in Truro, which was built in 1889, required urgent work on decaying stonework in its tower and east end after insurers said the church had to upgrade the building or else lose its policy.

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) – who oversees the church – said it felt it would be “immoral, irresponsible and inappropriate” to spend that amount on repairs for the building. Read more

Review of Biography of Richard Harries

[...] Those who opposed Bishop Richard over his appointment of Jeffrey John are accused of being “ecclesiastical barbarians”, of “uncharitable wickedness”, ( p.217) of “warped malignancy ( p 221), “biblical fundamentalists” (p 189) This is particularly unfair because such charges were never part of Richard Harries’ debate with those who strongly disagreed with him on this matter. Indeed a mark of his fairness is the revelation in the book that he initiated discussions as to how alternative episcopal oversight could be arranged for congregations and clergy who would be “unable and unwilling to accept (Jeffrey) John’s ministrations”.

This is also unfair to Bishop Harries because he never accused those who opposed him publicly on this matter of having less than an Anglican ecclesiology. So why has Mr Peart-Binns let these judgements intrude? Bishop Harries is never quoted as holding these views himself. If this is or was Bishop Harries’ view, then it would be important for Bishop Richard to say so clearly.

The book notes, but does not give adequate weight to, the failure to take into account the proper interest of the Anglican Communion in the consecration of one who would be part of its college of bishops. This is the concern not of ecclesiastical barbarians. Not only evangelicals, but also anglo-catholics were opposed to Jeffrey John’s nomination and they would hardly relish being called ecclesiastical barbarians. Read more

It is wise in the face of natural disaster, to pray ‘Lord have mercy’. Bishop of Carlisle

The Bishop of Carlisle has released a statement clarifying his interview on the floods in England

In view of how my views on recent natural disasters have been misreported I would like to clarify my position.

I did not say that pro-gay legislation had provoked God to send the storms that caused the Yorkshire floods. I did not say that God had sent the floods at all. This is an elucidation of what I was trying to say: Read more

Drunken yobs making town centres into no-go areas

Drunken thugs are turning town centres into no-go areas after dark, MPs warn.

They act like "an occupying army loose in the streets" and the mayhem they cause costs the country £3.4billion every year.

Now the Public Accounts Committee is demanding drastic action against the yobs who regard Asbos as "part and parcel of everyday life". Read more

See also on the BBC website.

TEC's small steps down a slippery slope

How did TEC (The Episcopal Church) get where it is today? Answer, by small steps, documentation of which can be found at this link.

Archbishop of Armagh: division a greater sin than heresy

The Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, the Most Rev Alan Harper, has spoken out on the “sin” of division plaguing what he calls the “tortured” Anglican Communion.

Speaking in his address on the Feast Day of St Mary Magdalene, he said he had come to believe that “division is a greater sin even than heresy”.

He appealed to fellow Anglicans to remember Paul’s call for patient forbearance in his letter to the Ephesians, warning that disunity and “open rupture” were a “sign that the full stature of Christ remains absent from the Body”. Read more

World 'losing fight against Aids'

US President George W Bush's top adviser on HIV/Aids has said the world is losing the battle against the virus.

Dr Anthony Fauci told a conference in Sydney that progress had been made, but more people were being infected with HIV than were being treated.

"For every one person that you put in therapy, six new people get infected. So we're losing that game, the numbers game," he said. Read more

Let’s make money by regurgitating stuff about the poor

[...]The poor, that huge, passive reservoir of research fodder, society’s lab mice, cannot escape them. Can only gaze with indifferent eyes at the toiling ants, at their dumb questions, their patronising warmth and their endless boxes to be ticked. All in order to be told what people in their circumstances have known for time immemorial: that they don’t do so well in life as the rich, nor live so long.

Huge numbers of people now work in the field of poverty. There are approximately 100,000 social workers in England, Scotland and Wales. The national UK voluntary sector has a paid workforce of 608,000. God knows how many the NHS, universities and local authorities cumulatively employ in various soft jobs in the same area, but enough for us safely to conclude that the equivalent of a small country’s GDP is spent monitoring and analysing the nation’s deprived.

One of the ironies of much current academic research of poverty is not just its intellectual flabbiness but also its elitism. Last February there was a big UK conference called Transcending Poverties, an event notable for its distinguished speakers. For six serious hours they rehearsed the same dilemmas, agonised over the same inevitabilities. Yet not one single new idea or insight was forthcoming from the day in Glasgow; nor was even one speaker drawn from the ranks of those spoken about: proof, in a sense, that we have stopped listening to the poor because there are now so many articulate advocates paid to speak for them. Read more

Attacks on Muslims increase in Strathclyde after airport attack

Racist crime has increased by almost a third in parts of Scotland since the alleged terrorist attack on Glasgow airport, with incidents including a suspected fire bombing of a mosque and verbal assaults on Asians.

Community and political leaders in Scotland called for calm in the aftermath of the attack on 30 June, in which a blazing Jeep Cherokee packed with gas canisters was driven into the passenger terminal by two men.

Detectives went out of their way to say that the suspects arrested at the scene were not from Scotland's Muslim community.

But statistics released this weekend show that the country's Asian community has faced a backlash. Read more

An end to Anglican nationalism

[...] The Achilles’ heel of the Anglican Communion is that it is more likely to go with the grain of the culture and the politically powerful than against them. Its origin in the concerns of Henry VIII to have all state institutions in the nation subject to him is one factor here.

But it is no longer possible to subject all state institutions in one geographical area to one jurisdiction. International companies, the internet, international networks such as the European Union are an expression of the globalisation that has rendered boundaries that were set by how far people could conveniently travel obsolete.

Geography is no longer the sole consideration when thinking about the space that we occupy. We live in global and universal space which is occupied by networks of people with values and commitments. In the church, we are now experiencing the church as envisaged in Acts 15, where Gentile and Jew ( different races and classes) are engaged closely together. Read more

Church of England Privileges Unfair, Say Britons

Almost two-thirds of people in Britain agree that Church of England leaders hold unfair political advantages in the country, according to a poll by Communicate Research released by the BBC. 65 per cent of respondents think that if Church of England bishops are allowed to sit in the House of Lords then other religious leaders should enjoy the same right.

The Church of England is the officially established Christian denomination in the country, and is formally headed by the British monarch, under the title of Defender of the Faith. It is also the main branch of the Anglican Church worldwide. 43 per cent of respondents think the British government should introduce reforms in order to fully separate Church and State. Read more

Archbishop of York warns Anglican Conservatives

The Archbishop of York has warned conservative Anglican leaders that they will effectively expel themselves from the worldwide Church if they boycott next year's Lambeth Conference.

Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, warns Anglican conservatives
Dr John Sentamu said the conservatives risked severing themselves from the Anglican Communion

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, Dr John Sentamu pleaded with them to attend the conference despite their war with liberals over homosexuality.

But he told them that if they "voted with their feet" they risked severing their links with the Archbishop of Canterbury and with historic Anglicanism, a breach that could take centuries to heal.

"Anglicanism has its roots through Canterbury," he said. "If you sever that link you are severing yourself from the Communion. There is no doubt about it."

The archbishop's outspoken comments will dismay conservatives, who blame the liberals for bringing the Church to the brink of schism by consecrating Anglicanism's first openly gay bishop in 2003. Read more

The truth about gymslip mothers

[...] A baby-faced tomboy in a tracksuit, Sarah was sexually active at 12 and pregnant with Cody at 13. Was that right, I ask? ”I don't care!” she shoots back. ”I don't care what people say or think.” Did anyone criticise her?

”A couple of people. No-one in authority.” Why is it such a big deal, she asks, when young girls get pregnant? Because society needs you to work and contribute, I say. People pay for her income support and nursery places with their taxes. ”But I'll pay it back by working later and paying my taxes,” Carly chips in, stung by this rare rebuke.

Later I ask Gill Frances, chair of the Advisory Group of Teenage Pregnancy, if we are now beyond telling girls it is wrong to have sex at 12. She hesitates slightly. ”’Wrong' is maybe not the best way to say it. It's not good for their bodies, or their babies.” Indeed, the babies of young mothers are 60% more likely to die at birth. Read more

Guardian Comment: Bring back Sundays

Ed: I had to double-check this was actually in the Guardian.

[...] in mid-2007, I find the idea of a day when everything is "silent and grey", as Morissey sang, quite appealing.

I can imagine Gordon Brown thinking so as well, and I'm not the only one. The Lord's Day Observance Society (LDOS) has just written to our new prime minister, congratulating him on instituting a review of super-casinos, and trusting he'll do something to quell consumerism in other areas, especially on Sundays. I would guess that Mr Brown's own Sundays are very Sunday-ish in the old-fashioned way. I imagine him harrumphing over some large volume, as Sarah sits opposite, darning socks. Something virtuous simmers on the hob; a clock ticks; rain falls against the window. Read more

16% rise in genital herpes amongst teenage girls in one year

Ed: And the reason is in the Department of Health statement: ""We will continue to promote safe sex messages through initiatives such as the Condom Essential Wear campaign, which was launched in November last year."

Sexually-transmitted infections among the young are continuing to rise despite Government efforts to reduce them.

Experts are particularly worried about a significant rise in the number of teenage girls contracting the incurable and unpleasant condition of genital herpes.

Last year, the number of new STI cases rose by 2 per cent compared with 2005, according to the Health Protection Agency.

But cases of genital herpes shot up by 9 per cent to 21,698 cases. Among teenage girls aged between 16 and 19, the rise was even higher at 16 per cent. Read more

Alcohol-fuelled casual sex blamed for rise in infections

Casual sexual behaviour, often fuelled by alcohol, is causing an alarming rise in sexually transmitted infections among teenage girls and young men, the Health Protection Agency said yesterday.

Gay men are also contracting increasing numbers of infections, which suggests the fear of HIV/Aids has decreased and that more people are having unsafe sex.

The overall number of infections went up last year by 2%, from 368,341 to 376,508, which the HPA says may suggest a slowdown in what had appeared to be a rapid rise over the past few years. But there are real concerns about the behaviour of young people and gay men. Among teenage girls aged 16 to 19 the numbers catching genital herpes - an unpleasant sexual infection which is treatable but never completely cured - are up by 16%.

"We are really quite concerned about genital herpes," said Gwenda Hughes of the HPA's centre for infections. "It is a lifelong infection and not curable. It is treatable but people can experience severe recurrences. It is also associated with quite a lot of stigma." Read more

Television is failing gays badly

Ed: Is there an admission in the strap-line of htis story: "mean to change views"?

Series such as Queer as Folk were meant to change views on homosexuality. But as C4 starts a gay season, has anything much changed?

It’s jolly nice of Channel 4 to give gays a mini-season of gay-themed TV to mark the 40th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality (between two men over the age of 21 in private). But it’s also depressing: there are so few gays across the schedules generally,a special season is merited. Yes, there is Graham Norton, controversial kisses on soaps and the occasional drama series such as Queer as Folk ( pictured on previous page). But the mushroom clouds of controversy around the odd gay sex scene obscures the fact that TV still doesn’t do “gay” that well – either in dramas or documentaries. Read more

Taliban threaten to kill 18 abducted South Korean Christians in Afghanistan

Taliban militants threatened yesterday to kill at least 18 kidnapped South Korean Christians, including 15 women, within 24 hours unless Seoul pulls out its 200 troops from Afghanistan, underscoring the militia's use of soft targets to weaken President Hamid Karzai's government.

In the largest-scale abduction of foreigners since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, the South Koreans were kidnapped at gunpoint from a bus in Ghazni province's Qarabagh district on Thursday as they traveled on the main highway from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar.

"They have got until tomorrow (Saturday) at noon to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, or otherwise we will kill the 18 Koreans," Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, told The Associated Press on a satellite phone from an undisclosed location. "Right now they are safe and sound." Read more

Prime Minister's Office in Furore Over Anti-London Mosque Petition

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office was caught up in a row on Friday over plans for a large mosque in London that have drawn vitriolic opposition from far-right campaigners.

A petition posted on the prime minister's Web site, www.number-10.gov.uk, calling for the mosque's construction to be blocked, attracted more than 275,000 signatures before the window to sign up closed late on Wednesday.

While the number of signatories suggests strong opposition, the petition has drawn accusations of racism and Islamophobia from civil liberties groups and Muslim Web sites. The mosque's backers also point out the petition exaggerates the facts. Read more

The hostility of Caribbean children to African classmates

[...] At primary school, the fact my name sounded different, and that English was not my parent's first language, made my brothers and me a target for unprovoked teasing from some of our West Indian classmates. We expected it from white pupils, from whom we also received it. But, sadly, instead of our cultural attributes being viewed as enriching, they were used by some of our fellow black pupils to fuel an ignorant depiction of Africa as one large jungle, where people spoke a funny language and roamed about naked with the animals. We should have been united in the fact that our skin colour often meant our white counterparts treated us less favourably. But instead, having parents from the Caribbean meant you were cool and accepted, while having African parents was seen as something to be ashamed of. Read more

Why is Robert Putnam so optimistic we can all get along?

[...] What fascinates him is tracking where the new forms of social capital are developing and why they are successful. One of his key areas of interest is religion - religious affiliations account for half of all US social capital. He cites US megachurches which, typically, attract tens of thousands of members, as "the most interesting social invention of late 20th century."

He identifies the secret of their success: "They have very low barriers to entry - the doors are open, there are folding chairs out on the patio - they make it very easy to surf by. You can leave easily. But then they ramp people up to a huge commitment - at some megachurches, half of all members are tithing [giving a tenth of their income]. How do they get from the low to the high commitment? By a honeycomb structure of thousands of small groups: they have the mountain bikers for God group, the volleyball players for God, the breast cancer survivors for God, the spouses of the breast cancer survivors for God, and so on.

"The intense tie is not to the theology but in the emotional commitment to others in their small group. Most of these people are seeking meaning in their lives but they are also seeking friends. The small groups spend two hours a week together - doing the volleyball or the mountain biking and praying; they become your closest friends," he says.

"These churches form in places of high mobility - people live there for six weeks and the church provides the community connection. When you lose your job, they'll tide you over, when your wife gets ill, they'll bring the chicken soup."

Putnam believes that this low entry/ honeycomb structure could be successfully copied to reinvigorate many other organisations, from trade unions to scouts' clubs and rotary clubs. Read more

Trinity Wall Street to convene partnership of Anglican bishops

Ed: AKA The Empire Strikes Back, see this link here.

Trinity Wall Street is convening a group of bishops from Anglican Communion provinces in Africa and their companions in the Episcopal Church "for a consultation to strengthen relationships, develop mission partnerships, and to discover new opportunities to bear witness to the Gospel," according to a Trinity news release.

Hosted by Iglesia Episcopal Reformada de España, "Walking to Emmaus: Discovering New Mission Perspectives in Changing Times" will be held in El Escorial, Spain July 21 through July 26.

The consultation will be rooted in prayer and breaking bread together; using different liturgies from the provinces of the Anglican Communion to enrich the experience of the participants, the release said.

"Mission flourishes best through collaboration," said the Rev. Canon James G. Callaway, Jr., deputy for faith formation and development at Trinity Church. "This gathering provides an opportunity for people of shared faith and mutual responsibility to come together to further develop partnerships that address important needs in the world." Read more

Global South Primates vow to continue violating Episcopal Church boundaries

At the end of a three-day meeting in London, the steering committee of a group of Anglican Communion primates from the Global South has issued a statement warning that they will continue to violate the boundaries of the Episcopal Church and exercise authority over dissident congregations.

In a statement dated July 18, the group claimed they had "no choice" but to exercise oversight for dissident Episcopalians in place of their American bishops, because the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops failed to embrace a "pastoral scheme" that would have provided dissident dioceses with an alternative to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. The scheme was proposed at the February meeting of the Primates in Dar es Salaam.

The Global South Primates Steering Committee consists of archbishops Peter J. Akinola (Nigeria) as president, Emmanuel Kolini (Rwanda), Drexel Gomez (West Indies), Bernard Malango (Central Africa), and Gregory Venables (Southern Cone), and bishops John Chew (Singapore) and Mouneer Anis (Egypt). Archbishop Henry Orombi (Uganda) also participated in the London meeting.

There are a total of 38 Primates in the Anglican Communion.

Both the 1988 and 1998 Lambeth Conferences, the 2004 Windsor Report, and the 2005 Primates Meeting Communiqué from Dromantine all stated that boundary crossings contradict ancient precedent in the Christian Church and are unacceptable behavior in the Anglican Communion, as did the Dar es Salaam statement. Read more

Archdeacon Michael Fox retires

Ed: Shame about the spelling mistake, but it explains why a clergyman of Elwin Cockett's status is sometimes known as "the Charles".

ST MARGARET'S church hosted the farewell service for The Archdeacon of West Ham, The Venerable Michael Fox.

The service took place on July 4 and the church was packed full of friends and colleagues who had gathered to say goodbye as he ended his 41 year career.

Mr Fox has become a very well known figure in the area and guests at the event included The Bishop of Barking, The Rt Rev David Hawkins, The Mayor, Cllr Fred Barns, and The Mayor of Havering, Cllr Georgina Galpin.

For many the surprise highlight of the service was a presentation of a signed West Ham shirt emblazoned with a '41' in honour of Michael's 41 year of ministry in East London and Essex, and presented by the new Chaplin of West Ham, The Rev Elwin Cockett. Read more

Statement from the Global South Steering Committee: This is a critical time

10. We remain committed to the convictions expressed in the CAPA report “The Road to Lambeth” and urge immediate reconsideration of the current Lambeth plans. It is impossible for us to see how, without discipline in the Communion and without the reconciliation that we urge, we can participate in the proposed conference; to be present but unable to participate in sacramental fellowship would all the more painfully demonstrate our brokenness. The polarization surrounding the Lambeth meeting has been exacerbated because we are also unable to take part in an event from which a number of our own bishops have been arbitrarily excluded while those whose actions have precipitated our current crisis are included.

11. We have received requests from around the Communion to call a gathering of Anglican Communion leaders. We expect to call a Fourth Global South Encounter to bring together faithful Anglican leaders across the Communion to renew our focus on the apostolic faith and our common mission.

12. This is a critical time for the Anglican Communion and one that will shape our future for many years to come. We are praying for all those in leadership that the decisions made and the actions taken will bring glory to God and encouragement to all God’s people. We are hopeful for the future because our confidence is not in ourselves but in Jesus the Christ who gave his life that we might have life. (see John 10:10) Read more

Changing face of Anglican Mission

The United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG) is to start emphasising more strongly its Anglican heritage and its ongoing commitment to the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Part of the exercise involves rolling out a new ‘extended name’. The mission agency will now be known as ‘USPG: Anglicans in World Mission’.

Bishop Michael Doe, USPG General Secretary, explained: “USPG is not a user-friendly name. Even when you know what the letters stand for, some would still say they are none the wiser!

“For example, the word ‘propagation’ might suggest a purely evangelistic view of mission, whereas we take the more holistic view that mission must be expressed in both words and actions. Read more

More on the acquisition of Third Way by the Church Times

Third Way magazine, a Christian current affairs, culture and commentary magazine, has joined the publishing group which puts out the leading independent Church of England weekly paper, the Church Times. But it intends to retain its radical edge.

G. J. Palmer & Sons, the company that publishes the Church Times, and which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hymns Ancient & Modern, said this week that it had acquired Third Way from the Third Way Trust, which founded the magazine in 1977.

Third Way began its life as an initiative to encourage a maturing of social thought and responsibility in the evangelical Christian world, under the influence of the global Lausanne Covenant of 1974.

It is widely regarded as having been highly successful in that venture. Read more

Drink most to blame for violent offences

Violent crime is overwhelmingly fuelled by drink rather than drugs, with nearly half of all incidents linked to alcohol, according to the British Crime Survey published yesterday. Just 17% of violent offences are committed by people who have been using drugs, the figures show.

The annual crime statistics released by the Home Office reveal an apparent 5% rise in violent crime, 10% rise in vandalism and a 3% increase in robbery in 2006/07. But the increases are matched by continuing falls in burglary, car crime and sex offences. Read more

'No' should mean no, parents told

[...] Those who work with children believe that a generation of parents have forgotten how to say no, with the result that as their children grow up they lack the self-control needed to negotiate adult life successfully.

“Children need to have the experience of an adult saying no,” says Jane Cassidy of the Association of Child Psychotherapists and joint chair of the Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist Division of the Tavistock Society. “If you always give in, they don’t learn that somebody can stay firm, so when they become young teenagers and adults they don’t have the capability to say no to themselves when they are under peer pressure in terms of drugs, delinquency or sex.” The problem, teachers, psychologists and parents agree, is that when it comes to discipline, parents are hopelessly ill-disciplined. They tell their children that they should not do something or cannot have something that they want, but cave in to the child’s protests. Read more

Evangelical magazine merges with Liberal newspaper

THIRD WAY, a Christian arts and current-affairs magazine, has joined the Church Times stable.

G. J. Palmer & Sons, the company that publishes the Church Times, announced this week that it had acquired Third Way from the Third Way Trust, which founded the magazine in 1977.

Paul Handley, the Church Times editor, said this week: “I’ve admired Third Way for many years. I like the way it has managed to keep its radical edge, and I think it has the potential to become a much more significant magazine.”

Third Way was launched in January 1977 at a time when Evangelicals were beginning to discover the imperative of social responsibility, which, with some notable exceptions, it had long neglected. Read more

British ‘hegemony’ over, says Ugandan Archbishop

BRITISH DOMINANCE of the Anglican Communion is a thing of the past, says the Archbishop of Uganda, the Most Revd Henry Orombi. The “younger Churches” will shape what it means to be Anglican, the Archbishop writes in a lengthy essay, “What is Anglicanism?” for the American journal First Things.

Contemporary Anglicans are in danger of confusing doctrine and discipline, he writes. The “long season of British hegemony is over”, and Anglican Churches around the world have ended “the assumption that Anglican belief and practice must be clothed in historic British culture”. Read more

British Constitution still very offensive to Catholics

Ed: And now you can see why ...

She’s on her way. Mrs. Liz Windsor aka Queen Elizabeth II, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Lord High Admiral, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Defender of the Faith, Head of the Commonwealth, Paramount Chief of Fiji and Monarch of all she surveys. On an official visit – much to the delight of President Mary McAleese (the uncrowned Queen of Ireland) who’s been pushing the line that the times are now propitious for a tootle around her old domain.

But, of course, they aren’t. Six of our counties remain under her control and are part of the Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. And let’s not forget either that she gave an OBE to Col. Derek Wilford, officer commanding the parachute regiment on Bloody Sunday in Derry, for permitting his troops kill 14 unarmed civilians. Read more

Essex Chronicle: Pro-gay Bishop is shunned

Ed: This one is worth it just for the picture of John Gladwin and the fact that you can switch between that and the rather blurry one of Richard Wood. Click one of the arrows above the photo - the faster the funnier.

A Trainee priest could not be ordained because he refused to take communion with the pro-gay Bishop of Chelmsford.Curate Richard Wood was due to attend the ceremony with the Rt Rev John Gladwin at Chelmsford Cathedral.

Mr Wood said he had no objection to being ordained by the bishop but drew the line at taking communion as they had opposing theological views on homosexuality.

Last year Bishop Gladwin became one of four new patrons of the gay rights group Changing Attitude which supports the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual people in the Church of England. Read more

Some implications of the Hereford judgement

[...] So what the court basically said was this - the Bishop was entitled to treat Reaney, though a lay employee, in the same manner that clergy are treated in the House of Bishops’ 1991 statement “Issues in Human Sexuality”. The argument from the tribunal seems to have been that Bishop Priddis applied the Bishop’s advice in IiHS incorrectly. This itself however is an important legal precedent. What the tribunal seems to have ruled is that the church is entitled to ignore the provisions of the Sexual Orientation Regulations if they conflict with church doctrine or established pastoral practice based on doctrine.

Read Peter Ould's blog here.

Barking and Dagenham Recorder: Curate at centre of gay row

Richard Wood

THE ordination of a Dagenham curate has been put on hold after he refused to receive communion in a row over homosexuality.

Richard Wood, 35, was due to take up his post as curate of Dagenham Parish Church in Crown Street.

But the ordination came to an abrupt end when the lay curate indicated his reluctance to share his communion with the Bishop of Chelmsford, Rt Rev John Gladwin.

Mr Wood felt unable to take part in the personal ceremony with the bishop, who is said to support a group campaigning for the inclusion of homosexuals in the church. Read more

(Ed: Link here to Changing Attitude and what they believe. John Gladwin is listed as a patron here.)

Passers-by stole grandmother's purse as she lay dying in the street

After being knocked to the ground by a car, Audrey Ford lay motionless in the street.

Two men who approached her should have acted as Good Samaritans and tried to help the fatally injured pensioner.

Instead, they stole the 70-year-old grandmother's purse.

Inside was £40 in cash, a house key, her bank cards, a bus pass and, most precious of all, a photograph of her two grandchildren.

Last night, Mrs Ford's son Graham said: 'Sadly, we now live in a world without principles. This simply would never have happened when my mother was young.

'Back then the community cared about one another. Today, all people care about is making a quick buck, regardless.' Read more

Veiled protest as race-hate Muslims are jailed

Scary pictures in this item from the Daily Mail.

Do we have to treat Muslims as Muslims?

[...] A truly radical approach would be for the State to stop treating British citizens who happen to be Muslims mainly as Muslims. In other words, why does the Government still deem their religious affiliation the most important thing about them in the public space? A prime minister from Scotland – a country that has largely left behind its sectarian past – can surely understand that. Read more

Barking and Dagenham Post: Curate forced to play a waiting game

DAGENHAM Parish Church's new curate-in-waiting has been barred from taking up his post after refusing to share communion with the Bishop of Chelmsford.

Richard Wood's ordination ceremony was abandoned as he disagreed with Rt Revd John Gladwin's liberal views on homosexuality.

Church law dating back to 1662 states that no clergyman can be ordained without receiving communion from the serving bishop. Read more

Blog reactions to Richard Wood's situation

See here for the Fulcrum (Open Evangelical) response.

See here for the 'Ship of Fools' (unconscious irony) response.

See here for the Thinking Anglicans (aka, given their US contributors, Thinning Anglicans) response.

See here for Anglican Mainstream (where ironically the least sympathetic to Richard is a blogger nicknamed Mainstreamer) response.

Other links will follow as this unfolds. The big question so far seems to be whether Article XXVI is binding (i.e. given that the unworthiness of ministers hinders not the effect of the Sacrament you must receive communion from any given minister whether you wish to or not), or permissive (i.e. given that the unworthiness of ministers hinders not the effect of the Sacrament you may, with a clean conscience, receive communion if there is no other choice available). The Liberal view (irony again) seems to be that it means you must.

Bishop of Hereford loses employment discrimination case

See here.

Lost confidence in Chelmsford

The failure of Richard Wood to be ordained as a curate to serve Dagenham Parish Church is simply the latest in a number of tense situations arising out of the position of the Diocesan Bishop, the Rt Revd John Gladwin, on human sexuality. Read more

Wish you were here? Hizb-ut-Tahrir's plans for a new caliphate

[...] Hizb ut-Tahrir's main goal is to establish a theocratic state - an Islamic caliphate. Whatever the historical merits (or not) of this now-defunct system of government, it is difficult to see how anyone could seriously regard its return as a step forward in the 21st century.

Some idea of what life would be like under Hizb's new caliphate can be gleaned from its draft constitution. Although the constitution says all citizens "shall be treated equally regardless of religion, race, colour or any other matter" (article 6), the rest of the document proposes a system of institutionalised discrimination, particularly in relation to non-Muslims and women.

Non-Muslims

Non-Muslims living under the caliphate would be subject to a special poll tax (article 140) and, although they would be entitled to become members of the consultative council (equivalent to a parliament), their role would be "confined to their voicing of complaints in respect to unjust acts performed by the rulers and/or the misapplication of Islam upon them" (article 103).

Citizens born or brought up as Muslims would not be allowed to abandon their faith. "Those who are guilty of apostasy (murtadd) from Islam are to be executed" (article 7c). Read more

So what IS driving parish mergers?

Ed: This from Dorset, but it has echoes of Chelmsford. Answers on a postcard, please.

[...] As part of an emerging strategy for the future deployment of clergy in the deanery it is proposed to sever the 50-year-old ties with Highcliffe and transfer Hinton church into a new combined parish with the adjoining benefice of St Luke's at Burton and St Michael and All Angels at Sopley.

In the meantime Hinton will continue to be ministered by Vicar of Highcliffe the Rev Garry Taylor who has been at St Mark's parish church since Easter 2004.

Writing in the current parish magazine, Mr Taylor said: "The process will take some time to complete and all are concerned that the result should be as positive for everyone as possible, although every parish in the deanery os going to have to make sacrifices in some way or another.

"It is important to realise that this has not been driven primarily by financial considerations nor by a big shortage in new vocations to the ministry."

"This is a question of using the ministries we have to their full potential." Read more

'Not much substance' behind latest atheist tracts

[...] Mr. Hitchens is by far the most erudite and entertaining of the new new atheists. But his errors and his excesses are shared by the whole lot. And these errors and excesses have pernicious political consequences, amplifying invidious distinctions among fellow citizens and obscuring crucial differences among believers world wide.

Playing into the anger and enmities that debase our politics today, the new new atheism blurs the deep commitment to the freedom and equality of individuals that binds atheists and believers in America. At the same time, by treating all religion as one great evil pathology, today's bestselling atheists suppress crucial distinctions between the forms of faith embraced by the vast majority of American citizens and the militant Islam that at this very moment is pledged to America's destruction.

Like philosophy, religion, rightly understood, has a beginning in wonder. The most wonderful of creatures are human beings themselves. Of all the Bible's sublime and sustaining teachings, none is more so than the teaching that explains that humanity is set apart because all human beings--woman as well as man the Bible emphasizes--are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).

That a teaching is sublime and sustaining does not make it true. But that, along with its service in laying the moral foundations in the Western world for the belief in the dignity of all men and women--a belief that our new new atheists take for granted and for which they provide no compelling alternative foundation--is reason enough to give the variety of religions a fair hearing. And it is reason enough to respect believers as decent human beings struggling to make sense of a mysterious world. Read more

Ordination spurned in gay row

A Church of England curate is refusing to be ordained by his diocesan bishop because he objects to the bishop's support for a group campaigning for equal rights for homosexuals within the church. A parish website quotes the church's 39 articles, written in the 16th century, to describe the bishop as "evil".

Richard Wood, a church worker in Dagenham, east London, should have been ordained as a curate by the Rt Rev John Gladwin, Bishop of Chelmsford, earlier this month, but said he would refuse to take communion from him because the bishop is patron of a group called Changing Attitude, which wants to reform church thinking on homosexuality. A statement written by the Rev Mike Reith, vicar of Dagenham, on the parish website described the bishop as "a lovely bloke" but then quoted the 26th article, approved in 1571, which states: "Sometimes the evil have chief authority in the ministration of the word and sacraments." Read more

The web article referred to in this story may be found here.

An 'Ugley Vicar' blog on this may be found here.

See here for a link to other blog reactions.

[Church of England] Children's Society: Modern Birtain is pulling families apart

Family life is under threat from rising divorce rates and the longest working hours in Europe, the Children's Society has warned.

The charity says 21st century life is 'pulling families apart' and risking the development and well-being of future generations.

It claims childhoods are being damaged by parental break-ups and growing pressure on mothers to return to work. Read more

Saudis prepare to behead teenage maid

The imminent execution of a teenage maid in Saudi Arabia drew fierce criticism yesterday and provoked condemnation of the kingdom's prolific use of capital punishment.

The case has brought fresh attention to the draconian Saudi criminal justice system which is expected this year to set a new record in its use of the death sentence.

Mohammad Rezina, mother of Rizana Nafeek, with two of her daughters at home in Sri Lanka, Saudis prepare to behead teenage maid
Mohammad Rezina, mother of Rizana Nafeek, with two of her daughters at home in Sri Lanka

Human rights campaigners yesterday urged the authorities not to behead a 19-year-old Sri Lankan maid found guilty of killing a baby in her care.

According to the Saudi authorities, Rizana Nafeek admitted strangling the four-month-old boy while feeding him with a bottle.

But Nafeek, whose job was not meant to include child care, has denied making any such admission. She claims the child had begun to choke before losing consciousness in spite of her desperate efforts to clear his airway. Read more

BULL spared, RING banned under Human Rights rulings

A busy day for religion news today, with two major court decisions both ruling on the application of the Human Right to "manifest" one's religion. Read more

LA Pastoral Letter attacks 'hard line' British Evangelicals, African leadership

[...] Once enthroned, Rowan Williams found himself caught in the web of a plot of international dimensions in which hard-line British evangelicals, ultraconservative American schismatics and an ambitious African Primate, with his band of assenting minions, had joined forces to capture the soul of Anglicanism, at the same time that they advanced their own particular agendas.

Up until the last meeting of the Primates in Dar es Salaam, the Archbishop of Canterbury tried to woo the leaders of the conspiracy by yielding to the majority of their wishes. As was to be expected, the ringleaders took Rowan Williams' acquiescence for weakness, and redoubled their efforts to make him sanction an American schism. Read more

Vicar of Dagenham issues statement on non-ordination of Chelmsford candidate

STATEMENT from Mike Reith, Vicar, Dagenham Parish Church

It is with great regret that we make it known that Richard Wood was not ordained Curate to Dagenham Parish Church on 1st July ’07 as planned.

Richard wanted to be ordained, and was willing to accept the legal authority of the Bishop of Chelmsford and swore canonical obedience to him during his ordination retreat.

However, because of the Bishop’s patronage of the campaigning group ‘Changing Attitude’ (an organisation that campaigns for the inclusion of practicing homosexuals in every area of church life), Richard was not able, on the grounds of conscience, to give assurances that he would personally receive communion with the Bishop after ordination. He was therefore told he was ‘free to go’ from the ordination retreat at 4:00 pm on the day before his ordination.

The Bishop of Chelmsford had earlier been asked by Mike Reith, on Richard’s behalf, to allow him to be ordained by another bishop. The Bishop declined that request.

The Bishop has promised to ordain Richard at the end of September if Richard changes his mind about receiving communion from him. Richard will be paid a Curate’s stipend until then.

The Diocese of Chelmsford has five other bishops, and Richard will gladly be ordained by and receive communion from any one of them. The Bishop therefore has the resources to resolve this issue, if there is a willingness to be flexible and to allow the ordination to proceed with a bishop who is not a supporter of ‘Changing Attitude’.

Given that Richard was recommended, fully trained, and allocated a church in which he was to serve his Curacy, it is hoped that he will be ordained soon. There is no reason why this ordination could not take place without Richard being required to go against his conscience.

A little something for your computer 'wallpaper'

Ed: Courtesy of Christian Today. Right click over the picture with your mouse button, then select your options.

Education is supposed to make you rich, not wealthy

Ed: Which is why I was glad to get out of university chaplaincy.

[...] Education should be wild, exciting, intoxicating. Engineers, medics and lawyers must of necessity modify that view, but only to an extent. These days, more and more tertiary education establishments specialise in courses that look like a short-cut to a sexy job: you can study sport, or journalism, or television, or pop music, even fashion, for God’s sake. I imagine educationists sitting around a table: “Let’s have a course in sports journalism! They’ll love it! They’ll come flocking in! Brilliant idea! Carried unanimously.”

Then some awkward fellow asks: “Yes, but what are we actually going to teach them?” Ugly silence. “Ah, yes . . . now there you may have hit on the one snag in whole thing . . . but never mind, let’s go ahead and do it anyway.”

The error – the heresy – is to think that the entire purpose of education is to get you a better job: that the entire function of an individual life is to make as much money as possible. No one said to me, read Finnegans Wake and you’ll make a bloody fortune; that’s the whole point of reading the damn thing. Read more

Marriage works - why it's best to tie the knot

Marriage works. It keeps relationships together and children benefit hugely from stable two parent families. The evidence is overwhelming. I've never seen it seriously disputed.

It is a serious sociological observation, not a right-wing cliché. Indeed, the first time I was introduced to the idea was an article, Dan Quayle was Right by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, originally printed in The Atlantic Monthly. I was given it by Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute, the intellectual driver of the Clinton-Blair third way.

But it still leaves two questions. Why does it work? And can Government do anything to promote it? I think the answers are linked. Read more

It's time to move beyond being 'gay'

[...] As part of the Channel 4 season celebrating the 40th anniversary of the bill, Kevin Elyot (he of My Night With Reg) has written a brilliant screenplay, Clapham Junction, that weaves this complicated tapestry with skill and poignancy. Using a murder on the common as a central event, he overlays the lives of a group of people - married, single, bi, straight, gay, young, middle-aged, rich and struggling - into a nightmare of unhappiness. It's an exciting piece of work, but apart from being great telly, it starts to shake off the restrictions imposed by having to call it 'gay'. It isn't gay. And it is only an exploration of sexuality in so far as it just presents these human beings in all their confusions, certainly acknowledging our gay parallel lives, but moving far beyond that in its human understanding.

So how much longer will we have to go on being gay? Well, as long as they bully and kill us for it, we'll have to fight back. But at the same time let's find a freedom beyond the definition. Let sexuality float free of our own stereotypes. Elyot's screenplay is a fitting tribute to 40 years of change. Maybe we're nearing the end of 'the homosexual'. Maybe it was just a phase we were going through.

· Simon Fanshawe is a writer, broadcaster and co-founder of Stonewall Read more

Marriage - the next political 'hot potato'

He was turfed out of the leadership by his own MPs without even being given the opportunity to fight a general election, and it had appeared the short and unlamented era of IDS was long over. Last week, though, the self-styled "quiet man" produced a minor earthquake in British politics. The colossal report from Iain Duncan Smith's Social Justice Commission arrived with 190 recommendations for addressing the problems of social decay: high crime rates, low aspirations, low educational attainment and high dependency on the state.

Central among those recommendations is the idea that the tax and benefits system should be changed to provide incentives for couples to get, and stay, married. The former Conservative leader advocates spending £3.2 billion on a transferable tax allowance for married couples which would reward one partner for staying at home and looking after the children. Most other European countries already have such a scheme.

Gordon Brown's reaction was typical. In his Number 10 study, he scribbled on a pad the various categories of families who would not benefit, reading them out to aides as he wrote: "married couples where both partners work … single parents … widows … long-term couples who have not married … divorcees … women who have been deserted by their partner … elderly couples on the state pension … " Rather than supporting marriage, Labour plans to fight the next election on its familiar territory of means-tested benefits and tax breaks aimed at families with children. "Basically, when we draw up a policy we will ask: 'Does this benefit all kids?' " a senior Labour MP said. "If it doesn't, we won't do it." Read more

What Is Anglicanism? by Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi

Ed: This is a 'must read' article.

[...] Finally, a passion for evangelism and mission is at the heart of an apostolic and missionary church. The reason there is a global Anglicanism today is that Anglicans were compelled by the Word of God to share the gospel throughout the expanding British Empire and beyond. In the absence today of such a convenient infrastructure, the future of the Anglican Communion is found in embracing the key Reformation and evangelical principles that have had such an impact in Uganda.

Without a commitment to the authority of the Word of God, a confidence in a God who acts in the world, and a conviction of the necessity of repentance and of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we will be hard-pressed as a communion to revive and advance our apostolic and missionary calling as a church.

If, as I have suggested, the future of Anglicanism lies in a revival of the key Reformation and evangelical principles that shaped the Church of Uganda and our mother Church of England, then our instruments of communion need to find a way to serve that vision. I fear, however, that our conciliar instruments are in danger of losing their credibility and being rendered irrelevant. The resolutions of the Lambeth Conference of Bishops have always had a moral authority among the communion’s autonomous but interdependent provinces, yet some of those resolutions are now flagrantly defied and even mocked. Read more

BBC chief knew Queen footage was misleading 17 hours before apology

Ed: I suggest this matters to Anglicans because the BBC matters to the country.

Peter Fincham, the controller of BBC One, was facing a battle to save his job yesterday after the corporation’s Director-General described the edited footage of the Queen shown to the media as “incorrect and misleading”.

Mark Thompson said that he planned to introduce a series of measures to tighten standards after the error, which Mr Fincham was forced to admit having known about on Wednesday evening, although he did not apologise until Thursday.

Mr Fincham’s fate will most likely be decided by a meeting on Wednesday of the corporation’s regulator, the BBC Trust, for which Mr Thompson has been asked to provide a full report as to how pictures of the Queen walking into a photo shoot came to be presented as footage of her storming out. Read more

The case for mistrusting muslims

Ed: Discuss ...

ARRIVING IN BRITAIN by air the day after two men crashed a gasoline-laden Jeep Cherokee into the main terminal at Glasgow's international airport, and a couple of days after two car bombs were discovered in the heart of London, I was surprised by how calm everybody was.

Apart from the prohibition of passenger drop-off and pickup next to the terminal building at Birmingham Airport, everything was as usual. Men and women in Muslim garb mingled in the crowd with perfect tranquillity, expecting neither violence nor even verbal reproach.

Was this a sign of the admirable tolerance of British society, or of its bovine complacency born of an inability, or unwillingness, to make the effort to defend itself? Was it decency, cowardice or stupidity?

I really don't know anymore, which is an indication of the problem: Only time will tell, and by then it might be too late. Read more

And the people who did get ordained in Chelmsford are ...

Eighteen men and women from Essex and East London were ordained by the Bishop of Chelmsford, the Right Revd John Gladwin in Chelmsford Cathedral yesterday (Sunday 1 July) in two separate ceremonies attended by more than 1,200 people.

The address at both services at 11.15 and at 3pm, was given by the Vicar of St Mary’s Ilford, the Revd Jonathan Kester. The Cathedral Choir was conducted by Peter Nardone, Director of Music, and his assistant, Robert Poyser was the organist. Read more

Chelmsford ordinand blocked over dispute with bishop

AN ORDINAND in the Diocese of Chelmsford withdrew from his ordination ceremony at the eleventh hour after a theological dispute with his Bishop over homosexuality could not be resolved.

Richard Wood was due to be ordained deacon at Chelmsford Cathedral at Petertide, but stood down after he said his conscience would not allow him to share Communion with the Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt Rev John Gladwin, because of his patronage of the gay campaign group Changing Attitude. Read more

The Independent: Late and ludicrous on Wycliffe Hall

Ed: A demonstration, if another one were needed, that The Independent simply cannot cover Christian religious affairs seriously.

[...] Neither Turnbull nor Storkey would say anything to The Independent about the dispute. The departing staff from Wycliffe have also seemingly taken a vow of monastic silence while students there have been threatened with a latter-day Inquisition if they breathe a word of what is going on within its walls to the press.

Yet this ban on airing Wycliffe's dirty linen in public has merely added to the impression that the whole place is living under a reign of terror. Read more (of this garbage)

Bishops 'misquoted' on floods

THERE was widespread indignation in some flooded areas after reported comments made by the Bishops of Carlisle and Liverpool in a phone interview with a journalist last weekend.

The Bishop of Carlisle, the Rt Revd Graham Dow, is quoted in The Sunday Telegraph as saying: “We are reaping the consequences of our moral degradation, as well as the environmental damage that we have caused.” It was his apparent linking of moral degradation with homosexuality that drew the most condemnation.

Bishop Dow’s spokesman, Canon Dr Richard Pratt, sought to clarify what the Bishop had said, in a statement issued on Sunday. “The Bishop of Carlisle did not say that God ‘sent’ the floods. He and the Bishop of Liverpool did point out what environmental campaigners have been saying for years: that the floods are a consequence of global warming, which is a lack of restraint and lack of care for our planet.” Read more

Ordinations: where have all the young men (and women) gone?

Ed: In terms of age, these pictures of ordinands from across the dioceses look the same age as incumbents did when I was ordained in 1976. Where have all the young people gone? (Pictures courtesy of the Church Times)

The Bishop of Worcester (left) and Dudley, with priests and deacons

The Bishop of Wakefield, the Rt Revd Stephen Platten, with deacons

In Wales: the Bishop of St Asaph, the Rt Revd John Davies, with priests and deacons

New deacons rehearse in the pulpit at Sheffield Cathedral

The Bishop of Southwell & Nottingham with deacons

The Bishop of Truro with deacons at his final ordination as diocesan

On retreat with the Bishop of Chelmsford (left)

Deacons at Peteborough

The Bishop of Ripon & Leeds with deacons

The Bishops of Rochester and Tonbridge, with priests

The Bishop of Coventry with ordinands

Leicester deacons on retreat with Launde Abbey

Canadian Anglican priests set to defy same-sex blessing ban

Ed: Gosh! I never would have thought that would happen in the Anglican Communion!

Two weeks after the Anglican Church of Canada voted to maintain its ban on same-sex blessings, a pair of renegade parishes are publicly vowing to bless and even marry gay and lesbian couples, saying there are dozens of other Anglican parishes across the country defying the rules of the national church.

Clergy at Holy Trinity Church in downtown Toronto, and at St. Saviour’s Church in Victoria, have each declared their intention to push ahead with blessing ceremonies despite a decision by their church’s national governing body forbidding such acts. Read more

Times interviews Archbishop Akinola

[...] Nigeria’s bishops will not meet to decide about Lambeth until September. Dr Akinola says he does not know how they will decide. But at this point, attendance by Nigeria looks extremely unlikely. And if they stay away, this will mark the start of true schism. The Lambeth Conference is one of the communion’s four instruments of unity. For the Nigerians to attend, the Archbishop of Canterbury would have to invite Bishop Minns, which he will not.

And the Episcopal Church in the US would have to backpedal on its liberal agenda, which would be a betrayal of everything it has struggled for in the past two decades.

Dr Akinola does not deny that homosexuals exist in Africa. “All we are saying is, do not celebrate what the Bible says is wrong. If the Bible says it is an aberration, it is an aberration. Do not do it.” He sees no point in his church attending the Lambeth Conference if the bishops cannot share together in Holy Communion. He begins to get passionate, becoming eloquent in his anger. “The missionaries brought the word of God here and showed us the way of life. We have seen the way of life and we rejoice in it. Now you are telling me this way of life is not right. I have to do something else. Keep it for yourself. I do not want it.”

No Nigerian bishop needs to go to Canterbury to learn how to be a bishop, he says. “No Nigerian Anglican needs to go to Lambeth Palace to learn how to become a Christian. It is all available here. We rejoice in our fellowship, we rejoice in our heritage as Anglicans. We celebrate it. But our unity will never be at the expense of truth, of the historic faith.” Read more

Nigeria may boycott Lambeth 2008

Nigeria's Anglican bishops may boycott a conference of Anglican leaders next year if the US Episcopal church refuses to stop its liberal agenda, the country's most senior Anglican said in an interview published in an early edition of The Times' Thursday paper.

Dr Peter Akinola said he did not think the Episcopal church, the American branch of the Anglican communion, would listen to conservative Anglican leaders from Africa and Asia who were opposed to its appointment of an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in 2003.

"All we are saying is do not celebrate what the Bible says is wrong," Akinola told the daily. Read more

Jonathan Aitken: Wycliffe row a personality clash

[...] To understand the disputes' origins it is necessary to appreciate the impact of a confidential Church of England report on Wycliffe following a visit by inspectors in 2004. They recommended an overhaul of the management in order to make "ministerial formation central rather than peripheral to both the ethos and the managerial structure of the college"; a business plan; an improvement in chapel services; and the direct accountability of certain tutors, particularly the director of ministry, to the principal. The hall council decided a new broom was needed to make the changes, so they appointed Richard Turnbull, a former Hampshire vicar, church historian and chairman of the business committee of the General Synod.

Turnbull swept vigorously. Only time will tell whether his new staff appointments, which look good on paper, will succeed in practice. But those who opposed his right to change staff were surely fighting on the wrong battlefield. This is where personal grievances, sometimes bitterly expressed, entered the equation. Read more

American Anglican Council praises new Kenyan bishop

The American Anglican Council has applauded the “sound decision” by Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of the Anglican Province of Kenya to appoint a suffragan bishop to oversee the province’s US-based congregations.

The announcement that the Rev Bill Murdoch will be consecrated on 30 August “serves as one more important step toward the long-anticipated realignment of North American Anglicanism”, the AAC said.

Rev Murdoch will join Rev Canon Dr Bill Atwood as a Suffragan Bishop of All Saints Cathedral Diocese, Nairobi, and serve international interests of the Anglican Church of Kenya including taking responsibility for care for the congregations and clergy in the USA under Kenyan jurisdiction. Read more