Would-be Tory MP Philip Lardner is sacked over anti-gay comments

A would-be Tory MP from Scotland has been suspended after describing gay people as not "normal”, it was disclosed today.

The comments made by Philip Lardner on his campaign website were branded “deeply offensive and unacceptable” by a party spokeswoman.

Under the heading "What I believe in", the North Ayrshire and Arran candidate had written: “Homosexuality is not ’normal behaviour’.”

The seat is a Labour stronghold, where Katy Clark was returned with a majority of more than 11,000 at the last general election.

The comments have now been removed from the website but the gay news service Pink News said Mr Lardner, a primary school teacher, declared his support for parents and teachers who do not want their children to be taught about gay rights. Read more No comments will be posted without a full name and location, see the policy.

Shocking disgrace of Pope memo: God Save Our World

In The Sunday Times online we report that the Pope's advisers are starting to regret he ever accepted the invitation to come to Britain in September. This emerged following the Fantastic exclusive by my colleague in religious affairs, Jonathan Wynne-Jones at The Sunday Telegraph, on the astonishing memo dreamed up by some Oxbridge person at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. To Jonathan's revelations I can add one more line. The memo also suggested that, during the visit, the National Anthem be changed from God Save the Queen to God Save the World. For a commentary, former Ambassador to Italy Sir Ivor Roberts told me: 'I cannot think of a Papal visit anywhere in the world where the host government has had to apologise so profusely and abjectly in advancing for the appalling behaviour of one of its officials.'

He added: 'It is quite disturbing that they should be so badly organised to have someone in charge of the visit at the Foreign Office who has so little common sense and such a puerile sense of humour and who does not seem to realise he is in a department of state which by and large tries to improve relations between states and organisations, not make matters worse or create tensions where they did not exist. He or she might want to think about whether they should take another job, such as in the Treasury, where they can't do much harm.' Read more No comments will be posted without a full name and location, see the policy.

Bishop of Durham to retire

THE Bishop of Durham is to retire, it has been announced this morning.

The Right Reverend Tom Wright, will step down on August 31.

Dr Wright, who will be 62 this autumn, is returning to the academic world, and will take up a new appointment as research professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.

"This has been the hardest decision of my life," said Dr Wright. Read more 

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Viewpoint: What has happened to the Foreign Office?

When I first saw the headline about the Foreign Office and the Pope I thought at first this was probably a silly internal e-mail or maybe even an April Fool's joke.

Wrong.

One word showed that this was actually a formal document. The Foreign Office statement of regret/anger/embarrassment said it had been "withdrawn". This meant of course that it had been circulated and it was something I had trouble in getting my head round.

This did not seem to be the Foreign Office I have known.

It turned out that the list of ideas for the papal visit ("Benedict" condoms, blessing of a gay marriage etc) had been drawn up by a team "brainstorming" for the visit and was attached to an invitation to a wider meeting.

This was definitely not the Foreign Office I have known.

"You cannot be serious" was my immediate thought. It still is.

The memo was sent with a somewhat unnecessary warning that some suggestions were possibly "far-fetched" (so why send them?) and with a necessary but dangerous warning that it was not for external exposure, often a hint of something spicy to a determined leaker. Read more No comments will be posted without a full name and location, see the policy.

Foreign Office forced to apologise to Pope after officials' wrote mocking memo about 'Benedict' brand condoms

The Government has been plunged into a major diplomatic storm after Foreign Office officials circulated an offensive memo mocking the Pope's forthcoming visit to Britain.

In the document, staff who were asked to propose ideas for the 'ideal' visit suggested Benedict XVI could launch a new range of 'Benedict' condoms or back a Miss Developing World beauty contest.

Sources in Rome said the document also proposed that the Pope might sing a duet with the Queen to raise money for charity. The pair are due to meet during the Pontiff's visit in September. Read more  

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“Light for the Nations” – GSE4 Day 3 Report, 21st April 2010

The Global South-to-South Encounter entered into its third. What does it mean for the Churches in the Global South to be a “Light for the Nations?

The day started with Archbishop Robert Duncan presiding at Holy Communion. In his homily, Abp Peter Jensen reminded us that we, who are “deeply, truly and permanently loved” are truly free. We do not “go our own way” to find freedom, but we come to Jesus, the bread of life. Assistant Bishop Rennis Ponniah, led the Bible Study, sharing from Isaiah 42:1-9. Bp Ponniah emphasized the vital need for a fresh vision of the Church. The scope of the Church’s ministry has to include the bringing forth of God’s justice in society, by modeling covenantal relations and by teaching society the keeping of God’s moral law. The nature of the Church’s presence is as a servant to the world’s needs; Anglican ministers are not celebrities, but celebrants. Finally, Bp Ponniah once again reminded us to look to the Holy Spirit as the source of the Church’s power, to give us an indefatigable constancy to do God’s work every day. Read more
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Global South to South encounter: Thematic Address 3: “Light for the Nations” - Rev Dr Paul Swarup

We started by looking at the covenant with Abraham where Yahweh had promised Abraham that he would be a blessing to the nations. We noticed in Gen 18:19 that God had called Abraham in order that he would direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord, by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord would bring about for Abraham what he has promised him. Election, Ethics and Mission are directly related to each other. If we have been called as the Covenant Community then we are called to lead ethical lives so that the Gospel of Jesus Christ would reach the ends of the earth. Even though God’s call was to a particular person in a particular period in a particular location, the purpose was for the universal blessing of humanity. Through Abraham the nation of Israel was to fulfill the role of a Servant and be a blessing to the nations, but Israel miserably failed in her mission. It is Jesus the suffering Servant who eventually fulfilled the role of a Servant and brought blessing to the nations by his life, death and resurrection. After the resurrection of Jesus, the early Christians carried on this work of being a light to the nations as they shared the good news of Jesus from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Now, the Global South believing community has the same ethical challenge before it. We are the descendents of Abraham by faith in Jesus. We too are called to keep the way of the Lord. If we walk in the way of the Lord – by following the instruction of the Lord – in other words God’s word is to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths. Scripture has to be our guiding factor in our decision making.

If we pursue justice – that is if we seek course correction – if we act as a plumb line showing where the wall has gone off plumb then we would be acting as the light to the nations. We can only be a light to the nations by doing justice – by this we are calling people to be accountable. Peter proclaims to the Jews in his encounter with Cornelius that he was proclaiming Jesus whom God appointed judge of the living and the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the final putting-to-rights of all human injustice. In the light of the Resurrection, the Covenant Community must never stop reminding the world's rulers and authorities as well as its own rulers and authorities that they themselves will be held to account, and that they must do justice and bring wise, healing order to God's world ahead of the day of the Lord’s coming. Read more
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The Video That Ended a Career

When it comes to incriminating videos these days, the one of Bruce K. Waltke might seem pretty tame. It shows the noted evangelical scholar of the Old Testament talking about scholarship, faith and evolution. What was incriminating? He not only endorsed evolution, but said that evangelical Christianity could face a crisis for not coming to accept science.

"If the data is overwhelmingly in favor of evolution, to deny that reality will make us a cult ... some odd group that is not really interacting with the world. And rightly so, because we are not using our gifts and trusting God's Providence that brought us to this point of our awareness," he says, according to several accounts by those who have seen the video. Those words set off a furor at the Reformed Theological Seminary, where Waltke was -- until this week -- a professor. (The seminary is evangelical, with ties to several denominations.)

The statements so upset officials of the seminary that Waltke had to ask the BioLogos Foundation, a group that promotes the idea that science and faith need not be incompatible, to remove it from its Web site (which the foundation did) and to post a clarification. The video was shot during a BioLogos workshop. But even those steps weren't enough for the seminary, which announced that it had accepted his resignation. Read more
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Binge-drinking: What happened to our sense of shame?

... none of this properly explains why so many people are prepared to set out for a night’s boozing utterly determined to get so drunk they will no longer be in control of themselves and remain utterly unashamed by it. Which takes me back to where I started: the absence of shame.

That’s the big change, isn’t it? We seem no longer to be as constrained by the social mores as we once were.

We want to let it all hang out. Everything. Grief is a public commodity and no longer a private emotion. It may have started with the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, but it’s come a long way since.

You wonder about our sense of dignity when a supermarket has to ban its customers from shopping in their nighties. And when “housemates” on Big Brother are happy to be viewed having sex. And when you are as likely to hear the sort of foul language in the park that would once have been restricted to the football terraces.

Maybe the new shamelessness is connected to what some perceive as a breakdown in discipline in so many areas, especially schools. The reluctance to respect authority converts easily into a reluctance to respect each other and, ultimately, to respect ourselves. Read more
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Anglicanism has lost its integrity, conservatives say

THE Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) Primates Council has bracketed the UK with Kenya and Uganda as nations “where Christian views are marginalised and ignored”.

England is also defined as an “Associate Par­ticipant”, along with Australia, New Zealand, the Anglican Church in North America, and the Communion Partners of the Episcopal Church in the United States, in the “Fourth Global South to South Encounter” to be held in Singapore later this month.

The Council, which constitutes the Primates of Nigeria, West Africa, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and the Southern Cone, to­gether with the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, and the leader of the Anglican Church in North America, Archbishop Robert Duncan, was meeting in Bermuda as guests of the American businessman Emmanuel Kam­pouris (News, 9 April). Read more
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British bishop convicted of denying Holocaust by German court

A British bishop was yesterday fined €10,000 (£8,750) by a German court for continuing to insist the mass extermination of Jews by the Nazis did not take place.

A court in the southern German city of Regensburg convicted Bishop Richard Williamson of inciting racial hatred for stating in a television interview aired in January 2009 that only '200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps'.

He also denied the Nazis had used gas chambers.

Read more


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Removal of post

A post on this blog made on 21st June 2008, linking to an online news story about Graham Brandreth Wills has been removed at his request, due to his allegation that "The vast majority of the article is incorrect."

Anyone who has read, or may read, the article should please bear this assertion in mind.

John Richardson


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Dawkins U-turns on clerical abuse

For all sorts of reasons I dislike the Roman Catholic Church. But I dislike unfairness even more, and I can’t help wondering whether this one institution has been unfairly demonized over the issue, especially in Ireland and America… We should be aware of the remarkable power of the mind to concoct false memories, especially when abetted by unscrupulous therapists and mercenary lawyers. The psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has shown great courage, in the face of spiteful vested interests, in demonstrating how easy it is for people to concoct memories that are entirely false but which seem, to the victim, every bit as real as true memories. This is so counter-intuitive that juries are easily swayed by sincere but false testimony from witnesses.

(The God Delusion, pp. 315-16) Read more
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School receptionist prayer case settled

A school receptionist who was suing her employers for religious discrimination following a dispute over a prayer email has secured an undisclosed payment and settled out of court.

Jennie Cain’s case was backed by The Christian Institute and they are pleased that the dispute has been resolved.

News of the settlement comes in a joint press release issued today by Devon County Council and The Christian Institute. Read more
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Anglicans in Essex clash over Pope Benedict's offer

Traditionalist Anglicans in Essex say they are being shunned by neighbouring parishes after it emerged that they were considering taking up the Pope's offer of joining a "personal ordinariate".

In a letter addressed to the area dean of Waltham Forest and copied to the parish priest of the Anglo-Catholic St Margaret's Leytonstone Fr Robert Page, the clergy of the three adjoining parishes said that they did not want members of the ordinariate to worship in the parish.

The letter to Fr Stephen Saxby, written by Fr Raymond Draper of St John the Baptist, Leytonstone, on behalf of the three parishes said: "If Fr Rob and a group from St Margaret's choose to explore the new Anglican ordinariate within the Roman Catholic Church, we wish them well in this experiment.

"But we do not think it would be realistic to allow a new and rival group under the former parish priest to worship at St Margaret's or to worship in St Margaret's parish. To do this would be to put an impossible burden on the loyalty of Anglicans in St Margaret's church and to place any new incumbent in an intolerable situation."

According to the letter, the priests from the adjoining parishes discussed the future of the area as if Fr Page was no longer the parish priest of St Margaret's Leytonstone. They proposed to cluster the four parishes of St Margaret's Leytonstone, St Andrew's Leytonstone, Holy Trinity Harrow Green and St John's Leytonstone into a group of affirming Anglican churches. Read more
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Easter Show bans Jesus

Bible Society NSW has received communication that it was not able to secure a 'Jesus. All About Life' stall at the Sydney Royal Easter Show this year due to it being of a religious nature.

“It’s a curious thing that an event bearing the name “Easter” has disallowed anything to do with the very thing Easter is all about – the death and resurrection of Jesus,” says CEO of Bible Society NSW, Daniel Willis.

Thousands of Easter Eggs, Scripture resources and Youth material meant to be handed out at this year’s Royal Easter Show will now be given away at an alternative location. Read more
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Isa savers ‘cheated of billions’ by banks

[Ed: Of course, one answer is the Stocks and Shares ISA, but as they say, the value of your investment can go down as well as up and they are not entirely tax free.]

A tax break created by Gordon Brown to encourage millions of people to save has degenerated into a £3 billion a year rip-off that enriches the banks, according to a damning verdict from the statutory consumer watchdog.

Consumer Focus has made a formal complaint to the Office of Fair Trading alleging that cash Isas pay derisory rates of interest and that banks use unfair obstacles to stop people from switching to better deals. The OFT has 90 days to respond.

“It beggars belief that in 21st century Britain it takes a month to transfer information and funds from one bank to another,” said Mike O’Connor, chief executive of Consumer Focus. “The average Isa saver is getting a poor deal.” Read more
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Isas prove why trust is in such short supply

The banks came in for a good bashing from the three Chancellors on Monday night. And yesterday brought yet more evidence of how richly deserved the public abuse seems.

The Consumer Focus report on cash Isas makes depressing reading. It is very hard to defend the banks against the charge that they shamelessly exploit ignorance and inertia to give millions of their customers a very bad deal. The banks make good use of “bait and switch” tactics with other savings products, enticing customers in with high teaser rates then reducing them once the fish is hooked. With cash Isas the behaviour appears especially egregious. Historically, the rate of tax-free interest offered on cash Isas was higher than on other savings accounts. But that has now changed, with the average cash Isa paying depositors only 0.41 per cent.

For the banks, that represents a very nice turn on the £158 billion sitting in cash Isas. Consumer Focus reckons savers are being shortchanged by up to £3 billion a year. Read more
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Pet shop owner fined £1,000 and told to wear an electronic tag... for selling a GOLDFISH to a boy aged 14

Buying a goldfish at a pet shop used to be an innocent childhood pleasure.

But today an elderly pet shop owner told how she was 'entrapped' into selling a goldfish to a 14-year-old schoolboy, then warned she could face jail.

She had breached a law introduced in 2006 which bans selling live fish to anyone under 16.

After a prosecution estimated to have cost taxpayers £20,0000, Joan Higgins, 66, a great-grandmother who has never been in trouble before, has been forced to wear a tag on her ankle like common criminal and given a seven-week curfew.

Her son, Mark, 47 was also handed a fine and ordered to carry out 120 hours unpaid work in the community. Read more
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Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell slams £1,000 fine for street preacher who said homosexuality is a sin

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has defended a Christian street preacher fined £1,000 for telling passers-by homosexuality is a sin.

Born-again Baptist Shawn Holes was taken away from a busy shopping street in a police van and locked up in a cell for the night.

Mr Holes was charged with 'uttering homophobic remarks' in a breach of the peace that prosecutors said was 'aggravated by religious prejudice' and appeared in court the next day.

Last night leading gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said he supported Mr Holes, attacking his fine as 'heavy-handed' and 'totally disproportionate'.

He said: 'The price of freedom of speech is that we sometimes have to put up with opinions that are objectionable and offensive.

'Just as people should have the right to criticise religion, people of faith should have the right to criticise homosexuality. Only incitements to violence should be illegal.' Read more
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