A page
recording, sometimes with
editorial comment,
articles from the papers on
matters of concern to the
Christian community. The
management apologises if these pieces are
mostly from one newspaper group and
reflect one political persuasion.
Other contributions are, as ever, more than
welcome, but he feels bound to point out
that the 'Telegraphs' do at least take
religious matters seriously, and, faces with
the invariable indifference of most other
journals, serious or otherwise, may
demonstrate the truth of the familiar saying
that there is no such thing as bad
publicity...
Please note that, due to an inadvertent
sequence of keystrokes by the editor, all
items posted since June 2014 have
disappeared into the maw of cyberspace and
are probably lost for ever. (No, I haven't
got a back-up!). Ed, July 2017
Normal service was resumed from
August 2017... latest story at the top.
Pope
urged to relax ban on
contraception
Money matters - it never rains but
it pours Grave Matters Prayers for Peace a Century
on Report highlights growing
abuse of clergy Praying to Father Brown? Permission to pray? Can the tide turn for
Christianity? Is your church too 'faffy'? Archbishop
criticised for 'dangerous'
paedophile claim
Trendy Nativity plays are 'pants'!
Lead us not into temptation
Trust me - I'm a priest
A.B.C. or C.E.O?
CofE boys can wear tutus
Let us Twitter
Persecuted Christians
More TV, vicar?
Sharp elbows in the choir?
Ancient and Modern language
Church membership in further decline
Odinists ask for return of stolen
churches
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Pope urged to relax ban on
contraception
A British Cabinet minister has
told the Pope to relax the
Catholic Church's strict ban on
the use of contraception, The
Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Penny Mordaunt, the
International Development
secretary, urged the Vatican to
change its stance during a meeting
with senior aides to Pope Francis
last week.
At the meeting in Rome's Vatican
City with .Archbishop Vicenzo
Paglia and Archbishop Paul
Gallagher, Ms Mordaunt urged the
Church to make it easier for young
girls to have access to
contraception.
Ms Mordaunt specifically raised
her concerns about what officials
said was "the tragedy of 800 girls
and women unnecessarily losing
their lives every day through
pregnancy or childbirth
complications". Ms Mordaunt
told The Telegraph: "Everyone
deserves the right to a safe
childhood, to an education and to
a life without fear. For many
girls this is not the case.
"Child marriage, and a lack of
control over their own bodies or
access to reproductive healthcare
including contraception, means-
many girls have no hope of
completing an education. "It
is crucial we engage with faith
leaders to help us challenge
deeply held beliefs and attitudes.
The Catholic Church can help us in
.that and my appeal to them was to
help us save lives, especially of
young mothers. As we work with
African leaders to help them build
their nations, it is vital that
family planning is part of that
plan. It will save lives and huge
suffering."
In the meeting last Thursday with
the Holy See - the global
government of the Catholic Church
- Ms Mordaunt raised the issues of
combating female genital
mutilation (FGM), ending child
marriage and preventing violence
against women and girls. She also
raised the issue of LGBT rights,
noting the Church's leadership on
this area is helping to combat
hatred towards these groups.
A spokesman for
the Catholic Church in the UK said
Ms Mordaunt's comments were a
matter for the Vatican. A
spokesman for the Vatican was
approached for comment.
The Catholic Church's staunch
objections to contraception stem
from its belief that it interferes
with the creation of life. In
1968, Pope Paul VI set Out the
Church's official position that it
is always intrinsically wrong to
use contraception to prevent new
human beings from coming into
existence.
In his Humanae Vitae letter, the
Pope said contraception is "any
action which, either in
anticipation of the conjugal act
[sexual intercourse], or in its
accomplishment, or in the
development of its natural
consequences, proposes, whether as
an end or as a means, to render
procreation impossible". The
letter caused a sensation when it
was published, at a time when the
sexual revolution was gripping the
world. Many Catholics,
particularly those in the pro-life
movement, have long up-held
Humanae Vitae as a key statement.
It is interpreted to include
condoms and other barrier methods,
including spermicides and the
Pill.
In 2010, the Church appeared to
end its absolute ban on the use of
condoms, after Pope Benedict said
it was acceptable to use a condom
when the sole intention was to
"reduce the risk of infection"
from Aids. His comments appeared
in an interview published in the
book Light of the World: The Pope,
the Church andthe Signs of the
Times. However, the Church remains
fiercely opposed to birth control.
In recent years, there have been
calls for the Church to clarify
its position. Theologians suggest
that condoms are not a
contraceptive if they are intended
to prevent death rather than avoid
life.
Christopher
Hope and Anna
Mikhailova. The Daily
Telegraph
Money Matters - it never
rains but it pours
The number of churches requesting
emergency funding for repairs is
at a record high as the Victorian
buildings reach a "tipping point"
in terms of their condition.
Applications for urgent repairs
and maintenance funding to the
National Churches Trust rose by 44
per cent between 2013 and 2017,
from 328 applications in 2O13 to
473 in 2017.
The figures suggest roofs and
drainpipes have taken a battering
from wet weather. From 2015 to
2018,45 per cent of 1,274
applications to the charity were
for roof repairs, to repair
gutters or to fix drainage; The
trust's report marks 200 years
since the creation of the
Incorporated Church Building
Society, an initiative which led
to the founding of many Victorian
churches.
Experts said many of the
churches were falling apart
because they had reached a
"tipping point" in age. The topsy
turvy weather has also been
blamed. Eddie Tulasiewicz, of the
National Churches Trust, said the
issue had been a particular
problem during flooding in Cumbria
in recent winters.
The Church of England has recorded
a fall in planned donations for
first time in 50 years as it says
millennials are not giving money
in the same way as previous
generations.
Money given through direct debits
and standing orders has fallen for
the first time since records began
in 1964, it was revealed
yesterday.
John Spence, chair of the
Archbishops' Council Finance
Committee, told its governing
body, the General Synod, that in
2016, income coming from planned
giving fell by 0.4per cent.
Figures for 2015 show that a total
of £337.5 million was given to the
Church this way, suggesting that
there was a fall of around £1.35
million in 2016.
The donations formed around a
third of the money collected by
parishes-in 2015, which Mr Spence
said rose "by l.Sper cent overall
because of other sources of funds.
He warned that young people were
not replacing older churchgoers in
donating money to the church,
which was leading to a dent in
income.
"An 81-year-old is eight times
more likely to go to church than an 18-year-old,
and that's having its impact on
finance," he said.
The debate over the Archbishops'
Council's budget for 2019, which
sets out the national church's
spending priorities, also heard
from members who were concerned
that-millennials were not donating
to local churches.
Another member of the
same finance committee
who is treasurer of a parish in
the diocese of Oxford, said: "We
need to address the issue of
giving by our millennial
generation, the future of our
church - but they are saddled with
student debt and looking at being
unable to afford to buy a house."
Mr Spence said the church was
introducing initiatives such as
contact-less collection and text
giving in an effort to appeal to
young people. He said contactless
collection at services "can be
very useful for churches that have
significant numbers of visitors or
when people come for wed dings or
funerals".
Two
recent pieces by Olivia
Rudgard of The
Telegraph make
worrying reading.
Mourners could be asked to "pay
while you pray" at a series of
cemeteries in south Wales in order
to fund new graveside benches.
Seven graveyards in Blaenau Gwent
have been without benches for four
years following several personal
injury claims by people who fell
through them. Now the council has
suggested new graveside benches
for an "improved visitor
experience".
However, a report by Blaenau Gwent
County Borough Council stated that
relatives of the deceased would
help pay for the new seating areas
by introducing a licence fee for
the graveyards.
"Poorly manufactured and
maintained benches donated by
bereaved family members have
resulted in several successful
insurance claims against the
council," the report said.
It added that the council did not
have the necessary resources to
purchase and install benches.
The matter will be discussed at
the executive
committee later this week.
However, one relative accused the
council chief of "losing the plot"
by suggesting the cemetery licence
scheme.
"This is a minefield - what
can you do if someone is grieving
but doesn't have a licence," he
said. "Can you fine them? This is
not like watching TV or getting a
fishing licence." '
Prayers
for Peace a Century on
The Church
of England has launched a
First World War prayer
service to promote
reconciliation with
Germany.
The new
"monologue", which
incorporates songs such as
Pack up Your Troubles and
Jerusalem, has been
launched to mark the
centenary of the end of
the First World War this
November. It
encourages worshippers
to experience
"reconciliation" with
enemies and "commit
ourselves afresh to
working together for
peace".
An
explanatory note before
the service says: "Each
of the 'steps' is linked
together with an
imagined monologue, in
which a British soldier
is speaking to his
opposite number in the
German army."
It adds
that in many places
modern societies are now
disrupted by terrorism
as well as
warfare. "Today,
of course, many of the
scars and divisions we
suffer are the result
not of conventional
warfare, but of the
cruel and destructive
violence of global
terrorism," the preface
says.
The service,
which is designed to be
held in a church, a school
or a community centre,
also suggests poetry by
Wilfred Owen and readings
from Genesis and
Corinthians. The fictional
soldier also describes the war as
"industrial madness".
"Such waste, such horror!
How did this happen! Why,
oh, just why was it
allowed to go on and on,"
the passage adds.
In a later
section the soldier
apologises to his German
counterpart. "My
first word has to be
'sorry'. But it's such a
heavy, weighted word. It
rolls so effortlessly
off the tongue, but what
a freight of meaning it
has to carry! How can it
be said?"
The
resources include a
prayer for world peace,
a prayer to say when
visiting a soldier's
grave, and a vigil
service to take place on
the night of armistice
day, Sunday November 11,
or the evening before.
The service includes an
unusual
section where the
congregation is invited to
say the Lord's Prayer in
French or German instead
of in English, which the
Church said was an effort
to demonstrate "the unity
of voices across the
linguistic lines of the
conflict".
Readings
include sections of
Corinthians and Genesis,
as well as Psalm 29 and
parts of the book of
Luke and the book of
Matthew.
Bishop
at Lambeth the Rt Rev
Tim Thornton, bishop to
the Armed Forces, said:
"There are of course
very few people now left
to tell first-hand
stories of the First
World War. As we
commemorate its
centenary, remembering
those who gave their
lives, it is important
therefore also to pause
and commemorate those
who have lived with the
memory of war, and the
manifold challenges that
brings. These
resources offer an
excellent way for
churches, groups,
families and individuals
to connect with a
generation whose lives
were inexorably altered
by desperate conflict.
"The
season of remembrance
each year sees churches
and cathedrals come to
the fore as communities
bring to mind those lost
and affected in any way
in conflicts, give
thanks for the
sacrifices of our Armed
Forces, -and pray for
peace."
Olivia Rudgard Religious
Affairs
Correspondent,
The Daily
Telegraph
June 2018
Report Highlights Growing
Abuse of Clergy
Growing secularisation is leading
to an increase in violence and
verbal abuse against Christian
clergy, experts fear.
Priests told of experiences
including discovering a witchcraft
symbol sprayed on a church door
and being followed home as
academics launched a mass survey
of priests to find out the scale
of the problem.
There are also concerns that
sex-abuse scandals and a growing
number of female clergy are
contributing to mounting threats
and violence against priests.
Academics at Royal Holloway,
University of London, are to
survey around 7,000 Church of
England clergy using £5,000 in
funding from the Ministry of
Housing, Communities & Local
Government.
The survey, which is to be
circulated online this month, will
ask clergy whether they have
experienced verbal abuse, threats
or physical violence in the past
two years, and how often church
property is damaged. Respondents
will also be asked whether they
have received abuse online and
whether more violence is carried
out now that almost a third of
clergy are women.
A previous survey that looked at
violence against clergy, published
by Royal Holloway in 2000, found
that 12 per cent of clergy had
been assaulted in the previous two
years.
Prof Jonathan Gabe, of Royal
Holloway's School of Law, said the
survey was concerned about "the
declining status of clergy" as
well as "increasing
secularisation, and whether that
is impacting on the respect that
clergy now receive".
He said there was a "possibility"
that the influence of sex abuse
scandals and cover-ups had
affected the way clergy felt about
the church. Nick Tolson, director
of National ChurchWatch, which is
also involved in the survey, said
it also asked clergy whether
factors were involved such as drug
abuse, mental illness or
"anti-Christian sentiments".
The Rev David MacGeogh, the vicar
of Glastonbury, told The Sunday
Telegraph that he receives verbal
abuse on a monthly basis. "People
come in before and during the
service and rant and rave, saying
we are the works of Satan," he
said.
A Church of England spokesman
said: "We take the welfare and
safety of our clergy very
seriously indeed." Abigail
Frymann Rouch and Olivia
Rudgard, Daily Telegraph
G.K.Chesterton - a literary
genius but no saint
If
there weren't already any number
of GK Chesterton societies
about, I'd probably set one up,
just to share my views on his
detective stories, his mastery
of paradox, his literary
criticism, The Napoleon of
Notting Hill and his observation
that "it takes three to make a
quarrel; the full extremity of
human fury has not been
exhausted until some friend has
tried tactfully to intervene".
Or maybe his introduction to one
essay: "The human race, to which
so many of my readers belong..."
Chesterton was a writer of
genius, a genial and very funny
man. One man who met him told me
it was often hard to make out
what he was saying because he
was laughing all the time. He
was the kind of polemicist you
don't get now: the public
debates at the beginning of the
last century between him and
Bernard Shaw or HG Wells were
famous as expressions of their
world views - the abolition of
private property on their side,
the extension of it to as many
people as possible on his.
Genius he was. But not a saint.
Please, not a saint.
Nevertheless, the Bishop of
Northampton is reportedly
considering whether to promote
formally the case for Chesterton
to be canonised. He is said to
have got through one of the
first hurdles on the way to
sainthood (hard to imagine,
given his bulk) by providing a
miracle. Childless couples
prayed to him for help
-effectively, asking him to put
a word in for them with God -
and they duly had babies. If
true, it would be poignant,
given that Chesterton's wife
Frances was apparently repelled
by sex to the point where it was
difficult for them to consummate
the marriage - think Ian
McEwan's novel, On Chesil Beach,
and then some - so they ended up
childless.
But for the Catholic Church to
declare someone a saint says
something about the Church as
well as about the individual
concerned. And if the Bishop of
Northampton has any sense, he'll
park the matter of GK right
there. Because Chesterton, for
all his merits, was
anti-Semitic. This is an ongoing
charge, although there are those
who disagree: Canon John Udris,
the cleric who was appointed in
2013 to look into the
possibility of opening
Chesterton's cause, as it's
technically known, says he
personally thinks he didn't have
a racist bone in his body.
It doesn't wash, I'm afraid. You
don't have to read very much of
Chesterton to see it. He was
friendly with many Jews, but he
felt that Jews were
fundamentally not English, that
Judaism mattered more to them
than the countries where they
lived - and that led him to
embrace Zionism. This view,
which Chesterton articulated
before the Holocaust, was most
fully expressed in his
hair-raising suggestion that
Jews in public life should wear
Oriental dress, by way of
reminder that they were not
really English. It's not
acceptable, not now, not then,
for a man, no matter how great
in other ways, to be declared a
saint who says as much. It is a
flaw which all his other merits
cannot put right. Canonising him
would be, to put it mildly,
impolitic.
At the same time, it would be
stupid for us to reject GK and
all his works because he was
wrong about Judaism. We're not
very good nowadays at separating
our disapproval of someone's
opinions from everything else
about them, but Chesterton is
too large and interesting a
figure to be rejected on account
of this big, bad error.
For myself, he'll always be the
patron saint of journalists - he
was forever writing for the
papers, usually in the pub.
Melanie McDonagh,
The Daily Telegraph
June 13th, 2018 Hot on the heels of the
article below comes
this well-argued plea that
G.K. Chesterton should not be
canonised. The writer is a
prominent Roman
Catholic apologist, clearly
sympathetic to the principle
of canonisation and
sainthood, but rightly more
than a little uneasy with
Chesterton's views on Jews.
Given the brouhaha
surrrounding perceived
anti-Semitism in the
ultra-left wing of the Labour
Party, it will be interesting
to see how the matter
develops.
Bishop puts Father Brown creator
up for sainthood
A renowned
author may become England's first
saint for 300 years after Catholic
couples claimed he answered their
prayers for "miracle" children.
GK Chesterton is best known for
his short stories featuring Father
Brown, a priest who solves crimes
using his intuition and keen
understanding of human nature, who
was loosely based on the man who
converted him to Catholicism in
1922. But now he could
become England's first Roman
Catholic saint since the 17th
century, once an official report
examining the strength of his case
is published next month.
The Daily Telegraph understands
that the document, commissioned by
the Bishop of Northampton, will
show that Catholics are praying to
Chesterton and asking for
intercession - his intervention in
their lives.
It will also dispute claims that
Chesterton held anti-Semitic
views. After the report is
published, the bishop willdecide
whether to open a "cause" with the
Vatican, which begins the formal
investigation into the extent of
Chesterton's holiness and the
sanctity of his life.
Pope Francis may look favourably
on the application, having
reportedly been a member of the GK
Chesterton Society in his home
country of Argentina. At a later
stage of the canonisation process,
the Vatican will look for evidence
that he has performed posthumous
miracles by answering prayers.
The report's findings show that
infertile couples, in particular,
are said to have singled out
Chesterton, himself childless, to
ask for miracle conceptions, said
Canon John Udris, who compiled the
report. "I have noticed
people saying that they are
praying for him," he said.
"Because Frances and Gilbert
[Chesterton] didn't have any
children, so they are finding him
as a bit of a go-to person, if for
example a couple is infertile and
looking to have a child." Tony Diver, Daily
Telegraph, June 11th, 2018
See the riposte
above __________________________________________________________
Prayers
for the sick may breach GDPR, Church
fears
The Church of England has told its
parishes not to publish prayer requests
for the sick without their permission
following the introduction of new EU data
laws. The General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR), which came into force
yesterday, has caused chaos as small
firms, charities and religious
organisations struggle to interpret the
rules.
The Church of England's guidance tells
parishes that consent should be obtained
if "names and reasons for the prayer
request are recorded and published on the
church website or in a parish
newsletter". But the Information
Commissioner's Office (ICO) said
organisations should not see the rules as
a "barrier" and churches would be free to
use information relating to someone who
was part of a congregation.
Declan Kelly, the lead adviser for the
Church of England on GDPR, said permission
would be needed "if the information were
to be published on a website, leaflet or
social media".
The Diocese of London clarified its GDPR
guidance on Thursday after some priests
were left under the impression that they
could not pray for people without their
consent. "There is no obstacle, under the
GDPR, to spoken prayers in church," a
spokesman said.
"In sensitive situations in which somebody
is highly likely to be unhappy about
having their name and/or other information
shared, we do warmly advise seeking their
agreement, and refraining from .sharing
their information in print where consent
can't be obtained."
In a situation where one individual wants
to light a candle for another and leave a
note with their details, the new guidance
says, the church must "try to ensure that
consent is obtained, particularly in our
multi-cultural society where people may
object to being prayed for".
A spokesman for the ICO said: "If, as an
organisation, you have an existing
relationship with someone, for instance
that person is part of your church
congregation or volunteers for your sports
team, you would not need their consent to
use basic personal information. Consent is
not the only basis for using and sharing
people's personal data."
Andrew Charlesworth, of the University of
Bristol law school, said the Church was
"erring on the side of
caution". "We're dealing with
quite a complex piece of legislation, it's
quite a sensitive area.
"If your mum or your nan is seriously ill,
you may not take the publication of that
very well," he said. Olivia Rudgard and Katie Morley The Daily Telegraph
May 28th, 2018
The tide
can come
back in for Christianity
Even
with
Anglicanism at its lowest ebb,
it would be wrong to give in
to fatalism. There are reasons
for hope.
Religion
is
"moribund" and Christianity
has "probably gone for good"
as Europe's default faith, a
gloomy survey told us last
week. It found that a majority
of young people in a dozen
Western countries have no
religious affiliation
whatsoever. The Victorian poet
Matthew Arnold once described
the "melancholy, long,
withdrawing roar" of the sea
of faith. This Holy Week, the
tide is so far out as to be
barely audible.
It’s
dismal
news, but it won't surprise
British churchgoers. Over the
years, they've seen the
decline with their own eyes.
As a young chorister at
Salisbury Cathedral, I was
struck by how grey-haired the
congregation was that packed
the nave at the Sunday
Eucharist. Later on, at my
monastic secondary school, the
surviving monks were mostly in
their dotage.
To be raised Christian
at the turn of the millennium,
at times, felt like witnessing
the end of something.
If there is ever to be
a religious fightback, it is
worth being brutally honest
about where we are now. Each
census shows the collapse of
religion to be the biggest
single social trend in
Britain.
Last
week's
survey found that 70 per cent
of 16- to 29-year-olds in the
UK identify with no religion.
And just 7 per cent call
themselves Anglican. The first
figure suggests atheism and
apathy are snowballing
together, and that the decline
of our national religion will
accelerate. The second shows
that the Church of England now
has fewer young adult members
than the Catholic Church in
the UK, which could undermine
its established status. Soon,
the study implied, young adult
Anglicans will be outnumbered
by their Muslim counterparts.
It's
no wonder the Prince of Wales,
who will one day be "Defender
of the Faith", has emphasised
that as monarch he will stand
up for non-Christian faiths,
too. When the Queen promised
to "maintain the Protestant
reformed religion" at the 1953
coronation, things were
different: Her Majesty knew
that more than two thirds of
the English population were
baptised Anglicans. That world
has vanished.
To a degree,
immigration flatters other
denominations and faiths.
Catholic numbers have been
swelled by the million or so
Poles in Britain, the vast
majority first-generation
arrivals. This Saturday, you
might spot some of them
carrying Easter baskets full
of eggs and bread to be
blessed at church. Muslim
immigrants are notably more
religious, too: bluntly, the
lack of integration in some
communities, as criticised by
Dame Louise Casey's government
report, helps to insulate
their faith.
Even so, it's
overwhelmingly likely that the
children and grandchildren of
today's immigrants will be
less religious. Secularism is
the dominant cultural force.
For Christians, especially,
the trends are alarming. If
they continue, we are only
decades away from complete
statistical invisibility and
near-total atheism.
But it would be wrong -
and surely un-Christian - to
give in to fatalism, or to the
Marxist historical view that
we are subject to vast,
impersonal forces and can't do
a thing to resist them. There
are points of light scattered
about and reasons for hope.
For a start, young
people become parents - and
when they do, they'll find
faith schools dominating the
league tables and achieving
the best results for their
children. They may even find
themselves re-engaging with
the Church to win a place at
them.
There is also evidence
of an emerging Christian
counter-culture. Evangelical
churches are springing up,
partly thanks to a sympathetic
Archbishop of Canterbury. The
new Gas Street Church in
Birmingham, based in an old
warehouse, attracts hundreds
each week. Good liturgy
-tambourines for some, the
music of Thomas Tallis for
others - is for me the crucial
factor. It helps to explain a
wonderful fact: attendance at
Anglican cathedrals is up over
the last decade.
Christians have not yet
disappeared from public life.
It was cheering to see Jacob
Rees-Mogg commit publicly to
his faith on breakfast
television last year. He
didn't want to impose his
beliefs on anyone, he said.
Nor would he abandon them for
the sake of cheap popularity.
It was quite a moment.
Who knows what other
challenges lie ahead: a
Catholic teacher recently told
me that his greatest worry was
how the beauty of church
liturgy could ever compete
with the excitement of the
virtual reality games
increasingly. being played by
his young pupils. But if
Matthew Arnold's metaphor
seems fitting, we should
remember the point of it -
that tides do turn.
Will
Heaven
Managing
Editor, The Spectator Holy Week 2018
High Church is too faffy, says
Bishop of London
The acting Bishop of London has been
criticised by senior clergy for
describing the High Church tradition
as "faffy ceremonial" and suggesting
that it lacks "deep faith".
Pete Broadbent made the comments in
a Facebook discussion beneath a job
advertisement that referred to a
church in the "modern catholic
tradition". Asked by a priest if
that meant "High Church", the bishop
replied: "No... High Church is faffy
ceremonial without teaching the
catholic faith. By contrast,
"properly catholic" meant "they
teach the faith... and inhabit the
liturgy".
On Thursday he added: "High Church
[as viewed] in London catholic
circles tends to mean just the
ceremonial without the deep faith
and taught and lived experience that
catholic Anglicans understand and
live."
Tony Robinson, the Anglo-Catholic
Bishop of Wakefield, said the
comments were "upsetting" for
worshippers in the High Church
tradition. "We all need to respect
each other in the Church of
England," said Bishop Robinson,
"It's not right for anyone to
disrespect somebody else's way of
worshipping."
Bishop Broadbent, the Bishop of
Willesden, is acting as Bishop of
London until Sarah Mullally is
installed as the first female bishop
of the diocese on May 12. A
prominent Evangelical, he is known
for his informal, lively manner. He
was briefly suspended as Bishop of
Willesden in 2010 for comments he
made on Facebook calling the Duke
and Duchess of Cambridge "shallow
celebrities", which he later
acknowledged were "deeply
offensive".
London is the largest Church of
England diocese. It is home to many
parishes that identify as High
Church or Anglo-Catholic. Bishop
Broadbent told The Sunday Telegraph
his criticism did not refer to
particular parishes. "No one uses
the High Church label [to describe
Anglo-Catholic worship centred on
the sacraments] any more, certainly
not in London. The labels have
moved."
Informal,
lively Bishop Pete (say no more!)
has predictably aroused the wrath
of Anglicans of our persuasion
with his ill-chosen words. Comment
is superfluous: we would merely,
as the saying has it, say ' You
worship God in your way while we
worship Him in His' But the trendy new word
'faffy' led me to much googling.
Entertainingly, various and widely
disparate online dictionary
meanings are given. We would
settle for 'totally awesome'
or 'intelligent,
happy and friendly'
(two definitions given) but be
less happy with 'awkward
or time-consuming to do or use'.
The good bishop seems not to
have done his homework, especially
since in Australian sang 'faffy'
is apparently a term for an
intimate part of the female human
anatomy.
Archbishop
criticised for 'dangerous'
paedophile claim
Leading
historians have accused the
Archbishop of Canterbury of
shaming his office with
"irresponsible and dangerous"
claims that a former bishop may
have been a paedophile.
In a letter to the Most Rev Justin
Welby, seven academics who
examined the allegations against
George Bell, the former bishop of
Chichester, said there was "no
credible evidence" that he
sexually abused a young girl. A
report last year found the Church
of England unnecessarily
besmirched the character of Bell,
who died in 1958, when naming him
publicly in an apology to his
accuser in 2015.
The signatories - Professors Sir
Ian Kershaw, Charmian Brinson,
Andrew Chandler, John Charmley,
Michael J Hughes, Jeremy Noakes
and Keith Robbins - called for the
Archbishop to retract his
comments.They stated: "None of us
may be considered natural critics
of an Archbishop of Canterbury.
But we must also draw a firm line.
The statement of Dec 15 2017 seems
to us both irresponsible and
dangerous. We therefore urge you,
in all sincerity, to repudiate
what you have, said before more
damage is done and thus to restore
the esteem in which the high,
historic office to which you have
been called has been held."
Before the allegations were made
public, Bell had been a theologian
held in high regard for his work
helping victims of Nazi
persecution. But following an
independent review by Lord Carlile
of Berriew, the Archbishop said
Bell was "accused of great
wickedness" and apologised only
"for the failures of the process".
The historians said they wished
"to express our profound dismay
with the position you have taken".
They said Bell was a "significant
historical figure" central to
their careers and their view
therefore constituted "a genuine
and pertinent authority". The
Archbishop's statement "offended
basic values and principles of
historical understanding" they
said, as it assumed a single
allegation against Bell had been
proven when it had not.
"The allegation is not only wholly
uncorroborated but is contradicted
by all the considerable, and
available, circumstantial material
which any historian would consider
credible," they wrote. The letter,
delivered yesterday, continued:
"We cannot understand how such an
unsupported, indeed insupportable,
allegation can be upheld by a
responsible public authority.
Quite
simply, it is indefensible." The
Archbishop had noted that Lord
Carlile did not decide on guilt,
but the academics pointed out that
he was deliberately prevented from
doing so by the terms of reference
that had been set out by the
Church.
"We state our position bluntly,"
they continued. "There is no
credible evidence at all that
Bishop Bell was a paedophile. We
state this after reviewing all
that is known about his character
and behaviour over many years."
They concluded that he had been
"impugned from within his own
Church of England", adding: "There
is today no cloud at all over
Bishop Bell. Nobody employing
credible critical method could
think otherwise."
The Archbishop's response to the
allegations against Bell has
already led to calls from members
of the late bishop's family for
him to resign, and resulted in
criticism from Lord Carey, his
predecessor.
Lambeth Palace did not respond to
a request for comment.
Hayley Dixon, The Daily
Telegraph
A fried egg has no place in the
nativity, say 77% of parents
Parents are tiring of modern updates to
the traditional nativity play, figures
suggest, as they say their children have
been cast as fried eggs and underpants.
According to a survey of more than 500
parents by website Families Online, 77
per cent of parents want the old story
back.
Despite this, a clear majority of
schools are opting for a modern update,
with 63 per cent saying they had chosen
a non-traditional version.
Parents said their children had ended up
playing parts including an octopus, an
alien, caterpillar, taxi driver or a
morris-dancing shepherd.
The list of modern characters was not
limited to humans and animals, however,
it can also include a toy chicken, a
pair of underpants, a mobile phone, a
fried egg or a carrier bag.
Parents voted the Angel Gabriel as the
most sought-after role in a nativity,
with almost half saying they had most
wished for it during their school days.
Mary was the second-most popular, with
37 per cent of mothers choosing it.
Another six per cent said schools should
ditch the nativity altogether as it was
no longer relevant.
Separate figures from the Church
published on Friday revealed that 56,000
Christmas services were registered with
its online map A Church Near You,
including 28,000 carol services and
1,000 nativities, with 4,472 churches
set to serve mulled wine and 6,653
providing mince pies.
Olivia Rudgard,
Sunday Telegraph, Christmas Eve
Pope calls for words of Lord's
Prayer to be changed
Pope Fransic has called on the Roman
Catholic Church to alter the Lord's Prayer
because he believes the current
translation suggests God is capable of
leading us "into temptation".
Instead, "Our father", which is the
best-known prayer in Christianity, should
be said using the phrasing adopted by
French bishops, which reads as "do not let
us enter into temptation".
The alternative wording used in France
implies that it is through human fault
that people are led to sin, rather than by
God.
The Pope made the suggestion during a
televised interview on Wednesday evening,
in which he claimed that the traditional
phrasing was "not a good translation".
"I am the one who falls. It's not him
pushing me into temptation to then see how
I have fallen," he said. "A father doesn't
do that, a father helps you to get up
immediately. It's Satan who leads us into
temptation, that's his department."
The prayer is part of Christian liturgical
culture and memorised from childhood by
hundreds of millions of Catholics.
The Lord's Prayer has been updated several
times in recent centuries, with the Church
of England's website containing both the
traditional version and a contemporary
one.
It comes a month after Bible scholars
announced they had produced the most
accurate edition of the New Testament
since it was first translated from Greek.
Faith in the clergy at an all-time
low
Trust in priests is at
an all-time low in the wake of several
abuse scandals, Ipsos Mori figures
show.
Data from the pollng company shows
that only 65% of the public would
trust a member of the clergy, putting
them below newsreaders, police and
weather forecasters.
Gideon Skinner, of Ipsos Mori, said:
'Professors, scientists, police, trade
union officials and civil servants
have become more trusted, but the
clergy are the notable losers.
'But not everything changes - doctors,
nurses and teachers have consistently
been near the top, and politicians and
journalists down the bottom' Daily
Telegraph, December 4th, 2017
Clergy feel strain from
targets to grow flock
Pressure on bishops and clergy to grow
their audience is leading to "clergy
self-harm" the Dean of Christ Church,
Oxford, has said. Speaking to an
audience at the charity Sons &
Friends of the Clergy, Prof Martyn
Percy, who also teaches in the theology
faculty at Oxford University, said
bishops "need to stop being the CEO of
an organisation that is chasing growth
targets".
Clergy stress was "fuelled by anxiety
about growth and organisation and
professionalism," he said. "The church
has become too organisational and
bureaucratic. "Sharp missional
evangelistic thinking has created a
culture where clergy feel like
employees, chasing targets - and they
feel guilty when they don't achieve
those targets, or when they can no
longer relate to what has become an
organisation." He gave-the example of
"affairs" as a type of "self-harm" which
can lead clergy to be removed from post
via a disciplinary measure.
Problems include a focus on "blue-sky"
or "visionary thinking" and "aims,
objectives and outcomes," he said, which
should be replaced with "a culture of
realism". Leaders
need to focus on "getting alongside
clergy and understanding that the role
on its own is, for many, quite
overwhelming and completely exhausting,"
he said.
Last week the Church launched a
"covenant" to preserve clergy's mental
health amid reports some were struggling
to cope. The model, based on the
military covenant between the Armed
Forces and the nation, would ensure the
Church's responsibility to offer
"appropriate pastoral care".
Prof Percy said the Church under the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby,
was becoming increasingly corporate and
focused on growth. The Archbishop, who
comes from an evangelical background, is
a former oil executive who worked in
industry for 11 years.
The decision follows a debate at the
Church's general synod earlier this
year, when the Archbishop said being a
parish priest was the "most stressful"
job he had done. Commentators have
argued that the influence of
evangelicals had led to a focus on
conversion and getting people into services.
Olivia Rudgard,
Daily Telegraph, November 2017
This
report strikes an increasingly
familiar note. The stress caused
by target-orientated management
agendas, at the expense of
compassionate guidance and
support, has been felt, in our
experience, by clergy and,
significantly, by congregations.
We need more blessing and less
bureaucracy...
Primary school boys
should be allowed to wear tutus and high
heels if they want to, the Church of
England has said in its first guidance for
teachers on transgender issues. Children
should not be restricted by their gender
when dressing up, and girls should be able
to wear a tool belt and fireman's helmet
if they choose, the document says.
The guidance for teachers in Church of
England schools, endorsed by the
Archbishop of Canterbury, says that
children "should be at liberty to explore
the possibilities of who they might be
without judgement or derision".
The document emerges as a growing number
of children are coming forward to express
doubt about their assigned gender.
Figures released earlier this year by the
Gender Identity Development Service show
that the number of under-18s referred to
the north London clinic has grown from 314
in 2011 to 2,016 last year.
The guidance says: "A child may choose the
tutu, princess's tiara and heels and/or
the fireman's helmet, tool belt and
superhero cloak without expectation or
comment. Childhood has a sacred space for
creative self imagining." The
document also says young children "should
be afforded freedom from the expectation
of permanence: "They are in a 'trying on'
stage of life, and not yet adult and so no
labels need to be fixed."
Teachers in Church of England
schools should "avoid labels and
assumptions which deem children's
behaviour irregular, abnormal or
problematic just because it does not
conform to gender stereotypes or today's
play preferences," it adds.
Introducing the document, entitled Valuing
All God's Children, Justin Welby,
the Archbishop of Canterbury, said: "All
bullying, including homophobic, biphobic
and transphobic bullying :auses profound
damage, leading to higher levels of mental
health disorders, self-harm, depression
and suicide. Central to Christian theology
is the truth that every single one of us
is made in the image of God."
An increasing number of schools have begun
to liberalise their uniform policy to
allow boys to wear skirts and dresses if
they wish. Under-18s who say they have
been born in a body which does not match
their gender are not offered surgery, but
are sometimes given hormones which
suppress puberty. Figures released to the
Mail on Sunday earlier this year suggest
that more than 800 children are receiving
this treatment.
The Church guidance adds that secondary
school pupils should be allowed to "'try
on identities for size", explaining that
teenagers "need to be offered the freedom
that was afforded to the child in nursery
of the metaphorical dressing up box of
trying on identities without assumption or
judgement".
Charities and LGBT organisations welcomed
the document.Javed Khan, the chief
executive of Bamardo's, said: "Respecting
the unique worth of every person is an
integral part of Barnardo's values, so we
wholeheartedly welcome this move by the
Church of England."
Olivia Rudgard, Daily Telegraph
We're gathered digitally here
today... rather than in church
The Church of England now reaches more
people via social media than in services,
new figures reveal.
The statistics suggest the Church has now
reached the point where more people follow
its online accounts than attend regular
services. Around l.lmillion attend
services at least once a month, while the
Church estimates 1.2million people are
"reached" every month via Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram and Linkedln.
The figures showed that the decline in
regular church attendance continued in
2016, with average Sunday attendance
falling to a new low of 780,000 people.
Over the same period the Church has
tripled its followers on both Face-book
and Instagram. But it admitted it was
struggling to convert a growing digital
audience to physical attendance.
William Nye, secretary general to the
General Synod, said the figures were a
"sobering reminder" of the challenge faces
by the Church. He said that while
the internet was an area of growth, "our
challenge is to join up that growing
online church life to the physical
community of church that forms the body of
Christ".
The figures also showed that another area
of growth was midweek services, at which
attendance by people who did not go on
Sunday increased from 111,800 in 2011 to
122,700 in 2016. The rise is thought to be
partly explained by the growing popularity
of services such as choral evensong, which
is held in urban cathedrals and attracts
young professionals.
Midweek services are also held as part of
the "fresh expressions" movement, which
organises less conventional services in an
attempt to attract young adults.
Sam Donoghue, head of children and youth
ministry support in the Diocese of London,
said: "In some ways theidea of
church being uncool has gone - children
are growing up past that." By Olivia Rudgard, Daily Telegraph,
October 19th, 2017
Persecuted
Christians
A Oxford college has
banned the Christian Union from its
freshers' fair on the grounds that it
would be "alienating" for students of
other religions, and constitute a
"micro-aggression".
The organiser of Balliol's fair argued
Christianity's historic use as "an excuse
for homophobia and certain forms of
neo-colonialism" meant that students might
feel "unwelcome" in the college if the
Christian Union (CU) had a stall. Freddy
Potts, vice-president of Balliol's Junior
Common Room (JCR) committee, said that if
a representative from the CU attended the
fair, it could cause "potential harm" to
freshers.
Mr Potts, writing on behalf of the JCR's
welfare committee, told Lucy Talbot, the
CU representative at Balliol, that their
"sole concern is that the presence of the
CU alone may alienate incoming students".
In email correspondence, seen by The Daily
Telegraph, he went on: "This sort of
alienation or micro-aggression is
regularly dismissed as not important
enough to report, especially where there
is little to no indication that other
students or committee members may
empathise, and inevitably leads to futher
harm of the already most vulnerable and
marginalised groups.
"Historically, Christianity's influence on
many marginalised communities has been
damaging in its method of conversion and
rules of practice, and is still used in
many places as an excuse for homophobia
and certain forms of
neo-colonialism." He said that
barring the Christian Union "may be a way
of helping to avoid making any students
feel initially unwelcome within Balliol".
Initially he said the JCR committee wanted
the fair to be a "secular space",
explaining that since he "couldn't
guarantee every major belief system" would
have stalls at the fair, students from
other religions may "suffer" if their
faith is not represented. However, Mr
Potts later conceded that he would allow a
"multi-faith" stall at the fair, with
information about various university
religious societies. Student
representatives of the CU were barred from
attending in person.
The move sparked a backlash among
students, with the JCR passing a motion on
Sunday condemning the committee's ban as a
"violation of free speech, a violation of
religious freedom, and sets dangerous
precedents regarding the relationship
between specific faiths and religious
freedom".
A Balliol College spokesman said: "We are
pleased to see that the students
themselves have now resolved this matter.
"Following last night's JCR motion, the
Christian Union will be offered a stall at
future freshers' fairs.
"Balliol is a tolerant, friendly college
where students of all faiths and none are
free to worship and express their beliefs
openly."
Camilla Turner, Education Editor, and
Tony Diver, Daily Telegraph, October
19th, 2017
Why TV vicars could be
the answer to Church prayers
Learning the cha-cha-cha and
appearing on reality television is
somewhat unusual behaviour for a
Church of England priest.
But senior Church figures say that
celebrity vicars like the Rev
Richard Coles and the Rev Kate
Bottley have made it more accessible
- and contributed to a ten-year high
in the numbers of trainee clergy.
This year there were 544 new
trainees, up from 476 last year -
the largest figure in a decade. New
priests are also getting younger,
with 28 per cent aged under 32, iip
from 23 per cent last year.
The Church of England has had a PR
boost in recent months with
"celebrity vicars" Coles and Bottley
appearing on television and in the
media. Coles, a former member of pop
band The Communards, is one of this
year's Strictly Come Dancing
contestants while Bottley, who rose
to fame on the Channel 4 series
Gogglebox, has been announced as a
new Radio 2 host.
The Bishop of Repton, the Rt Rev Jan
McFarlane, who was one of the first
women to be ordained by the Church
in 1994, said she believed the pair
had made the church appear more
accessible. "With Richard and Kate,
being on Strictly Come Dancing and
shows like that, they've just come
across as human people who happen to
have a strong faith," she said.
The number of women in ordained
ministry is also at a record high.
Of the 544 ordinands - or trainee
priests - starting their courses
this year, 274 are women, a 19 per
cent rise on last year. The Church
now has 5,690 women priests.
Jemima Lewis, 33, a journalist,
mother-of-three and an ordinand,
said she has been encouraged by
moves to make the priesthood more
inclusive towomen, such as
part-time curacies and courses that
fit around child care.
She said: 'There's a higher profile
of women as vicars and it seems a
bit more normal that that could
happen.'
Olivia
Rudgard in the Telegraph again.
It occurs to me that we
are also making good progress in
fictional priests in recent years.
The splendid Tom Hollander as
'Rev' is a vast improvement on the
hapless Noot (All Gas and Gaiters
if anyone rememebrs him!)
Stops pulled on church organist who
backed his 'tuneless' choir
The church choir is generally assumed
to be a bastion of inclusivity,
acceptance and love for all.
Not, it would seem, in Harpenden,
where a church organist felt he had no
option but to leave his post after
trying to stand up for the tuneless
older singers sidelined by a handful
of "sharp-elbowed" London types.
Peter Hopkins had been musical
director of the choir at St Nicholas
Church in the leafy Hertfordshire
suburb for six years. But he claims he
was "effectively ousted" by resentful
singers who did not believe those with
more enthusiasm than talent should be
allowed some of the limelight.
Mr Hopkins, from St Albans, who has
been head of music at several leading
schools, said he was "of the view"
that the choir should include all
types of singers, good and bad.
However, within the last year, some
"ringleaders" had joined the choir who
felt that the better singers should
take priority.
While the organist was keen to be
discreet, a source close to the choir
revealed there had been an "influx" of
members aged around 35-40 whose
behaviour and "barbed comments" at
rehearsals had raised eyebrows. "These
are cut-throat lawyer types who work
in London and want to apply the same
technique they apply in the workplace
in the church choir, which just
doesn't work," the source said. "You
have to be nice. But they try to
dominate. They are sharp-elbowed
adults who don't seem to be able to
sit back and let the expert do his
job."
One of the problems in that particular
area is that there are many
"well-heeled" parents who commute to
London but moved to the Home Counties
to get their children into good local
state schools. Mr Hopkins, 57, said:
"I am an inclusive organist and I want
everybody to sing, whether they are
any good or not."
The group boasts up to 30 members,
aged eight to 80, but it is understood
that even the children were sidelined
by some.
Victoria Ward
(No sharp elbows at St Faith's...)
'Prevent us, O Lord...'
Trainee priests get crib sheet to
decipher CofE prayers
PRIESTS-in-training are to be given
glossaries for the first time to help them
understand the Book of Common Prayer
because they struggle to decipher the
language.
The Prayer Book Society, which gives out
free copies of the 17th-century book to
first-year students in theological
colleges, will this year include a key to
some of its more old-fashioned words and
phrases.
The list includes definitions for words
such as "eschew" meaning abstain from,
"concord", for an agreement between
people^ and "froward", meaning perverse or
contrary.
Some of the included words could cause
confusion to young ordinands due to more
modern definitions. For instance, in the
17th century, "magnify" didn't mean to
make something appear larger than it is,
but to glorify or praise greatly.
At the time the book was written "meet"
meant "appropriate or fitting". And
"comfortable", rather than meaning at ease
or relaxed, meant to strengthen or to make
strong.
Tim Stanley, the Society's press officer
who conceived the scheme, told The Daily
Telegraph: "The language is quite
Shakespearey. It's very beautiful but it's
very ancient and there are some words in
it which modern readers might find
difficult to understand."
The glossary was researched and drafted by
Fergus Butler-Gallie, a 25-year-old
ordinand at Westcott House Theological
College, Cambridge.
The Prayer Book Society was founded in
1972 to promote the 1662 version of the
book, which was first created in 1549 by
Thomas Cranmer, amid concerns that it
would fall out of use due to competition
from more modern versions.
It is the traditional service book of the
Church of England which is still widely
used and remains broadly unchanged from
its original 16th-century incarnation. In
a press release the Society said:
"Although Cranmer committed himself to
setting out church services in 'a tongue
understanded of the people', the meaning
of some of his language - as with
Shakespeare's - has changed over the
centuries."
The glossary will be given in bookmark
form to new students, and is also
available on the Society's website.
The ever-reliable Olivia Rudgard
in the Daily Telegraph.
Believe it or not
More
than half of British people are
non-believers
Britain is losing its religion, research
has found, with the proportion of
non-believers the highest it has ever
been. More than half of the population has
no faith and the share who say they are
Church of England Christians has fallen to
just 15 per cent - the lowest recorded.
Just three per cent of those, aged 18 to
24 said they were CofE, while the
proportion overall of non-Christians has
tripled from two to six per cent. Half of
those aged 55 to 64 said they had no
religion.
Church of England leaders said the
findings were "troubling", but expressed
optimism that the Church could still
attract some of the 53 per cent who said
they had no religion. The Bishop of
Liverpool, the Rt Rev Paul Bayes, said:
"Saying 'no religion' is not the same as a
considered atheism. People's minds, and
hearts, remain open."
But Andrew Copson, the Humanists UK chief
executive, said the figures were proof
that the Church was undergoing an "ongoing
and probably irreversible collapse". Of
the overall six per cent belonging to
other faiths, half were Muslim and a third
were Hindu, with Jewish, Sikh, Buddhist
and other groups all smaller.
The figures from the British Social
Attitudes Survey were first produced in
1983, when more than two thirds of the
population said they were Christian. This
has fallen to 41 per cent.
Olivia Rudgard, Religious Affairs Correspondent,
Daily Telegraph, September 8th 2017
We want our stolen
churches back, pagans tell
Archbishop
A group of pagans has written to the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby,
demanding two churches to make amends for
those it says were stolen 1,300 years ago.
The Odinist Fellowship, which represents
1,000 members of the pagan religion, wrote
to the Church of England last month asking
for two churches to be returned to make up
for actions which took place during the
Christianisation of England.
The letter, addressed to the Archbishop,
said: "With a view to re-establishing
better relations between the Odinist
Fellowship and the Christian churches in
England, and persuaded that a restitution
of past wrongs is the best way to lay the
foundations of improved relations, we wish
you to be aware that the great majority of
Odinists believe that honour requires the
English church to issue a public apology
for its former crimes against the
Odinists."
Ralph Harrison, director of the
Fellowship, told The Sunday Telegraph:
"Two bishops have sent responses, which
have been polite, but nothing substantial.
The objective is just to get the Church to
acknowledge that it has got a history of
persecution when it comes to the Odinist
religion and it has to take stock of that
and not just write it out of history.
Within the Odinist community there is a
strong sense of antagonism towards the
institutional Church." The group wants one
church from the diocese of York and one
from the diocese of Canterbury.
It said that during the Christianisation
of England, which began in the 7th
century, many temple grounds were seized
by early church leaders, including St
Augustine, and turned into churches. Mr
Harrison called this process a "spiritual
genocide". "As things stand, the Church of
England is in possession of a vast
quantity of stolen property," he said.
In another letter sent to the Archbishops
of Canterbury and York last year, a group
of priests said: "If such satisfaction is
not offered, albeit that your church
possesses a superfluity of ecclesiastical
properties, then we most respectfully
assure you, that we will persist ever more
vocally in our just demands until at last
they are met."
According to Mr Harrison, Martin Warner,
the Bishop of Chichester, responded by
saying "As yet I am uncertain as to the
evidence for the strength of Odinist faith
in these parts".
A registered religious charity since 1988,
the Fellowship promotes the "original,
indigenous faith of the English people"
which was practised by Angles, Saxons and
Jutes. It is polytheistic and believers
follow the High Gods of Asgarth, who they
see "not as our masters, but as firm
friends and powerful allies".
According to Mr Harrison, there are around
10,000 Odinists in the country.
Olivia Rudgard Sunday Telegraph, 27th
August, 2017 The long-suffering C of
E is familiar with the claims voiced
by not a few of our Roman Catholic
brethren that we stole their
churches at the Reformation. This,
however, is something completely
different...
Sing hosanna!
No more Songs of Praise
retakes
The BBC's Songs of Praise has
found favour with church
leaders after ending its
practice of making
congregations sing
hymns"several times in order
to get the perfect television
shots.
Previously, programme-makers
required several retakes, a
time-consuming exercise that
some churches found
frustrating. However, filming
methods have now changed after
the BBC lost the rights to
make the show in-house. It is
now produced by an independent
company, which films church
services in one take.
A recent episode visited the
annual conference of the New
Wine network of churches in
Somerset. The Rev Mark
Melluish, its national leader,
had previously taken a stand
against the show's
perfectionist tendencies and
had declined requests to film
there. However, he said the
new incarnation of Songs of
Praise is an improvement.
"There were no retakes. They
were so easy to work with."
"BBC producers would retake
for technical issues - either
sound or because someone^ had
done something they did not
feel looked right."
The BBC lost the rights to
make Songs of Praise in-house
in March as part of a process
in which all shows made by BBC
Studios must be put out to
tender. It lost out to a joint
bid by Avanti Media and Nine
Lives Media, which secured a
three-year contract.
An Avanti spokesman said: "We
have an outside broadcast unit
which enables us to film
singing without repeated
takes. One-take recordings are
completed when requested. We
really enjoyed filming at New
Wine."
The head of BBC Studios said
of the decision: "We are
disappointed with the outcome.
We take great pride in how
we've nurtured and developed
the series."
Anita Singh, Daily
Telegraph, August 2017 Many of us will recall
the BBC's insistence on detail,
when, during filming at St Faith's
we were required to practise saying
'Amen' over and again to get the
right sound. Not the best sort of
sevenfold amen... During another
recording session, sound engineers
asked one of our members to desist
from singing as he was too loud and
upsetting the balance. Who was it?
Answers on a postcard, please.
___________________________________________________________________
Churches cry foul as bats in
the belfry create a stink
Wardens say
conservation laws prevent them
from taking steps to block the
creatures, and their mess
It
would try the patience of a saint.
While congregations may sing about
all creatures great and small,
when bat excrement is falling from
the ceiling, it is difficult to
turn the other cheek. In
fact, bats in the belfry are
becoming such a problem for
parishioners that churches are now
calling for a change in
conservation laws.
It's
illegal to stop a bat reaching its
roost - leaving many churches unable
to patch up holes in their walls and
doors, which bats use for access.
Almost 100 churches are thought to
have applied for the Bats and
Churches Partnership, which will
monitor the bats to see whether
church managers could be allowed to
take action to protect their
historic buildings. It is funded by
=£3.8million of National Lottery
cash.
At one church, All Saints in
Braunston, Rutland, volunteer
wardens spend hours cleaning pews
and floors of bat urine and
excrement each time the church is
used, and have been forced to
protect valuable furniture i and art
with sheeting. Three years ago,
staff said they were struggling to
cope after the vicar had to shake
droppings out of her hair while
celebrating Holy Communion.
Gail Rudge, 74, a lay minister at
All Saints, said: "I think the whole
point is conservation laws were
needed, but now they need to be
reviewed and made a little less
stringent. "The crucial thing
is maintaining the balance between
our need to have a clean church
without any damage and the bats'
need to have somewhere to roost. We
want to get [the gap in the wall]
blocked up but the laws are so
strict, there's nothing we can do."
She said it takes around an hour and
a half for one or two volunteers to
clean the church of bat droppings
and urine on the morning of an
event, such as a wedding. On one
occasion, the church warden
collected 200g of bat droppings.
They have also had to cover up two
600-year-old wall murals because
they were in danger of being damaged
by the excrement.
The church is one of three hoping
for a reprieve after they were
chosen for a pilot scheme under the
Bats and Churches Partnership.
Another church chosen for the
scheme, Holy Trinity in Tattershall,
Lincolnshire, says it has more than
700 bats roosting in the building.
Staff have been unable to restore
the 500-year-old doors to the Grade
I listed church because it would
mean closing a gap used by the bats
for access.
David Mullinger, the church's deputy
warden, said the European law that
makes bats a protected species is a
particular issue in England and
Wales because of the way churches
are designed. He said: "The majority
of European churches have much
larger roof space, which means that
bats can enter that area without
going into the church. In English
churches, that isn't usually the case -
there isn't a lot of space so they
come into the main church."
At the third church, All Saints
Church in Swanton Morley, Norfolk,
Gerry Palmer, lay chair of the
parochial church council, said the
pilot gives them hope. "What we're
hoping for is a change in the law so
that it's relaxed. We want to keep
our church open so it can be used
for the purpose it's been intended
for," he said.
A Natural England spokesman said the
agency was trying to find a "broader
and more common sense approach to
the legislation", which approached
conservation "more strategically and
less animal-by-animal".
Olivia Rudgard, Daily Telegraph
Religious Affairs Correspondent
7th August, 2017
Poor being abandoned by 'coffee shop
clergy'
The Church is 'abandoning' the poor
because middle-class clergy are unwilling
to move away from 'trendy coffee shops' ,
a bishop has said.
The Rt Rev Philip North launched a
stinging critique of Church of England
priests in a speech made at Christian
conference New Wine United.
The Bishop of Burnley said: 'I am
astonished at the number of people Jesus
is calling to plant new churches as long
as they are in Zones 1 and 2 of the London
transport system. We need you on the other
estates, in northern towns... we need you
in areas where trendy coffee shops are
hard to find.
He said the Church was 'complicit in the
abandonment of the poor.'
Daily Telegraph, 4th August 2017
The archives...
To access stories
from 2013 and 2014, scroll down the
page
Are we still a Christian nation?
No more Parish Magazines...?
Dropping sin and the devil from
Anglican baptisms
'Overzealous' church
vets 58,000 workers in year
Carey's vision of the church
might kill it off
Defender of the Faith
Pruning the Prelates
Faith back at the Heart of
Government
The Dawkins Delusion
Catholics may let CofE share
communion
No place for Jesus in R.E., but
there's always Gandhi
World Christians martyred for
their faith
Faith Schools too middle class? Would God vote Lib Dem or Tory? Archbishop Welby: church
on the edge of a precipice Girl Guide unbelievers denied use of
church halls Persecuted Christianity Fretting about Fracking Don't cast away the Bible Swearing by Jesus CRB checks for Wardens and
Bell-ringers
Is
Britain really
a Christian
Nation?
That's the view of the former Archbishop
of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. In an
interview with the Sunday Telegraph, he
observed: 'A Christian country as a nation
of believers? No. A Christian country in
the sense of still being very much
saturated by this vision of the world and
shaped by it? Yes.'
His observations were borne out by the
paper's poll. Only 14 per cent of
respondents described themselves as
practising Christians, while 38 per cent
described themselves as non-practising
Christians and 41 per cent as
non-religious. An interesting group was
the two per cent that didn't know. Just
over half, 56 per cent, said Britain was a
Christian country; 30 per cent said not;
14 per cent didn't know.
Unsurprisingly, it was oldies who were
clearest in their sense of Britain's
Christian identity: 73 per cent of
over-65s said it was. Certainly that's the
country in which oldies grew up. Most
over-65s will have been educated in
schools where Christian religious
instruction rather than religious
education was the norm; in other words you
were taught about Christianity as a matter
of received faith, not the
quasi-anthropological, multi-faith subject
in today's state school curriculum. Which
isn't to say that religious instruction
was necessarily done well. My uncle, who
is 90, remembers these classes as a matter
of teachers reading from scripture: there
was little or no effort to engage the
boys' interest.
What you did have were Sunday schools,
where parents could offload their children
on a Sunday afternoon to get proper
religious instruction. The movement,
founded by Robert Raikes - you can see his
statue on the Victoria Embankment in
London - was at its peak in the :88os when
some 5.5 million children attended, but it
survived in robust shape until the 19503.
Many working-class children would have
gone to them and their decline has a good
deal to do with the present crisis in
Britain - the strange death of
working-class Christianity. Private school
pupils, with their continuing regime of
school chapel attendance, probably have a
better chance of some sort of religious
formation.
As for Catholics, the most critical
development has been the steep decline in
the numbers of nuns. They were the
backbone of Catholic primary education for
boys and girls. A friend, a university
chaplain, has observed that the biggest
divide he notices is the one between the
generation taught by nuns and the
generation since; those the nuns taught
are indefinably assured about what they
should believe, even if they don't believe
it. Those taught subsequently by lay
teachers are less well grounded in what
they're meant to know - the stuff of
religion.
Linda Woodhead, the brilliant sociologist
of religion, has said that if the churches
are to survive, religious instruction must
be done in the family, as is the case with
minority religious communities such as
Sikhs. I can't see it myself. Most Brits
regard religious education as a matter for
schools - they don't have the knowledge
themselves to impart. The best hope is for
more Christians to take on the governance
of free schools and academies to expand
the provision of that elusive thing, the
Christian ethos; that way, if parents want
a Christian education for their children,
they can get it.
Melanie McDonagh, R.C. commentator,
writing in 'The Oldie', June 2014
Church
fears end for
Parish Papers Church
leaders fear
for the future
of parish
magazines, as
one of the
oldest is to
close after
115 years.
The parish
magazine at
the Brontes'
former home of
Haworth, West
Yorks, is
thought to
rfave first
gone on sale
around 1899,
growing from a
single page
into a 12-page
magazine. The
current
edition will
be the last
after the
church, which
hosts a busy
website, found
that only half
of the 200
copies being
printed were
sold.
"It is costing
us a lot of
money, and
like all
organisations
we have to
make hard
decisions
about
spending,"
said the Rev
Peter
Mayo-Smith,
the vicar of
Haworth. "We
recognise
certain groups
of people
really love
paper so we
might go to a
quarterly,
glossy
magazine,
rather than
[writing
about] who is
doing the tea
rota and who
is handing out
the hymn
books." He
added that the
exact age of
the magazine
was unknown
but that its
roots may
extend back to
the Brontes.
In 2009, the
Church of
England
celebrated 150
years of
parish
magazines.
Now, there are
signs that
many are
changing from
monthly
publications
to more
expensive,
quarterly
magazines.
The Bishop of
Bradford, the
Rt Rev Nick
Baines, a
communications
expert at the
Church, said:
"The whole
media world
has changed.
People look at
a church on
the internet
not wandering
around
buildings.If
we are trying
to communicate
more widely
there are
other, more
imaginative
cost-effective
ways of doing
it. "What we
should not be
is slaves to
nostalgia and
see if there
is a better
way of doing
things.The
other thing is
you have to
have the
people to
produce a
church
magazine which
can be a
problem these
days."
A recent
report for the
Church of
Scotland
pointed to the
decline for
church
magazines in
general. "One
of the
questions the
Church will
have to face
is whether we
wish to
duplicate in
print news
items which
inevitably
appear
instantly in
electronic
form," it
warned.
January
28th, 2014
As
editor of our
magazine, this
strikes a
chord. I have
seen the
printed
edition, which
was once
distributed
free of charge
as part of our
mission, drop
from a peak of
380 to some 80
copies each
month, partly
as a result of
making a
charge in the
last few
years, but
also due to
increasing
accessing of
the online
version, which
is inevitably
more colourful
and which
costs nothing
to access and
read.
Please
Don't Drop the
Devil
Christina
Odone, doughty
R.C.
journalist,
responds
persuasively
to the piece
below
The devil is
in the detail,
but nowhere
else, if the
Church of
England has
any say in the
matter.
Henceforth,
Anglican
christenings
will drop the
word "devil"
from the
service.
Parents and
godparents
will opt for a
new formula,
renouncing
"evil" and
"empty
promises"
instead of the
devil.
What a pity.
The devil has
been with us
for millennia,
serving a
vital purpose.
Whether you
see him (I
still think of
the
anti-Christ as
a "him") as a
horned fellow
with a
pitchfork and
goatee, or,
Minotaur-like,
as half-man
half-beast,
the devil
personifies
the intangible
and
unmentionable
wickedness in
the world. It
may be
childish to
hanker for a
solid figure
of fear and
loathing, but
I suspect it
is a good
thing for
human beings
to share a
basic, even
primitive,
sense of evil.
When being
wicked is
nuanced and
subtle, the
very worst can
appear
sophisticated;
when bad is an
ambiguous
term, being on
guard becomes
a guessing
game. I don't
want to be
like Aunt Ada
in Cold
Comfort Farm,
spending my
life in the
shadow of
"something
nasty in the
woodshed".
That kind of
vagueness
thrills in
fiction but in
real life it's
confusing.
There's
nothing vague,
thank
goodness,
about the
devil.
Stupendously,
unashamedly
evil, Satan
has fallen
from on high
and rubs his
hands with
glee at the
prospect of
tempting us to
do the same.
He pleads and
entices, then
thumps us
-just like the
worst bully in
the playground
or at work.
Whether he
succeeds in
making us do
his bidding,
as with Adam
and Eve in the
Garden of
Eden, or
fails, as with
Jesus in the
desert, the
devil offers
the easiest
lesson in
ethics. Few
children today
are taught, as
the nuns in
Rome taught me
and my
five-year-old
classmates,
that a
guardian angel
sat on our
right
shoulder,
urging us to
do good, while
a devil sat on
the other,
tempting us to
do
bad. But
Beelzebub
emerges as
such a vivid
figure, if
sometimes as
garish as the
bad guy in a
Disney film,
that even the
tiniest child
-and not only
one raised in
a Christian
household
-recognises
what he
represents.
The Church
should hold on
to such a
powerful
figure. I can
see that the
devil is
controversial
in a culture
that seeks to
blame every
vice on
poverty,
discrimination
or spending
cuts. The
notion of
truly
unmitigated
evil sounds
truly
subversive in
this context,
so perhaps the
C of E can
pass off the
devil as a
prop in RE
lessons. This
should not
prove
difficult
given that
most schools'
RE features
nowadays a
hodge-podge of
the major
faiths - and
the devil
stars in all
of them.
Even if
through
subterfuge,
Satan must be
spared. He has
served
Christianity
so well: by
capturing the
imagination of
painters,
poets,
politicians,
even the
Rolling
Stones, he has
ensured that
the Christian
concept of
evil is common
currency. Or
at least, it
has been.
Today, things
look less
promising as
Britons, so au
fait with
Americanisms
and online
jargon,
struggle with
biblical
references.
Scholars point
out how many
everyday
expressions
originated in
the King James
Bible - "a law
unto
themselves"
and "a thorn
in the flesh"
are but two
examples. But
Michael
Symmons
Roberts, who
won the
Forward poetry
prize last
year, has
complained
that if he
wants to reach
a young
audience, he
must prune his
poetical
lexicon of
biblical
references.
Should he
mention "the
Ark" or
"Bathsheba" he
cannot be sure
anyone under
40 will know
what he's
getting at.
The devil has
survived
"Bathsheba"
(and David and
Goliath too, I
warrant) so it
would be a
shame for the
C of E to ban
him. In so
doing they
would rob
Anglicans of
an easily
identifiable
foe; and our
language of
its richness.
Sin
no more:
dropping the
devil from
Anglican
baptisms
Traditionalists and reactionaries will either laugh
or weep at
this latest
piece of C of
E
trendiness.
Christina
Odone has a
very different
view above...
The
Church of
England should
remove
references to
sin from
baptism
services
because people
associate the
word with "sex
and cream
cakes" rather
than religious
and moral
transgressions,
clergy behind
the reforms
said
yesterday.
The Church was
yesterday
accused of
"dumbing down"
after
trialling a
new wording
for
christenings
in which
parents and
godparents are
no longer
asked to
"repent of
their sins"
and "reject
the devil".
The new
wording was
drawn up after
a request from
a group of
clergymen from
Liverpool, who
wanted the
service to be
made easier to
understand.
The group
included the
Rev Dr Tim
Stratford, who
has since
become the
Archdeacon of
Leicester and
is also a
member of the
Church's
19-strong
Liturgical
Commission,
which drew up
the new
wording.
"There are
questions over
how the word
'sin' is
received," he
said. "There
are two ways
it crosses
people's mind
instantly: one
way is, it's
all about sex.
The other way
is, it's all
about cream
cakes and
eating less.
We are talking
about
something that
is much bigger
than that."
He said he
would not
oppose the
inclusion of
the word 'sin'
in the
service, but
added: "There
is a case for
exploring
whether we can
talk about sin
more deeply,
without using
the actual
word 'sin'
that trips
some people
up."
The new
wording, which
is being
trialled from
this month
until Easter
in 400 of the
Church's
14,000
parishes,
instead asks
parents and
godparents
instead to
"reject evil".
The Archdeacon
defended the
cutting of the
reference to
the 'devil'.
"The devil is
a very strong
image and the
image that
will cross
people's minds
is probably a
little red
creature with
a pitchfork
and pointed
ears because
that's what
popular art
has done to
the devil," he
said. "Am I
sorry society
is losing its
sense of the
devil? Yes. Do
I think that
it is easy to
use that word
in a baptism
service in
which there
are large
numbers of
people who are
not familiar
with the
language of
the church? I
think that's a
discussion we
have got to
have."
He said that
as a parish
priest on a
large estate
in Liverpool
he could see
that some
"phrases and
poetic
sentences" in
the baptism
service were
not being
understood
properly. The
clergy, he
said, wanted
the messages
to be
"communicated
more
strongly."
But the Rt Rev
Michael
Nazir-Ali, the
former Bishop
of Rochester,
told the Mail
on Sunday that
the change
constituted
"dumbing down"
and that the
Church should
instead spend
more time
"preparing
people for
these great
rites of
passage".
The Church of
England
stressed
yesterday that
the new
wording was
subject to
approval by
the General
Synod. Even if
approved, it
"would not
replace or
revise the
current
Baptism
service but
would be
available for
use as
alternatives
to three parts
of the
service".
Emily Gosden, Daily Telegraph, January 7th, 2014
'Overzealous'
Church vets
58,000 workers
in a year
Volunteer
bell-ringers,
florists and
organists risk
being pushed
out of the
Church of
England
because of a
regime of
"overzealous"
criminal
record checks,
the Archbishop
of Canterbury
has been
warned.
Figures
obtained
through the
Freedom of
Information
Act show that
at least
58,000 people
have been
vetted by the
Church in the
past 12 months
before being
allowed to
work in
parishes or
take
back-office
roles. More
than 80 per
cent of the
checks were on
volunteers, it
emerged.
In many cases,
vetting
procedures are
used in
relation to
adults working
with children
in Sunday
schools and
church creches
- a target of
the
Government's
Disclosure and
Barring
Service (DBS).
But large
numbers of
volunteers
with positions
including
organists,
choir members,
bell-ringers,
altar servers,
welcome
stewards and
tour guides
have also been
subjected to
criminal
record checks.
The figures
were revealed
after the
Archbishop of
Canterbury,
the Most Rev
Justin Welby,
said this year
that the
Church was
being "utterly
ruthless" in
its approach
to criminal
record checks,
even though
cases of abuse
were
"negligible".
The Archbishop
said
volunteers
refusing
checks would
be told: "You
can't come to
church." But
campaigners
warned that
blanket checks
were
unnecessary,
would "breed
suspicion and
make long-time
volunteers
feel that they
were not
welcome".
It was also
claimed that
the move
created a
"false feeling
of security"
and did little
to weed out
child abuse.
The comments
were made
despite
government
reforms
designed to
stop
institutions
such as
schools,
charities and
churches
imposing
cumbersome
vetting
procedures.The
Coalition
pledged to
scale back
Labour's
"vetting and
barring
scheme" -
introduced
after the
murders of
Soham
schoolgirls
Holly Wells
and Jessica
Chapman in
2002 by school
caretaker Ian
Huntley - amid
concerns the
process had
spiralled out
of control.
As part of the
new service
founded in
late 2012,
only those in
sensitive
posts with
intensive
contact with
children or
vulnerable
adults need to
undergo
criminal
record checks.
But the
Manifesto
Club, which
campaigns
against the
regulation of
everyday life,
said the
Church was
taking an
"overzealous"
approach.
Its director,
Josie
Appleton,
said: "There
is simply no
need to vet
volunteers
before they
arrange
flowers or
welcome
visitors at
the church
door. Blanket
criminal
record checks
breed
suspicion and
make long-time
volunteers
feel that they
are not
welcome."
She added:
"What happened
to the
Christian
values of
goodwill and
good faith?
General
vigilance and
adult
responsibility
would do far
more to
protect
children."
But the C of E
insisted it
would "make no
apology for
taking action
to ensure our
systems are as
robust as
possible".
Graeme Paton, Daily Telegraph
Carey's
vision for the
Church might
kill it off
In
this
stimulating
and sombre
article for
the Daily
Telegraph,
controversial
commentator
A.N.Wilson
says that the
'vibrant'
services
favoured by
the former
Archbishop
will not bring
back the
crowds
I go to a
well-attended
church in
London, but I
have made
frequent
.travels
throughout
England in the
past year
(literary
festivals,
television
work, visiting
friends). On
Sunday
mornings, I
have gone to
church. When
staying with
friends near
Canterbury, I
have enjoyed
splendid
liturgy,
intelligent
sermons and
often part of
a huge
congregation.
So what do I
make of Lord
Carey, the
former
Archbishop of
Canterbury,
saying that
the Church is
"only one
generation
from
extinction,
its clergy
gripped by a
feeling of
defeat" and
its
congregations
rn down with
"heaviness"?
Is he
suffering from
peevish-old-man
syndrome?
Alas, Lord
Carey is
right. Come
away n
Canterbury
with me into
the parishes I
have visited -
in the West
intry, in East
Anglia, in the
Midlands and
the North. I
have attended
at least 10
churches in
the past year
- all very
different in
their history,
but in each
case I have
had the same
experience. At
the age of 63,
I have been
the youngest
person present
by 20 years.
The
congregation
has seldom
numbered
double
figures. The C
of E is a
moribund
institution
kept going by
and for old
people. They
are ministered
to (perhaps I
was just
unlucky) by an
ill-educated
clergy with
nil
public-speaking
ability.
Lord Carey, as
an
evangelical,
thinks that
the cure for
all this is to
reach out to
young people
with such
initiatives as
the Alpha
Course (a
basic
grounding in
the faith,
which began at
Holy Trinity
Brompton). He
wants the sort
of services
that such
Christians
consider
"vibrant".
Evangelicals
like him have
had some
success,
mainly in
suburban
parishes,
where
congregations
can be
numbered in
their
hundreds. But
these places,
which appear
to buck the
trend, are in
catchment
areas of tens
of thousands
of people,
none of whom
would go near
such an
evangelical
Church, with
its outreach,
Toddlers'
Praise and
speaking in
tongues.
There are two
simple reasons
for this, and
there is
nothing anyone
can say that
will make
these reasons
go away.
The first is
sex.
Traditional
Christianity
taught that
there is no
permitted
sexual act
outside
marriage. All
but no one now
- even
Christians -
really
believes this.
What used to
be called
"living in
sin" is
absolutely
normal. Nearly
all young
people, gay or
straight, when
they reach a
certain moment
in their
relationship,
try living
together. The
Churches can
either back
down and say
that for 2,000
years they
have been
talking
nonsense about
sex; or they
can dig in
their heels.
Either way,
the Church is
diminished.
The second
reason is a
much bigger
thing. That is
the decline of
belief itself.
Most people
simply cannot
subscribe to
the
traditional
creeds. No
number of
Alpha courses
can make
people believe
that God took
human form of
a Virgin, or
rose from the
dead. They
simply can't
swallow it.
They see no
reason,
therefore, to
listen to a
Church that
propounds
these stories
and then
presumes to
tell them how
to behave in
the bedroom.
When there was
a tradition of
church-going,
there was more
room for
unbelief. When
a young priest
told
Archbishop
Michael Ramsey
that he had
lost his faith
in God, Ramsey
replied, after
a long pause:
"It doesn't
matter - it
doesn't
matter." You
can't imagine
Lord Carey
saying that.
Unbelief, and
the change in
sexual mores,
affects not
only the
decline in
Anglican
congregations,
but the entire
history of the
Western
Church. The
"Francis
effect" is
said to be
drawing back
mass
attendance in
Italy. But the
Pope's focus
groups, asking
what the
faithful
believe, will
yield similar
results as
they would in
the Church of
England -
people don't
think it is
sinful to live
together, they
don't think it
is sinful to
be gay, and
they no longer
really believe
in the
Incarnation.
This is dire
news for
institutional
Christianity.
Yes, pockets
of prayer
still exist -
of course they
do, in the
surviving
religious
orders in both
Churches, in
individuals
and in
parishes. Some
people like me
will always
feel their
hearts
restless until
they rest in
God. And we
feast on the
riches that
the Church
provides. Go
to church and
you are not
alone.
Stretching
back into
Platonic and
Jewish
pre-Christian
times, the
wise of old
are there to
speak to you,
through
liturgy,
Scripture,
architecture
and music.
But such
habits of
Common Prayer
(as we still
call it, some
of us) are a
knack, like
the enjoyment
of classical
music (which
is also, we
are told,
something that
is
catastrophically
on the wane in
Britain). Lose
the knack and
it is very
difficult to
reclaim it.
Most decent,
intelligent,
middle-aged or
young people I
know have no
sense at all
of what
churches are
for. The
trouble is, so
many of those
who run the
institutions
share this
deficiency.
Those of us
whose minds
are filled
(whatever we
believe) with
the words and
patterns of
the old
liturgy feel
like the old
man in
Nineteen
Eighty-Four,
O'Brien, who
is one of the
last left
alive who can
remember the
words of
Oranges and
Lemons.
Maybe, in
"reviving" a
Church along
Lord Carey's
lines, we
would actually
finish it off
altogether.
Maybe for
Churches, as
for people,
there really
are fates
worse than
death.
O'Brien asked
Winston (the
hero of
Nineteen
Eighty-Four)
to propose a
toast -
perhaps to
drink to the
future.
Winston
instead
proposes "To
the past!".
'The past is
more
important,'
agreed O'Brien
gravely." I'd
drink to that.
December
2013
Defender
of the Faith
Christianity
is beginning
to disappear
in its own
birthplace due
to a wave of
"organised
persecution"
across the
Middle East,
the Prince of
Wales warned
last night.
In an
impassioned
intervention,
he said that
the world is
in danger of
losing
something
"irreplaceably
precious",
with
communities
mat trace
their history
back to
Jesus's time
under threat
from
fundamentalist
Islamist
militants.
He said he had
become "deeply
troubled" by
the plight of
his "brothers
and sisters in
Christ". The
Prince, a
longstanding
advocate of
dialogue
between
religions,
voiced dismay
at seeing his
work to "build
bridges and
dispel
ignorance"
being
"deliberately
destroyed" by
those
attempting to
exploit the
Arab Spring
for their own
ends.
He devoted a
Christmas
reception at
Clarence House
for religious
leaders to
draw attention
to the threat
to Christians
in recent
months across
Egypt, Syria,
Iraq and other
parts of the
region. In his
address, the
Prince urged
Christians,
Muslims and
Jews to unite
in "outrage"
as he warned
that the
elimination of
Christianity
in much of the
Middle East
would be a
"major blow to
peace".
"I have for
some time now
been deeply
troubled by
the growing
difficulties
faced by
Christian
communities in
various parts
of the Middle
East," he
said. "It
seems to me
that we cannot
ignore the
fact that
Christians in
the Middle
East are
increasingly
being
deliberately
targeted by
fundamentalist
Islamist
militants."
Earlier in the
day he heard
vivid
testimony from
Christians who
have fled to
Britain, as he
visited the
London
cathedral of
the Syriac
Orthodox
Church and the
Coptic
Orthodox
Church centre
in Stevenage,
Herts.
The Prince
said:
"Christianity
was literally
born in the
Middle East
and we must
not forget our
Middle Eastern
brothers and
sisters in
Christ. "Yet
today the
Middle East
and North
Africa has the
lowest
concentration
of Christians
in the world,
just four per
cent of the
population,
and it is
clear that the
Christian
population has
dropped
dramatically
over the last
century and is
falling still
further. We
all lose
something
immensely and
irreplaceably
precious when
such a rich
tradition
dating back
2,000 years
begins to
disappear."
He added: "For
20 years I
have tried to
build bridges
between Islam
and
Christianity
and to dispel
ignorance and
misunderstanding
... we have
now reached a
crisis where
the bridges
are rapidly
being
deliberately
destroyed by
those with a
vested
interest in
doing so. This
is achieved
through
intimidation,
false
accusation and
organised
persecution
including upon
Christian
communities in
the Middle
East at the
present time." John
Bingham
Religious
Affairs
Editor, The
Daily
Telegraph,
December 2013
Pruning
the Prelates?
The Church may cut bishop numbers as
congregations continue to fall
The Church of England is considering
"radical" plans to cut the number of
bishops as it faces up to a collapse in
congregations. Members of the
ruling General Synod were told that
dioceses could be merged and the role of
bishops reassessed to cope with a drop
in donations as ageing congregations
dwindle.
Lord Carey, a former archbishop of
Canterbury, has warned that the Church
could be a "generation away from
extinction". The Archbishop of York, Dr
John Sentamu, also urged the Church to
begin a missionary campaign, comparing
its current arguments to "rearranging
furniture when the house is on
fire".
Despite strong growth in some parts of
the Church, especially evangelical
congregations, average Sunday
attendances have almost halved in the
past 40 years to 807,000. The Census in
2011 showed that the proportion of the
population of England and Wales
describing themselves as Christian had
dropped from 72 per cent to 59 per cent
in a decade.
In a written question tabled to the
Synod, the Rev Dr Patrick Richmond, from
Norwich, asked what the Church was doing
to address the "impending human and
financial resource challenges". In a
formal reply, Prof Michael Clarke,
chairman of the Church's Dioceses
Commission, pointed to a scheme to merge
three• dioceses in West Yorkshire. The
dioceses of Bradford, Wakefield and
Ripon and Leeds are to be replaced with
a "super-diocese" under a single bishop,
in the first move of its type in modern
times. The Rt Rev Stephen Platten, the
final Bishop of Wakefield, is to return
to parish ministry in London. His
counterpart in Ripon, the Rt Rev John
Packer, is to retire.
The Church has 112 bishops, with 43 in
charge of dioceses in England, a figure
soon to be reduced to 41. Prof Clarke
said that more cuts could be on the way.
John Binqham Religious Affairs Editor,
The Daily Telegraph, November
2013
Faith
is back at the
heart of
government, says
Baroness Warsi
Faith is being put back at
the "heart of government,"
as it was under Sir Winston
Churchill and Baroness
Thatcher, a minister will
say today. The Coalition is
one of the "most pro-faith
governments in the West,"
Baroness Warsi, the Minister
for Faith, will say. "More
often than not, people who
do God do good."
Churchill and Thatcher would
have welcomed the
Coalition's promise to
protect the right of town
halls to hold prayers and
the creation of more faith
schools under Michael Cove's
Free Schools programme, she
will say.
Public policy was
"secularised" under the
previous, Labour government,
Lady Warsi will tell an
audience at the Churchill
Archives at the University
of Cambridge. But Churchill
saw totalitarian regimes as
"godless" while Thatcher
regarded politics as second
to Christianity in denning
society, she will say.
"We see flickers of
Churchill's flame and echoes
of Thatcher's sermons in all
we do," she will say. "But
this was never inevitable.
When we came back into power
in 2010,1 felt that some of
the reverence for religion
had disappeared from
politics. I found that the
last government didn't just
refuse to 'do God' - they
didn't get God either."
The Coalition ruled out a
ban on the full-face veil
out of respect for religious
liberty, she will say, also
citing the welcome it gave
to a ruling which saw Nadia
Eweida win the right to wear
a small crucifix at work for
British Airways.
Lady Warsi, a former
chairman of the Conservative
Party, will say that
religious groups must be
allowed to provide public
services without the state
being "suspicious of their
motives". "I know that Mrs
Thatcher would have approved
of devolving power to faith
communities," Baroness Warsi
will say. "As she once said:
'I wonder whether the State
services would have done as
much for the man who fell
among thieves as the Good
Samaritan did for him?'"
Of Churchill she will say:
"He took the bigots to task,
berating one anti-Semitic
politician and telling him
his views did not represent
the Conservative Party,
arguing that it was quite
possible to be a good
Englishman and a good Jew.
"And that has inspired me
again and again to say that
it is entirely possible to
be British and Muslim."
David Cameron is a Church of
England worshipper but has
said his faith "comes and
goes". Tony Blair, the
former Labour prime
minister, was urged to keep
his faith private by his
aides. Alastair Campbell
famously said: "We don't do
God."
Matthew Holehouse,
Political Correspondent Daily Telegraph, November
12th, 2013
The
Dawkins Delusion?
Interesting man, Richard Dawkins. In
interviews for his new book, An
Appetite for Wonder, he has been
talking about the cultural value of
Anglicanism. At Oundle School he led a
schoolboy insurgency against kneeling in
chapel, which was followed by an
interview with the headmaster. 'It was a
revelation,' he told the Spectator's
Douglas Carswell, 'to talk to a decent,
humane, intelligent Christian, embodying
Anglicanism at its tolerant best.'
Indeed, he says, 'I'm kind of grateful
to the Anglican tradition for its benign
tolerance. I sort of suspect that many
who profess Anglicanism probably don't
believe any of it at all in any case but
vaguely enjoy it, as I do... I suppose
I'm a cultural Anglican and I see
evensong in a country church through
much the same eyes as I see a village
cricket match on the village green. I
have a certain love for it.' He would,
he says, miss churches if they didn't
exist. 'I would feel an aesthetic loss.'
And he thinks knowledge of the Bible is
important for the culture.
Yet Richard Dawkins has done as much as
anyone to make the Bible seem not just
redundant, but malign. He himself draws
a clear distinction between Anglicanism
and militant Islam, but in his
best-known book,'The God Delusion', it
was religion per se that was the object
of his enmity.
He can take satisfaction in having won
the culture war, at least in England.
When he observed, in another interview,
that 'I think we are winning. We are all
moving in the same direction. I get the
feeling more and more that religion is
being left behind,' I think he is right.
At a dinner party, he says, 'you do not
have to be reticent in what you say. You
do not have to look around and say "I
hope I am not offending anyone."' Well
yes, that's pretty much my experience
too.
Yet I would take issue with the Prof in
his contention that his victory will
have no moral results, that society will
be no less kindly as it becomes less
Christian. Asked whether the moral
underpinning of British society is not
profoundly Christian, Prof Dawkins
responds: 'I don't buy that. I live in a
post-Christian world in Oxford... and
there is absolutely no tendency for
rioting and mayhem and it is extremely
civilised.'
Yes, but. The Oxford in which he lives
is profoundly influenced by
Christianity, in a thousand subtle ways,
from the physical presence of churches,
to college grace, to the age of so many
academics, formed, like the Prof, in an
environment in which knowledge of the
gospels could be taken as a given. A
cultural revolution takes a couple of
generations to come about. Most
middle-aged atheists and agnostics will,
like him, have experienced a world that
could take for granted that everyone
would be shaped by the Christian
morality of the Prodigal Son, the
widow's mite, turning the other cheek.
The precepts of Christianity were shared
by all, not just churchgoers.
Once that ceases to be the case, as is
happening already, we shall see whether
our culture will indeed be more kindly;
I am sure it is already less honest. I
am afraid when that moral framework
goes, the consequences will be grimmer
than he imagines.
Catholics
may let CofE share
communion
By John Bingham
The ban on
Anglicans receiving Roman Catholic
Holy Communion could be relaxed as
part of moves to bring the two
Churches together after centuries
of division, one of Britain's most
senior Catholic clerics has
suggested. . The Most Rev Bernard
Longley, the Roman Catholic
Archbishop of Birmingham,
signalled that restrictions might
be "reconsidered" as a result of
"deeper sharing" between the two
Churches.
Although he
insisted he was expressing a
"personal view", the Archbishop's
comments will be closely watched
as he is the senior Catholic
cleric responsible for dialogue
with the Anglicans. His remarks
were warmly welcomed by leading
figures in the Church of England.
For centuries, the
issue of communion was a source of
some of the deepest and most
bitter division between
Protestants and Catholics.
In the 16th and
17th centuries Christians from
both traditions were killed, in
part because of disagreements over
transubstantiation - whether the
bread and wine in communion was
really transformed into the body
and blood of Christ or was simply
a symbol.
Archbishop Longley
is the Catholic co-chairman of the
Anglican-Roman Catholic
International Commission. In
an interview with the Church of
Ireland Gazette, he said that
although the two Churches now work
closely on ecumenical matters it
was a source of "pain" that they
still could not share communion.
But he pointed to
a Vatican document from 1993 as
well as a paper produced by
bishops in the British Isles which
allow non-Roman Catholics to
receive sacraments in very special
circumstances, including if they
are in danger of death.
"I could imagine
and foresee one of the fruits of
our ecumenical engagement as
moving towards a deeper
understanding of communion and a
deeper sharing between our
churches," he added.
The Rt Rev
Christopher Hill, the Anglican
Bishop of Guildford, welcomed
Archbishop Longley's comments and
said that the influence of Pope
Francis could mean that the time
is ripe for change.
Sunday Telegraph, October
13th, 2013
________________________________________________________________________________________________ No place
for Jesus in R.E., but there's
always Gandhi
Aged
eight, my daughter knew
that she must . take her
shoes off when entering a
mosque. But ask her to
recite the Ten
Commandments, and she
couldn't. This, despite
being at a Catholic state
primary. I wasn't too
surprised, therefore, to
learn that religious
education in state schools
is inadequate - so much so
that Ofsted claims most
pupils don't know who
Jesus was.
This
is not a metropolitan, or
even a British,
phenomenon. One irate
mother tweeted last night
that in her child's
primary school in Ireland,
RE consisted of watching
videos of Gandhi. (In his
Ben Kingsley
reincarnation, I am
willing to bet.) I have
nothing against the
Mahatma, who probably does
come as close to holiness
as human beings can get.
But if Gandhi deserves a
role in RE, Jesus should
star. This is a Christian
country, not a Hindu one.
Yet
Jesus is being sidelined,
and His teachings with
Him. If we treat the
nation's religion so
casually, as if we valued
it no more and no less
than an inspiring human
rights campaigner, it
stands to reason that we
should erase it from
serious places such as the
courtroom. It becomes
perfectly legitimate for
magistrates to propose to
remove the Bible from the
court - which is what they
plan to do next month.
Henceforth, they suggest,
when witnesses have to
swear to tell the truth,
they'll just hold up their
hand and... and what?
Cross their hearts and
hope to die? Mouth the
Scouts' pledge, now that
God's been banned from
that, too?
Christianity
was once the lingua franca
in the West. Today, it is
as exotic as Shiva,
Ganesha and Kali, of
Gandhi's Hindu faith.
Sadly, ignorance often
feeds hostility. Grown-ups
unschooled in the basics
of their religion - the
catechism, say, or the
parables of the New
Testament - are suspicious
of its influence. Their
discomfort
grows with talk, now
unfamiliar, of sin and
Judgment Day. Jesus may be
hailed as meek and mild,
but his message sounds
scary to an audience used
to the comforting tut-tuts
of their shrink, or the
happy pill sold by their
GP. Far easier to quash
such disturbing talk and
banish the trouble-makers.
Or, at least, warn them
not to pipe up in public
with their puritanical
notions.
I
wrote about this recently
in my ebook No God Zone.
In the course of my
research, I interviewed
men and women who had
learnt that religion had
become a secret pastime to
practise behind closed
doors. Each one had to
choose between their work
and their faith - or
between the boss and God.
They included a nurse, a
couples' counsellor and a
pharmacist.
They
had hoped that the state,
which pays lip service to
freedom of conscience,
would exempt them from
doing what they held to be
wrong. The pharmacist who
didn't believe in
abortion, for instance,
wanted to be exempt from
selling the morning-after
pill; the couples'
counsellor who didn't
believe in gay marriage
wanted to be exempt from
advising a homosexual
couple. They were
disabused of this blind
hope when they were
sacked, suspended from
their job, or humiliated
in public. In effect, a
number of professions now
are closed to believers.
But,
as the magistrates'
proposal proves, ignorance
of religion affects lives
beyond the workplace.
People's identity, not
just their job, is at
stake. Who are we, and
what do we believe in?
When Christianity was at
the centre of British
life, that answer was
clear - from classroom to
courtroom. Not everyone
practised, or believed, in
the nation's Church. But
they knew what it stood
for. Today, few can
distinguish between Jesus
and Gandhi, or
Shiva and Yahweh. That's
not multiculturalism, but
the hollowing out of
culture. We are the poorer
for it.
Cristina Odone
October 9th, 2013
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Welby:
World Christians are being
martyred for their faith
Christians
are being martyred for
their faith in parts of
the Muslim world, but
should still pray for
terrorists, the Archbishop
of Canterbury said
yesterday.
The Most Rev Justin Welby
said that there had been
more than 80 Christian
"martyrs" in the past few
days alone. He was
speaking about the bombing
of All Saints' Anglican
church in Peshawar,
Pakistan, in which 85 were
killed and more than 200
injured.
Christian communities
which have existed "in
many cases since the days
of Saint Paul" are now
under threat in countries
such as Syria and Egypt
Last month, around 100
Christian sites were
attacked amid turmoil with
42 churches burnt to the
ground. Ancient Christian
communities in Syria have
also been singled out for
violence.
Speaking during an
interview Radio 4,
Archbishop Welby, who
leads almost 80 million
Anglicans around the
world, said it was the
duty of Christians to pray
for their killers.
He said that religious
conflicts were bound up
with other social and
historical grievances, but
that this could not
explain several recent
attacks on Christians.
"I think Christians have
been attacked in some
cases simply because of
their faith," he
said. "I think it is
true to say — and also in
Peshawar — that we have
seen more than 80 martyrs
in the last few days. They
have been attacked because
they were testifying to
their faith in Jesus
Christ by going to church.
That is outside any
acceptable expression...
of religious difference."
He said the Church
had raised it concerns
with William Hague, the
Foreign Secretary, and
called on other
governments to act to
protect Christians.
He added: "As Christians,
one of the things is that
we pray for justice and
particularly the issues
around the anger that
comes from this kind of
killing. But we are also
called, as Jesus did at
the Cross, to pray for
those who are doing us
harm."
John
Bingham, Religious Affairs
Correspondent, Daily
Telegraph
Faith
Schools 'Too Middle Class'
Middle-class
parents are increasingly monopolising
places at the most sought-after faith
schools amid fresh claims that religious
secondaries are becoming more socially
selective.
New research shows that religious
schools are far less likely to reflect
the economic status of families in the
local area than traditional
comprehensives.
Around a fifth of secondary schools in
England have a particular religious
affiliation. But a study found that more
than two thirds of the most socially
exclusive schools are faith-based. One
Church of England school, St Mary
Redcliffe and Temple in Bristol, takes
just under 8 per cent of pupils from
poor families even though more than half
of children in the area are in deprived
households.
The Fair Admissions Campaign, which
wants to end religious selection,
claimed that many faith schools have
overly complicated admissions policies
that favour middle-class families who
can play the system to secure places.
Researchers analysed the number of
children eligible for free school meals
in all non-academically selective state
secondaries in England. They compared
these with the number of poor pupils in
the area using data from the Office for
National Statistics.
Some 19 per cent of comprehensives are
faith-based, the study said, but 68 of
the 100 "worst offenders" are
religiously selective.
Faith school admissions policies have
been repeatedly defended by religious
leaders, who claim they ensure schools
give priority to the children of true
believers. Earlier this week, the Most
Rev Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of
Westminster, insisted that
parental preference for a faith-based
education was a "precious" human
right.
But Rabbi Dr
Jonathan Remain, head of the Accord
group, which is a part of the
Fair Admissions Campaign, said: "It is
astonishing that faith schools, whose
remit should be to look after the
needy and vulnerable, seem to be
ignoring them."
Graeme
Paton, Education Editor, Daily
Telegraph September 21st, 2013
Pray consider:
would God be a Lib Dem or a
Somerset Tory?
See
also Terry Wogan's comment
below
The question of which political party
God would join is unlikely to have
crossed the minds of many notable
theologians. But that is
precisely what is being asked by
Westminster MPs after a minister
declared that God is a Lib Dem.
Steve Webb, the pensions minister, said
that evidence in the Christian gospels
suggested that God shared the values of
members of Nick Clegg's party. He made
the claim, which he admitted "will shock
or offend some" in the introduction to a
new book entitled Liberal Democrats Do
God. "The most fundamental reason
why Christians should feel at home in
the Liberal Democrats is that the
character of God, as revealed in the
Christian Gospel, would suggest that God
must be a liberal," Mr Webb wrote. The
MP for Thornbury and Yate in
Gloucestershire added: "This assertion
will shock or offend some, but I believe
that there is no other conclusion that
can be drawn from a reading of the New
Testament."
However, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the
Conservative MP for nearby North East
Somerset, said that "everyone knows that
God is a Somerset
Conservative". "I think it's
highly unlikely that God is particularly
interested in the minutiae of party
politics but if He were, everyone knows
that God is a Somerset Conservative," Mr
Mogg said. "Joseph of Arimathea
is well known to have brought Christ to
visit Glastonbury when Christ was a
schoolboy - that would indicate a
Somerset connection, and all sensible
people in Somerset are Conservatives, so
we get Him as a Somerset Tory."
Despite disagreeing with Mr Webb's
views, Mr Rees-Mogg said that he was
impressed that the minister was "willing
to speak up for his faith". "I
think he's a first class minister, and I
think that in his role, you would want
to think that what you were doing was
the Christian thing to be doing," Mr
Rees-Mogg said. "So I rather
admire Steve Webb for saying it, but I'm
not going to let him get away with the
idea that God lives in Gloucestershire
and is a Lib Dem."
The book is a collection of essays by
Lib Dems who aim to show Christianity
can contribute positively to politics.
Its title is a riposte to Alastair
Campbell, Tony Blair's former spin
doctor, who once said of the last Labour
government: "We don't do God." Tim
Farron, the Lib Dem president, wrote in
his contribution: "Liberal Democrats
stand alone as the defender of the
rights of all human beings."
Peter Dominiczak
Wogan's World
The one and
only Mr W.
adds his
comment on the
heavenly
politics
debate in his
weekly column
According
to Steve Webb, the Lib Dem Pensions
Minister, although his party may be
flagging in the popularity stakes with the
public, it none the less as the unswerving
support of Almighty God.
Nothing new there; since man first crawled
from the primeval ooze, both sides in
every dispute, political or military, have
claimed that God is on their side. The
belief is everywhere. The Liverpool
striker, Louis Suarez, looks to leaven and
blesses himself in thanks to the Man Above
every time he scores. The golfer Bernhard
Langer gave thanks to 'his God" for
helping him win the Masters. Leaving the
rest of the field wondering why the
Almighty had singled out Bernhard for the
trophy while allowing the rest of them to
flounder in rough and bunker.
Even if Langer and Suarez say their
prayers every morning, and are rigorous in
the pursuit of their religious duties, it
seems hardly fair for God to single them
out for special treatment. Surely they
must wait for Heaven to claim their
eternal reward?
Mr Webb - who, I would remind you, is in
charge of our future in the crucial area
of pensions - has more to say in the
manner of the Prophets: "The most
fundamental reason why Christians should
feel at home in the Liberal Democrats is
that the character of God, as revealed in
the Gospel, would suggest that He must be
a liberal. There is no other conclusion
that can be drawn from the New Testament."
Well, "stone me!", as Tony Hancock used to
say, but I always believed, in common with
everybody else brought up in the Christian
faith, that the God of the New Testament
was one and the same as the God of the Old
Testament And the latter was as far
removed from Liberal principles of
personal freedom and self-determination as
you can get. He operated more along the
lines of a dictator, and not a benign one
either. You toed that line, or you got
fire and brimstone on the back of your
neck, or a plague of locusts. He
didn't seem big on self-expression. You
only had to turn around against his wishes
and you were a pillar of salt.
Nowadays, according to Mr Webb, God takes
a kindlier, liberal view: He probably is
in two minds over tracking, and will
listen to both sides of the debate on wind
turbines and climate change. Although, as
with Suarez, Langer and the Lib Dems, He
will probably listen more closely to Sir
David Attenborough on climate change.
Last week, I finished on a line from A
Little Night Music: "Send in the clowns."
The next line is: "Don't bother, they're
here."
Oh, and Nick Clegg says he's an atheist.
Sunday Telegraph
Welby:
Church on Edge
of a Precipice
Archbishop warns Anglicans
worldwide that divisions are
taking them close to plunging into
a 'ravine of intolerance'
THE Archbishop of Canterbury has warned
that the Anglican church is tottering on
the brink of disintegration amid
disputes between liberals and
traditionalists. In his most stark
comments yet about divisions over issues
such as homosexuality, the Most Rev
Justin Welby said the Church was coming
perilously .close to plunging into a
"ravine of intolerance". He even drew
parallels between the crisis afflicting
the 77million-strong worldwide network
of Anglican churches and the atmosphere
during the Civil War. And he likened the
collective behaviour of the Church to a
"drunk man" staggering ever closer to
the edge of a cliff. Yet he added that
many of the issues over which different
factions in the Church were fighting
were "incomprehensible" to people
outside it.
He spoke out during a sermon in
Monterrey, Mexico, which he was visiting
as part of a plan to travel to every
province of the Anglican Communion at
the start of his ministry. The
Archbishop, who took office in February,
inherited a Church deeply divided at
home and abroad. At home, he has been
attempting to resolve the seemingly
intractable disagreements within the
Church of England over women bishops.
But the worldwide Anglican Church has
also been split between liberal
provinces, particularly in North
America, and more conservative regions
for several years after the US Church
consecrated its first openly homosexual
bishop.
Archbishop Welby said the Church had to
steer a course between, on one hand,
compromising so much that it abandoned
its "core beliefs" and, on the other,
becoming so intolerant that it fractured
completely. Addressing a service in
Monterrey, he spoke about the life of
Jeremy Taylor, a cleric imprisoned after
the Civil War. "I sometimes worry that
as Anglicans we are drifting back in
that direction," he said. "Not
consciously, of course, but in an
unconscious way that is more dangerous.
Like a drunk man walking near the edge
of a cliff, we trip and totter and slip
and wander, ever nearer to the edge of
the precipice.
"It is a dangerous place, a narrow path
we walk as Anglicans at present. "On one
side is the steep fall into an absence
of any core beliefs, a chasm where we
lose touch with God, and thus we rely
only on ourselves and our own message.
On the other side there is a vast fall
into a ravine of intolerance and cruel
exclusion. It is for those who claim all
truth, and exclude any who question."
He went on: "When we fall into this
place, we lose touch with human beings
and create a small church, or rather
many small churches - divided,
ineffective in serving the poor, the
hungry and the suffering, incapable of
living with each other, and
incomprehensible to those outside the
church.
"We struggle with each other at a time
when the Anglican Communion's great
vocation as bridge builder is more
needed than ever."
By
John Bingham, Social Affairs
Editor, Daily Telegraph
Threat
to church hall
meetings for
Girl Guides
who refuse
oath to God By Victoria Ward, Daily Telegraph
Girl
Guide groups
who do not
pledge
allegiance to
God should be
turfed out of
the church
halls they
meet in,
Christian
leaders and
groups have
warned.
It
would be
"hypocritical"
of the
103-year-old
movement to
expect to use
church
premises after
abandoning its
beliefs, Rev
Paul
Williamson of
St George's
Church in
Feltham,
Middlesex,
said.
"If the Guide
promise does
not mention
God, I cannot
see why they
should be on
Church
premises," he
added. "The
Girl Guide
Association
does not
realise what
it's done. It
has not
thought
through the
consequences
and has made
itself look
ridiculous."
The
organisation
has been
plunged into
an atheist row
after
announcing
that it is to
scrap the
traditional
oath,
replacing
references to
"God" and
"country" with
a pledge to
"be true to
myself and
serve the
"community".
A
group in
Harrogate
became the
first to defy
the movement —
risking
expulsion — by
promising that
it would be
"sticking with
the previous
promise". Rev
Brian Hunt,
minister of
the church
where
Harrogate
Guides have
met for around
50 years,
supported
their stance,
indicating
that the unit
could not
possibly
expect to use
the facilities
otherwise.
"My church
allows the
Guides to use
my premises
for free," he
said. "And we
do that
because
they've always
tried to look
after the
whole person -
body, mind and
soul - and we
encourage
that. I don't
think, in
fairness, that
Girl Guides
can expect
churches to
provide
premises for
free when they
don't believe
in God."
Hundreds
of Girl Guide
groups meet in
church halls
or premises,
which they are
often allowed
to use for
free or for a
token
amount.
Rev
Williamson, a
former Scout
leader, said
most Guide
groups did not
have the funds
to run their
own buildings
and that
schools or
councils would
charge far
more to hire
their
facilities.
"It seems to
me the Girl
Guides are
being
doctrinaire,
feminist and
anti-Church,"
he said. "How
can they
expect, as a
reputable
charity
organisation,
to go on using
church
premises
whilst telling
young girls
that they
cannot promise
their duty to
God?"
A
Christian
Concern
spokesman said
removing any
reference to
God from the
oath was a
"slap in the
face" to
churches that
provide
premises as
well as the
movement's
many Christian
members and
leaders. "It's
understandable
that some
church leaders
won't be happy
providing
premises if
the Guides are
so insistent
on keeping God
out of the
movement. It
puts the
movement at
odds with
Christian
belief as well
as its
original
Christian
ethos."
A
Girlguiding UK
spokesman
insisted that
the decision
to change the
oath was based
on research to
"unify all
girls of all
backgrounds
and all
circumstances".
She said:
"Updating the
promise does
not alter our
continuing
commitment to
offer all
girls a safe
space where
they can
explore and
develop their
beliefs.
"We remain
hugely
appreciative
of all the
support
churches give
to guiding and
hope they will
continue to do
so. If they do
not feel able
to we will
work with
local
volunteers to
ensure a
suitable
alternative
venue is
found."
Stephen
Evans of the
National
Secular
Society said:
"There is
something
deeply
unpleasant and
unchristian
about the
threat to deny
Girl Guides
access to
church
buildings,
particularly
when the new
promise is as
inclusive of
Christians as
it is of those
of other
faiths or
none".
August 26th,
2013
Persecuted
Christianity
Melanie
McDonagh
A
really
excellent book
has come into
paperback -
Christianophobia,
by Rupert
Shortt (Rider,
£9.99), an
account of
attacks on
Christians qua
Christians
around the
world. He
estimates that
200 million
people are
persecuted and
discriminated
against, which
makes it
easily the
most targeted
religion. Yet,
as he says,
the mystery is
why the
situation is
not a source
of anger and
indignation in
liberal
countries such
as Britain,
which rightly
takes other
forms of
discrimination,
against women,
say, very
seriously.
We're not
talking here
about the soft
stuff - people
not being
allowed to
wear crosses
at work. We're
talking
hardcore
persecution.
The
author takes a
dozen and a
half countries
as object
lessons, from
Egypt to
Indonesia. And
while he
acknowledges
freely the
problematic
record of
Christians
themselves in
relation to
each other as
well as to
other faiths,
and notes the
grim record of
Hindu
fundamentalists
in India when
it comes to
Christians,
the inexorable
conclusion is
that this is a
problem to do
with Islam,
and certainly
with
particular
strands of
Islamic
fundamentalism.I
made for the
chapter on
Egypt because
I've just been
there. What
emerges is
that
discrimination
against
Christians is
not a new
problem, a
consequence of
a brief period
of Muslim
Brotherhood
government,
but a
continuing
succession of
attacks on
Christians, on
top of
systematic
discrimination
over decades.
Discrimination
is centuries
old, but the
rise since the
19703 of
Salafism, the
Wahabbi
fundamentalism
of Saudi
Arabia, has
made a bad
situation
worse.
There
were until
recently about
ten million
Copts, an
ancient strand
of
Christianity,
living in
Egypt. Yet
like all the
other
Christian
communities in
the Middle
East,
believers are
blamed for the
sins of their
co-religionists
in the West -
anything from
the invasion
of Iraq to the
Danish
cartoons. They
are better
educated than
most; they
have the means
to go abroad,
and they do,
in hundreds of
thousands, to
the US, Brazil
or Australia.
There
are good
reasons to
leave. To take
recent
examples,
there was the
bombing of
worshippers at
a church in
Alexandria in
the New Year
2010, killing
21 people,
following an
earlier attack
that killed
nine
Christians at
a church near
Luxor. More
recently,
after the
uprising
against the
Muslim
Brotherhood,
three people
were gunned
down outside
the Coptic
cathedral in
Assiut.
Wha's
striking is
both the
triviality of
the pretexts
on which the
attacks are
made - alleged
insults to
Islam, alleged
apostasy or an
extension to a
church, and
the reluctance
of the police
or judiciary
to react. The
situation of
Muslim
converts to
Christianity
is grim. In
one 2005
example, a
convert,
Gaseer Mohamed
Mahmoud, was
arrested by
police and his
toenails
pulled out. He
was taken to a
mental
hospital where
he was beaten
and whipped
and told he
would be
incarcerated
until he
renounced his
faith. This
isn't lions in
the
amphitheatre,
but it's
persecution
all the same
and it's
replicated
through many
parts of the
Muslim-majority
world.
The
question is
why this
situation is
under-reported.
It's hard not
to agree with
the author's
conclusion
that the
reason for
this is a
'bien-pensant
blind spot'
which
identifies
religion as a
source of
conflict, with
nothing much
to choose
between them.
Daily Telegraph, August 25th, 2013
Fretting
about Fracking A sequence of
articles and letters on this
controversial subject.
1.
Fracking risks God's creation,
says Church By James Kirkup, Deputy Political
Editor, The Daily Telegraph
The
Church of England has told
parishioners that fracking causes
environmental problems and risks
harming 'God's glorious creation'.
The warning has
been issued to Anglicans in
Lancashire, where significant work to
extract gas and oil by fracking has
been proposed.
The Diocese of
Blackburn published a leaflet for
members of its flock telling them
that, for Christians, fracking
presents 'a choice between economic
gain and a healthy environment'.
Conservative
ministers are stepping up efforts to
promote the technology to voters as an
economic necessity. Fracking, which
involves fracturing rocks deep
underground with water and chemicals
to extract oil and natural gas, has
sharply cut US energy bills and
imports. Ministers say it could do the
same for Britain, but campaigners and
communities are opposing fracking in
several counties, warning that it does
environmental harm.
The Church leaflet
appears to endorse such concerns,
saying: 'Fracking causes a range of
environmental problems.' It does not
explicitly commit the Church to a
clear position for or against
fracking. But its focus is on the
potential for lasting environmental
damage and urges believers to consider
their Christian duty to act as
'stewards of the Earth'.
It says: 'The time
we spend thinking, praying and acting
now to protect our drinking water, and
the rest of God's glorious creation
cannot compare with the time
succeeding generations could
potentially spend trying to make good
what will likely happen if we in the
Church remain uninformed and silent.'
A spokesman for the
diocese said the leaflet was to inform
parishioners about the issues involved
in fracking, and not to persuade them
to oppose the technology.
August 17th, 2013
2. Fracking fears over
Church's land
claims By James Kirkup,
Deputy
Political
Editor
The Church of
England has
begun legal
action to
claim ancient
mineral rights
beneath
thousands of
homes and
farms,
prompting
fears that it
could seek to
profit from
tracking.
Residents
across England
have started
receiving
letters from
the Land
Registry,
informing them
that the
Church is
seeking to
register the
mineral rights
to the earth
beneath their
properties.
Lawyers
believe the
Church's claim
may allow it
to profit from
tracking, the
method of
extracting oil
and gas by
fracturing
underground
rocks with
water and
chemicals.
The Church
said it has
"no particular
plans to mine
under any
property".
Some church
leaders have
opposed
tracking. The
Daily
Telegraph
revealed this
week that the
Diocese of
Blackburn has
warned
parishioners
in Lancashire
that fracking
could threaten
"God's
glorious
creation".
The Church
Commissioners
manage its
investments
and their
financial
decisions
sometimes
clash with the
clergy's
ethical
positions.
Last month, it
emerged that
the
commissioners
had invested
money in the
backers of
payday lenders
that were
criticised by
the Archbishop
of Canterbury.
The
commissioners
are seeking to
assert the
Church's
ownership of
mineral rights
beneath up to
500,000 acres
of land, an
area roughly
the size of
Sussex.
The claim is
being made
under old laws
that give
"lords of the
manor" rights
to exploit the
earth under
property on
their former
estates. The
Church holds
such rights in
many parts of
England.
Under a new
law,
landowners
have until
October to
assert their
rights over
minerals. The
commissioners
have told the
Land Registry
they wish to
do so.As a
result, the
registry is
sending legal
letters to
residents
informing them
of the
Church's claim
to benefit
from any mines
and minerals
under their
land.
Several
readers of
this newspaper
who have
received such
letters
expressed
concerns that
the Church's
claim could be
linked to
future
fracking
projects.
Dr Richard
Lawson, a
retired GP who
lives in the
Mendip Hills
in Somerset,
said there
were proposals
for fracking
projects
elsewhere in
the county. He
said: "It's an
ethical
question for
the Church,
will they use
their mineral
rights to
block fracking
or to make
money out of
it?"
In a
statement, the
commissioners
said: "We
would make
clear that
this is just a
registration
and protection
exercise, to
protect
existing
rights and
interests made
vulnerable by
the change in
the law. There
are no
particular
plans to mine
under any
property."
A spokesman
said the
registration
had
"absolutely no
link with
fracking", but
that the legal
position on
unconventional
energy
extraction
"remains
unclear".
August
19th, 2013
3.
Letters to the
Editor
Sir
If fracking
puts at risk
God's glorious
creation
(report,
August 14),
why haven't
Anglicans
previously
questioned
mining, oil
and gas
extraction,
deep wells,
diverted
streams and
canals and the
use of highly
polished
jewels in
Christian
ceremonies?
Surely, it
couldn't be
that the
Blackburn
diocese is
confusing
politics with
worship. David
Thompson,
Ipswich,
Suffolk
Sir
As a retired
Church of
England
clergyman, I
find the
Church's
pronouncements
on fracking
deeply
embarrassing.
There has been
not a word of
objection to
wind farms,
which truly
wreck the
environment,
but instead it
objects to
fracking,
which will
truly help the
poor and leave
no trace. Rev Philip
Foster,
Hemingford
Abbots,
Huntingdonshire
Sir
How strange
that the
Church should
come out so
vigorously
against
fracking while
at the same
time the
Church
Commissioners
are bombarding
landowners of
all sizes,
from
smallholdings
to estates,
with notices
establishing
their rights
over all
minerals. Does
this mean that
the Church
intends to
exercise its
mineral rights
purely in a
preventative
fashion, and
not in order
to realise any
material
benefit? Richard
Longthorp,
Howden, East
Yorkshire
August 20th,
2013
We
can't cast away our
Bible
Daily
Telegraph columnist
Alan Massie provided this
thought-provoking article a
few days ago. It speaks for
itself.
Suppose you are cast away on a
desert island. You might find
yourself asking, “why me?” and
wondering what you had done to
deserve such a fate. Well,
ever since the programme
began, Desert Island Discs has
provided its castaways with
two mandatory books, the Bible
and The Complete Works of
Shakespeare, volumes in which
you might find answers to
these questions or, if not
answers, at least consolation.
The best of Muriel Spark’s
later novels was entitled The
Only Problem. She described it
as “a meditation on the Book
of Job”, and the problem is:
“How can an omnipotent and
benevolent Creator permit the
unspeakable sufferings of the
world?” Job, one has to say,
doesn’t come up with a
convincing answer, but he asks
all the right questions.
Moreover the book, recounting
his tribulations and the test
of his faith which God sets
him, has, amid marvellous
poetic passages, its lighter,
if also puzzling, moments: why
is one of his daughters called
“Box of Eye-Paint”? You could
spend a long time on your
island wondering about that.
The National
Secular Society, a body not
noted for its sense of humour,
thinks you would be wasting
your time. It has called for
the Bible to be dropped from
the programme and it appears
that this may have been
discussed within the BBC. I
say “appears” and “may have
been” because the BBC has been
stonewalling and says there
are no plans to ditch the
Bible. Still, one can imagine
a case being made for doing
so. We live, some bright spark
might say, in an ever more
secular society. Most people
don’t go to Church regularly.
Practising Christians are now
in a minority. Why should
non-Christians be lumbered
with a Christian and, in the
case of the Old Testament,
Jewish book?
When Kirsty
Young, the presenter of the
programme on Radio 4,
suggested to Philip Pullman
that, as an atheist, he might
not be too keen to have the
Bible, he replied: “Why not?
There are lots of good stories
in the Bible.” So indeed there
are, especially in the Old
Testament, lots of good
stories and fascinating
characters; and many of the
stories and the people provoke
teasing moral problems. They
are usually true to life, too;
even characters clearly
regarded as heroes are never
perfect. The Bible reminds us
that even good men, such as
Joseph or King David, may do
bad things. St Peter, too, the
rock on whom Christ said the
Church should be built, has
his moment of weakness when he
denies Christ. The Bible may,
or may not, be the Word of
God, but it is a very human
book. There is drama and
tragedy, the story of Saul,
first King of Israel, for
example.
This touches
only on the fringe of the
Bible’s centrality to our
culture, though. After all,
there are lots of good
stories, some with sound
morality and others that are
very moving, to be found
elsewhere – in The Iliad and
The Odyssey, in the Arabian
Nights and in the fairy tales
collected by the Brothers
Grimm. So what is so special
about the Bible? For
practising and believing
Christians, the answer is
obvious, but even for those
who don’t accept it as the
word of God, or who don’t even
believe that there is a
personal God, the Bible may
still matter.
First, though
not all Christians may accept
this, by the Bible I mean the
Authorised or King James
version, not any modern
translation, even if it may be
more accurate. God may not be
an Englishman, as some in past
generations seem to have
believed, but one reason to be
thankful for having been born
into an English-speaking
culture is that the English
Bible is a great resplendent
work of literature, made when
our language was at its most
fecund and vigorous. “If the
salt hath lost its savour,
wherewith shall it be salted?”
The public
language of 21st-century
English has indeed lost much
of its savour, and is
cluttered with abstractions,
but the Bible is “a well of
English undefiled”, from which
we may yet draw refreshment.
George Orwell once took a
passage from the Book of
Ecclesiastes and translated it
into contemporary bureaucratic
English to make this point.
Nobody would
pretend that all the Bible is
of a high literary quality.
Some books (Leviticus,
Numbers) are tedious in the
extreme. St Paul’s Epistles
are written in language that
is often clotted and obscure,
though he does occasionally
rise to heights of eloquence
as in the Faith, Hope and
Charity chapter in
Corinthians, read at so many
marriage ceremonies, and
always movingly — so long as
the reader is using the King
James version. The content of
the Book of Revelation is
pretty crazy, though there the
language is often sublime.
There is indeed much fine
poetry in the Bible. Any
castaway on a desert island
would find delight as well as
consolation in the Book of
Psalms.
Of course
there is much great poetry
elsewhere — plenty in the
castaways’ other compulsory
companion volume, Shakespeare.
Indeed, Shakespeare and the
King James Bible are so far
complementary, so much part of
our linguistic heritage, that
many quote indiscriminately
from either, and may well not
know which they are quoting,
or be able to distinguish
between the two.
For this
surely is the point: the Bible
is at the heart of our
national culture, just as
Shakespeare is, perhaps even
more so. For centuries it was
found in any home where
someone could read. The family
Bible might be the only book
there; often it might sit next
to John Bunyan’s allegorical
Christian novel, The Pilgrim’s
Progress. This makes one thing
clear: our historical culture,
which has formed the country
we have inherited, is a
Christian one. Many today may
no longer think of themselves
as believers. Perhaps a
majority of us have abandoned
the faith, and yet we have
been formed by it. Our ideas
of what is right and what is
wrong remain essentially
Christian, and have been
inculcated by the reading of
the Bible over generations. We
may have come to disregard
many of its prohibitions, but
whatever is admirable and
generous in our morality
derives from it, and
especially from what Jesus
taught, notably in the Sermon
on the Mount.
Desert Island
Discs is not itself important.
It is agreeable easy
listening, no more than that.
And yet in one way it is
significant. It has always
been a favourite programme of
Middle Britain. If it were to
decide that its castaways
should no longer be provided
with the Bible, this would say
something about the BBC’s understanding
of the country it exists to
serve. It would be tantamount
to a rejection of our
inherited culture, a rejection
of our history, and an
acceptance that the National
Secular Society is more
representative of Britain
today than the Churches. Lord
Reith, the BBC’s first
Director-General who
established the ethos of the
corporation, would surely be
whirling in his grave.
The
Daily Telegraph, August
11th, 2013 Swearing
by Jesus
Bus journeys on
Merseyside, already blessedly free
for the elderly (!) are occasionally
enlivened by a quick scan of The
Metro, a daily free sheet
distributed through public
transport. It is not known for its
religious coverage, but this article
in its local edition today
unsurprisingly got past the editor's
secular scanning. The vicar's
disingenuous distinction between
blasphemy and mere swearing doesn't
hide the facts - and it is hard to
see how the previous archbishop's
substantial eyebrows didn't at least
twitch a little. The evangelical
fondness for the unexceptionable
'What Would Jesus Do' has something
to commend it and to give pause for
thought, but it is hard to see how
the good folk of Alice Goodman's
Cambridgeshire parishes, both inside
and outside her churches would
approve this crude extension of the
slogan. Maybe the Archdeacon (in his
role as the Bishop's attack dog)
will have something to say. Of
course, they say that there is no
such thing as bad publicity...
Rapid Subsequent Update...
It soon transpires
that this heady story is not after all a
scoop for the local sheet, but has hit
the headlines in the nationals as well.
More detailed reports
in The Times and The
Daily Telegraph repeat the main
story but add some entertaining
embellishments. Ms Goodman (as they term
the vicar: by the look of her dog-collar
she is of the evangelical persuasion so
wouldn't want to be called Mother!) is
American-born, a convert from Judaism,
has written an opera libretto which was
criticised as being too sympathetic to
terrorists and is married to the
Professor of Poetry at Oxford University
(or Cambridge, if you read the Telegraph
account). The complaint about the
sticker came anonymously - and Lord
Williams of Oystermouth saw the sticker
when given a lift in the lady's car. Her
bishop, she says, is aware of the
sticker and 'has no difficulty with it'.
And the Archdeacon, far from acting as
his bishop's rottweiler, also apparently
sees no problem with the sticker, and
advocates a reconciliation meeting
between the vicar and the
whistle-blower, 'where people can bring
their differing views and share their
perspectives' (!)
The Times article has one final
oddity to report. Repeating Ms Goodman's
declaration that 'F*** is not a
blasphemy, it's a vulgarity, an Old
English word' she later says 'Whoever
contacted the paper anonymously about
this has only seen the letter F.' This
raises the interesting possibility that
she meant it to stand for some other,
less offensive word... Suggestions on a
postcard, please.
Ed.
The Metro (above), The Times and
The Daily Telegraph, August 9th, 2013
Churchwardens
and Bell Ringers told they
face CRB Checks By Peter Dominiczak, Political
Correspondent
Choir leaders, wardens and bell
ringers who refuse to submit to
criminal records checks will be
turned away from churches, the
Archbishop of Canterbury warned last
night.
All Church of England volunteers who
come into contact with children,
including Sunday school teachers and
people running parent and toddler
groups, now face checks by the
Criminal Records Bureau (CRB).
Flower arrangers, refreshment stall
staff and church sidesmen could also
face checks if they have
"substantial" contact with children.
The Most Rev Justin Welby warned
that the Church was being "utterly
ruthless" in its approach to CRB
checks despite saying that cases of
abuse are now "negligible". In his
most outspoken comments on the issue
since his appointment earlier this
year, the Archbishop said that
volunteers refusing checks were
being told: "You can't come to
church".
A source close to the Archbishop
last night said that people who
refused the checks would not be
banned from services, but would be
prevented from volunteering or
working for the organisation.
"The whole structure has changed,"
the Archbishop said in an interview
with Total Politics magazine. "I
know a safeguarding officer who went
into a very traditional church
recently ... a number of people who
had been members of the church for
years and years and years, refusing
to fill out the CRB forms.
"And they said, 'Well we're not
going to do it, we've been members
of this church for 50 or 60 years',
and the safeguarding Officer said,
'Fine, don't do it, but you can't
come to church'."
The Archbishop made the comments
after a series of cases in which
volunteers, including flower
arrangers complained of
"overzealous" CRB checks.
Critics have warned that the strict
checks are deterring and
demoralising church workers.
The Archbishop said that he
understood why an "elderly woman" (not
perhaps calculated to appeal to
the average members of most
congregations? Ed.) who had
served her church with "dedication
and love" for 40 years would
"grumble" about the enforced CRB
checks.
"We are being utterly ruthless," he
said. "You often understand why
people grumble ... But it's changing
the culture, and that has
effectively largely happened across
the Church from about five or six to
10 years ago. We really started
turning the screw. And we're
tightening up the whole time."
Asked if the Church had come through
the worst of the revelations about
historical cases of child abuse, the
Archbishop said: "No. We're not. We
got it wrong," he said. "Loads of
other people did, but that's not an
excuse. We got it wrong over many
years when society had a different
view of these things.
"Post-Savile, quite rightly - I'm
not complaining about this, quite
the reverse, I think it's excellent
- the police and social services are
going back, often over half a
century, and seeing where did they
get it wrong. 'Are there survivors
of abuse still around who need to
have their voices heard?' And so
there will be cases, some of which
go back for 40,50 years in which
people were overlooked and ignored.
Utterly inexcusable. So that means
quite a bit of stuff will go on
coming out."
Daily Telegraph, July 20th,
2013
Church
CRB checks
Sir, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, has said that ‘the
Church is to be utterly ruthless’ in
insisting on Criminal Records Bureau
checks for all volunteers.
Can I remind the Archbishop that
under the new Freedoms Act of 2012,
it is against the law to ask people
to undergo a CRB check unless they
work intensively, regularly or
overnight with children or
vulnerable adults? CRB checks are
only as good as the day they are
done and do not strop or detect the
perpetrators of abuse.
There is a danger that organisations
may feel a false sense of security
by insisting on these checks. In
reality the best defence remains
constant awareness and vigilance.
See
also Terry Wogan's comment
below
