Jane Shaw writes in the Guardian about feeding in church.
Roderick Strange writes in The Times about the virgin birth.
Giles Fraser asks in the Church Times Is secular France so fragile?
Over at Cif belief, Giles answers the question Is religion the opium of the people? in a column titled Radical faith.
Civitas published a report on sharia law. You can find the report itself as a PDF file, here. By far the most interesting column published in consequence of this report is Sharia law and me at Cif belief.
Madeleine Bunting reported on a seminar at Lambeth Palace, see Science, religion and our shared future.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times that Without a shared moral code there can be no freedom in our society.
Robin Gill wrote in last week’s Church Times about Synthetics — the new moral playing-field.
This week, Giles Fraser writes about a white-water ride of old atheism.
Over at the Guardian Christine Allen writes about the Catholic Church and social justice.
At Cif belief Afua Hirsch wrote about The boundaries between race and faith. For the background, see this news report.
And Antony Lerman asks What can religion offer politics?
George Pitcher wrote in the Telegraph that A good claret, Bishop, is a menace to no one.
Last week, in the Church Times Colin Buchanan wrote that The time is up for first past the post.
Paul Vallely also wrote about the recent election, see Not thugs so much as alienated.
This week, Giles Fraser writes that Art should point further than cash.
Theo Hobson at Cif belief wrote that We must separate church and state.
In answer to the question Can religion save the world? Parna Taylor writes that Religious literacy matters.
Nick Jowett writes in The Times that Great music can unite the sacred and the secular.
Geoffrey Rowell writes in The Times Our longing for truth is implicitly a search for God.
Alan Wilson wrote, in answer to the question Do we expect too much of our leaders? on Comment is free, an article titled Leadership in the age of the quick fix.
Mark Vernon wrote about God, Dawkins and tragic humanism.
Nick Spencer wrote about Measuring British religion.
David Haslam wrote in today’s Guardian about the anti-racism work of the World Council of Churches.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times about Taking my questions seriously.
Last week, Jonathan Bartley wrote Now is the time for all good men . . .
Gary Wilton wrote about the European Parliamentary elections in last week’s Church Times. See Don’t let the chance of big decisions pass by.
Grace Davie wrote at Cif belief in answer to the question Is Europe’s future Christian? Her answer was: Christian, but not as we know it.
Alister McGrath writes in The Times that A system of belief should not involve point scoring.
Sunny Hundal writes in the Guardian about interfaith dialogues.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times that People need something irrational.
Earlier in the week, he wrote at Cif belief about Why I still have faith in politicians.
Andrew Brown wrote there also, about David Hume’s comment policy.
Justin Lewis-Anthony wrote about Why George Herbert must die.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times that MPs did not drop from the sky.
Last week, Paul Vallely wrote about The lost art of the expenses claim.
Terry Waite wrote earlier this week in The Times that We independents could bring on reform.
Jonathan Sacks writes today in The Times about How Jacob conquered the defining crisis of his life.
Jonathan Romain writes in the Guardian that Faith communities could improve places of worship by learning from football fans.
Andrew Brown wrote at Cif belief about the trip From Avignon to Geneva.
Mark Vernon reported from the Hay Festival on Rowan, Dostoevsky and a world without God.
Nitin Mehta writes about Indian religions in the Guardian.
Also Stephen Bates reviews Rupert Shortt’s biography of Rowan Williams, see God’s squad.
In The Times Roderick Strange writes about Bede. See More than a brief flight through warmth and light.
At the Church Times Giles Fraser reflects on his job change in Seeking the reality of solid joys.
A week ago, Paul Vallely wrote Get some perspective on MPs’ cash.
And Adrian Thatcher wrote The Word was made of flesh and blood, not ink.
Over at Cif belief Ben White wrote Palestinian rights deserve Anglican action.
Marilyn McCord Adams writes in the Guardian about “The ‘size gap’ between God and man”. See Face to Faith.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about faith schools, see How schools ought to discriminate. So, last year, did Paul Vallely, see Beware the erosion of faith schools.
Simon Barrow and Jonathan Bartley respond to all this at Ekklesia in On not being idiotic about church schools.
Over at Cif belief Andrew Brown has written twice about the Californian teacher who described creationism as “superstitious nonsense”. See Enemies of creationism may be hindering science teachers and then Creationism judgement followup. (Original news story by Riazat Butt is here.)
Mary Boys writes in The Times that Christians should respect God’s covenant with Jews.
The Church of England Newspaper published an editorial last week which suggested the Equality Bill, which was published last month and had its second reading on Monday, was all part of an anti-Christian plot. The full text of this editorial is reproduced below the fold.
I will be reporting here on the progress of the Equality Bill through Parliament, with emphasis on those aspects which are of particular interest from a Church of England viewpoint, as I have reported on many previous items of anti-discrimination legislation.
Those who are looking for more material along the lines of this CEN editorial will find it at such places as the website of the Christian Institute and at the website of Christian Concern for our Nation.
CEN editorial 8 May 2009
Anti-Christian discrimination on the rise
The government had better start building more prison space — for Christians and moral conservatives generally. We are now used to hearing of such folk being sacked and losing their appeals for daring to air any view which criticises or disapproves of gay sex. The new Equality Bill issued by Harriet Harman last week lumps together groups needing special legal status to ensure them against discrimination including disabled people, women and homosexuals, for example. The Bill aims to permeate all society with the requirement that employers in all sectors show they have a percentage of such group in their workforces, in the various echelons of seniority, that their specific requirements are being provided for. The news media focused on the issue of women’s pay and the need to ensure it gains total equality with that of men, and that the figures be published accordingly. The homosexual component was kept very quiet, but is clearly there. The ‘Christian Institute’ website is worth consulting on this issue, at the very least for information on the legal facts.
The extraordinary success of the gay rights campaign in securing a special place for practitioners of gay sex in the legal framework is now moving ahead to suppress any who dissent from their agenda. It seems that the clause inserted into the recent Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill by Lord Waddington, guaranteeing freedom of speech to religious people who disagree with gay sex, has been over turned by a whipped vote in the Commons. So the steady build-up of the gay agenda is accompanied by the steady removal of dissent, even for religious groups. This has all been achieved by the success of making homosexuality a fixed ‘identity’, and removing the focus of discussion from activity. Homosexuals are defined into a legal distinct group, joining minorities similarly defined into existence by government diktat. It should be said that the Anglican Communion, according to its Lambeth Conference of 1998, disagrees with this pseudo-scientific labelling of people, and so do the more intelligent secular commentators, see for example Professor Weeks’ contribution to this secular seminar.
So Christians, and of course Muslims and others who just disagree with the Stonewall line, are being told to shut up and get into their closet — the gays are not tolerant of dissent and have got the state to crackdown. This agenda is also being pursued in schools. Section 28, banning the promotion of homosexuality in schools, has been totally inverted and children are to be educated in the moral neutrality, indeed the moral merit, of gay sex. The Times last week worryingly said that the right of parents to withdraw children, as young as 11, from such sex lessons, was to be stopped. Now churches and mosques up and down the land will not be happy with this, and parents are bound to want to withdraw their youngsters from lessons with a major component of the Stonewall ideology woven into them. A time of persecution is at hand.
Both The Times and the Guardian have Quaker columnists this morning.
B.P. Dandelion writes about how Uncertainty speaks volumes in the sound of silence.
Kathryn Lum writes about the Indian caste system in Face to Faith.
Giles Fraser warned in the Church Times Beware the dark side of liberalism.
Libby Purves was interviewed in the Church Times last week by Terence Handley MacMath.
Alan Wilson wrote about Social Media, Church and Bishopping.
Oliver O’Donovan wrote in the Church Times last week, How can people obey the scriptures?
(Full text of this lecture is at Fulcrum, and a critique of it by Adrian Worsfold is titled Postmodern Authoritarianism.)
Giles Fraser Church Times Why blogs can be bad for the soul
Theo Hobson Guardian: Comment is free Face to faith: Christians disillusioned with the churches should articulate an alternative
B P Dandelion Times Credo: Uncertainty speaks volumes in the sound of silence
Christopher Howse Telegraph Green men cut in church stonework
Giles Fraser Church Times No tasks left for the risen Jesus
Christopher Howse Telegraph The earth and the Son of Man
Several items from the Guardian’s Comment is free section.
David Bryant Guardian: Comment is free Face to Faith Tolerance of other faiths is not enough - we must strive for true acceptance
Chris Liley Guardian: Comment is free Why I chased the BNP from my cathedral
Giles Fraser St George the immigrant
Jonathan Sacks Times Credo: Sunday shopping has not made us better or happier
Giles Fraser Church Times Liberation at the heart of Easter
Christopher Howse Telegraph A Christian world under Islam’s rule
Paul Handley Comment is free Belief The Anglican schism widens quietly
Roderick Strange Times Credo: When doubt is not an enemy but an ally of faith
Lucy Winkett Telegraph As the bad news gets worse, the Good News keeps getting better
Rowan Williams Mail on Sunday Archbishop on Easter - Article for the Mail on Sunday.
Rowan Williams Lambeth Palace The Archbishop’s Easter Sermon
John Sentamu Sunday Times New life, new spirit
Giles Fraser Guardian The merciful crucifixion
Jane Williams Cif Belief God’s life is inexhaustible
Jonathan Bartley CifBelief Easter and anarchy
John Polkinghorne writes in The Times about Motivated belief and the stringent search for truth.
And Tom Wright writes there also, see The Church must stop trivialising Easter.
Nick Jowett writes in the Guardian about the tradition of laughter at Easter.
Alan Wilson wrote on Comment is free: Belief about hearing the Easter story as if for the first time. Read Just tell Olive to get stuffed.
Jonathan Bartley wrote in last week’s Church Times about how the Church is in danger of undermining its own message. Read Actions speak louder than words.
Yesterday’s leading article in The Times is related to the preceding item, see The spiritual challenge.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times about The real vampirism in society today and last week’s column was The ultimate rebrand of the cross.
Geoffrey Rowell writes in The Times about The ride to salvation in lowly pomp on a donkey.
David Monkton writes in the Guardian that The events of Palm Sunday remind us that spin is no modern invention.
Savi Hensman writes at Ekklesia about Resisting the urge to scapegoat.
Paul Vallely writes in the Church Times that The light of spring symbolises hope.
The Church Times leader is about changing the Act of Settlement and the Royal Marriages Act: The insults of the past.
Earlier in the week, before the announcement of the appointment of Vincent Nichols to be Archbishop of Westminster, Andrew Brown wrote Can we build a society without myths? in response to Britain has sold its soul to pursuit of ‘reason’ over religion, Catholic Archbishop warns in the Telegraph.
In connection with that appointment, Andrew Brown wrote A new combative style in the Catholic church. (See also here, and here.)
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times that Darwin pointed the way to an unselfish evolution.
Oliver Rafferty writes in the Guardian that: The ideas that led to George Tyrrell’s excommunication still confront Christianity.
For extra measure, Catherine Robinson writes in the same paper that Tim Berners-Lee’s invention symbolises Unitarian desire to foster communication.
In the Church Times John Packer argues in The West needs to understand faith that there is a dangerous ignorance of religion in the West’s foreign policy.
Giles Fraser writes there about Philip Blond, in Behind the allure of the Red Tory.
The best comment I saw about the parliamentary debate yesterday on the Royal Marriages and Succession to the Crown (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill 2008-09 was the Channel 4 News interview with David Starkey. There is a link to the video clip from this page. (For the best background briefing paper see this - H/T Ruth Gledhill.)
Christian peacemakers must play a major role in healing Northern Ireland’s pain, says Roy Searle in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Morals: the one thing markets don’t make said Jonathan Sacks yesterday in The Times.
Roderick Strange writes in The Times today about Embracing the precious gifts of our Lenten practice.
At Total Politics Andrew Hawkins reports on a survey to answer the question, Is the Church of England still the Tory Party at prayer?
Tony Blair wrote an article for the New Statesman on Why we must all do God, and Andrew Brown wrote a critique of this at Comment is free titled Doing God - the vague way.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times that Humankind needs limits for reality.
The Church Times has a leader headed God as father and mother.
Terry Philpot wrote for the Guardian about the RC adoption societies, see Face to Faith.
Sara Maitland wrote in The Times about Why the Via Dolorosa can be a powerful experience.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times about Grounding ideology in people. See New England - Kirsty MacColl at the Church Times blog for background material.
Alexandru Popescu wrote at Comment is free about An iconic power.
James W. Jones wrote in the Church Times last week about Churches talking past each other. Many in the C of E misunderstand the Episcopal Church in the US, he says.
Robert Pigott at the BBC has written another Faith Diary.
In The Times John Shepherd writes about Revelation and the straitjacket of human language.
The Guardian has Simon Rocker writing about the Haredim in Face to Faith.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times that Jade Goody shows how to die.
Nick Baines wrote about Martin Niemoeller in Death of a Hero.
Alan Wilson wrote about How our grandpas twittered…
Simon Barrow wrote at Ekklesia that Faith needs a freedom agenda. Savi Hensman wrote about Moving faith forward on civil liberties. Vaughan Jones wrote about Humanity and justice is ‘modern liberty’ for Christians.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about Sodom and Gomorrah. See Meeting the stench of the slums.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times that ‘Faith is the defeat of probability by possibility’
Comment is free Belief asks Are Christians persecuted in the UK? Answers come from Mark Vernon, Terry Sanderson, Jenny Taylor, Jonathan Bartley, and Bishop Alan Wilson.
Alan Wilson also wrote on his own blog: Mushing our Brains on Facebook?
Robert Pigott at the BBC launched a Faith Diary with a survey of public opinion. The full results are available here as a PDF. Ekklesia reported on this as Mixed picture emerges on British attitudes to religion in public life.
Today is the day on which the Church of England commemorates George Herbert.
Justin Lewis-Anthony has published a series of articles on his blog under the title Killing George Herbert, arguing that:
For three hundred and fifty years the Church of England has been haunted by a pattern of parochial ministry, based upon a fantasy and untenable for more than a hundred of those years. The pattern, derived from a romantic and wrong-headed false memory of the life and ministry of George Herbert, finally died on the South Bank of the Thames in the mid 1960s… and nobody noticed…
Read KGH : Death to Herbertism for the rest of the introductory article, below which is a list of links to all the articles.
For today’s blog entry see KGH: Memento Mori II.
These articles are but a prelude to Justin’s book, which is coming soon, see If You Meet George Herbert on the Road, Kill Him: Radically Re-thinking Priestly Ministry.
Meanwhile, his other book, Circles of Thorns: Hieronymus Bosch and Being Human, is available and has been designated as Mowbray’s Lent Book 2009. Peter McGeary reviewed it recently for the Church Times.
Study guides are available starting here.
Updated Monday afternoon
Geoffrey Rowell writes in The Times that The synod is the place to challenge the unjust and evil.
Andrew Motion said in an interview with Janet Murray in the Guardian that “All children should be taught the Bible at school”. Theo Hobson in the Spectator was not impressed.
Sunny Hundal writes in the Guardian that It is worth having a healthy debate on the interaction between faith and violence.
Jonathan Bartley writes at Ekklesia about Hearing what children are saying.
At Comment is free Theo Hobson and Julian Baggini discuss Is Christianity a good influence on British culture?
On the BBC Radio 4 programme Today (Baroness) Sayeda Warsi argued that politicians are ‘ignoring’ polygamy. See Politicians ‘ignoring’ polygamy and also Happily married?
Update
Giles Fraser’s article in last week’s Church Times is now available, see Why is the Left so anti-Jewish.
I wrote recently about a Theos report on Rescuing Darwin. Andrew Brown has now written at Comment is free about Science vs superstition, not science vs religion.
Last week in the Church Times Andrew Davison wrote that The C of E should nurture theology. For more about the Returning to the Church conferences, go here.
Giles Fraser wrote about the Credit Crunch, see The crunch needs global resolution. And don’t miss the lucid explanation of the Credit Crunch by Andreas Whittam Smith in a synod paper, The Inernational Financial Crisis and the Recession.
Earlier this week, Jonathan West asked Should I worry about the church?
The Archbishop of York wrote in the Daily Mail The intolerance towards Christians in the public sector is an affront. Another copy is on the archbishop’s own website.
Jenny Taylor wrote in The Times Let us use chastity to channel the soul’s energy.
Elizabeth Gray-King wrote in the Guardian about Valentine’s Day.
George Pitcher wrote in his blog for the Telegraph on Why Pope Benedict is like Rowan Williams.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times that Growing up is a moral business. (For background links see here.)
And he also wrote at Comment is free that Atheists should get a life and leave our slot alone. Related to this, Jonathan Bartley at Ekklesia wrote The politics of Thought for the Day.
John Packer wrote in the Guardian about the upcoming General Synod debates on various public policy issues in Face to Faith. (We shall cover these in more detail during the week.)
Roderick Strange writes in The Times: Credo: Riveted by Mark’s Gospel, in one sitting.
Jonathan Bartley wrote in last week’s Church Times about An honest, vulnerable President.
Stephen Platten writes in The Times about Edwin Muir, in Beauty and hope born in poems of dark desolation.
Stephen Timms writes in the Guardian about Harnessing the power of faith. The full text of his speech is available from Ruth Gledhill’s blog, Labour ‘does God’ (scroll down for link to file).
John Madeley writes in the Guardian about the theology of enough.
John Barton writes in the Church Times that The BBC should not be impartial.
Giles Fraser writes in The Times about Cape Coast Castle in Cry out for mercy in the grey zone.
Paul Laity interviews Blair Worden in the Guardian about his new book The English Civil Wars, see A life in writing: Blair Worden.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times about Obama and the devil in the hole.
Jonathan Sacks wrote in The Times that Obama renews a covenant and inspires fresh hope.
Simon Barrow wrote at Ekklesia about Re-investing democracy with hope.
Comment is free had a whole week of answers to the question: Will Obama be good for religion?
At the Telegraph George Pitcher had opinions on the inauguration speech, Barack Obama inauguration: God knows His place, and also on the accompanying deluge of prayers, We British pray better than Americans.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, Karen Pollock writes in the Guardian about antisemitism, in Face to Faith.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times about his visit to Ghana, see Being canny in the raw church. For a picture of this event, see the piece at the Telegraph by Jonathan Wynne-Jones Pro-gay vicar of Putney made an African canon.
George Pitcher writes in the Telegraph that Barack Obama’s faith, like Lincoln’s, is uncertain.
In the Guardian Ali Eteraz writes that The inauguration of Barack Obama will be a secular hajj for America’s collective redemption.
Nick Jowett writes in The Times about the Week of Christian Unity, see we must keep our eye on the pearl of great price.
Mark Vernon writes at Ekklesia on Making sense of Charles Darwin.
Back at the Telegraph Michael Portillo writes The British state mustn’t let go of the church.
Michael Symmons Roberts writes in The Times: dream songs of faith, doubt and the God of rescue.
Barry Courtier writes in the Guardian that Metaphors can provide a useful way of forming an understanding of God.
George Pitcher wrote for the Telegraph that The Horsham Crucifix isn’t ‘horrific’.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times about Being there to pray for the debtors.
Mark Vernon wrote at Comment is free about Darwin’s year.
Simon Barrow wrote at Ekklesia: On not being left eyeless in Gaza.
Geoffrey Rowell writes in The Times about Dancing in time to a divinely ordained rhythm of life.
Gerald Butt writes in the Guardian about flying.
Andrew Brown wrote at Cif:belief about Mr Algie’s honesty bucket.
Alan Wilson has written Blowing bubbles in Hard Times?
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times Longing for the truth of glory.
Two weeks ago, Jeremy Morris wrote in the Church Times that A learning Church is healthy.
Added later:
Michael Reiss has written in The Times that Darwinian thinking clarifies and deepens religious faith.
Paul Handley, the editor of the Church Times, has a major article in the Comment is free section of The Guardian today.
The Anglican Communion will finally split in 2009 - This will be the year of unavoidable schism in the church.
Also in The Guardian are these two items by Andrew Brown.
The New Atheism, a definition and a quiz - What makes a New Atheist different from an old one? Here are the five doctrines which distinguish them.
So the pope is a Catholic - You may disagree with him. But – properly read – his views on homosexuality are not egregious bigotry.
Jane Williams in The Guardian
Acts of the Apostles, part 3: An ideal church? - Acts implies that the Holy Spirit’s work always leads to the formation of community.
Jonathan Romain in The Guardian
How to survive a sermon - Many of us will be listening to sermons this week. They can be tests of endurance, but they can sometimes be life-changing.
Roderick Strange writes in the Credo section of The Times Commitment and fidelity are demanding qualities - A time to remember and appreciate what our families give us.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about English kings and St John the Evangelist.
Both Guardian and The Times have columns about Hanukah, one from Howard Cooper, the other from Jonathan Sacks.
The Telegraph has Christopher Howse on The words that train the ear.
Giles Fraser in the Church Times has Celebrating where God gets real.
Comment is free asked What letter would you write to God? with answers so far from Julian Baggini, Mark Vernon, Francis Davis.
And for light relief, there is Andrew Brown saying that Science proves Anglicans smartest.
The Dean of Perth (Western Australia), John Shepherd has written in The Times Salvation is not about who is in and who is out.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about Sister Wendy’s pictures of love.
David Peel writes about his battle with cancer in the Guardian’s Face to Faith.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times that One size of school can’t fit all values.
The Cif Belief Question this week is What should evangelicals believe? Answers come from John Richardson, Christina Rees, Justin Thacker and Graham Kings.
At Ekklesia Simon Barrow asks Which Jesus are we expecting?
Comment is free Belief has a weekly question. This week it is Can religion help us through the slump?
There are five responses from Julia Neuberger, Francis Davis, Ishtiaq Hussain, Graham Kings, and Nick Spencer.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about the Enigmatic life of Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Michael Wright argues in the Guardian that Now is a good time for Quakers to reassess their priorities and find their tongues.
Catherine Pepinster writes in The Times The beauty of our creations is also part of our faith.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times that Borrowing is no way out of the credit crisis.
The Church Times has a leader, The right way to spend Advent.
Roderick Strange writes in The Times that Advent teaches us the deeper lessons of waiting.
The Church of England has an Advent calendar. See related press release here.
Stephen Plant reviews a new book about Methodism in The Times at All the world can still be John Wesley’s parish.
In the Guardian The hajj is the perfect opportunity for Muslims to put our anger behind us, says Kia Abdullah.
At Cif belief the question this week is: How can we talk about God online? There are responses from Mark Vernon, Theo Hobson, and Stephen Tomkins.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about Auctioning off the bishop’s bequest.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times that Bonhoeffer went to Bradford.
PewForum has an interesting report on How the News Media Covered Religion in the [US] General Election.
Stewart Dakers writes in the Guardian about how Faith and science need a collective reformation to celebrate the power of love.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times about Fashioning the world anew with winged thoughts.
Ekklesia has republished an article by Christopher Rowland on A kingdom, but not as we know it.
Giles Fraser talked on the BBC’s Thought for the Day last Wednesday.
Elaine Sciolino wrote in the New York Times about how Britain Grapples With Role for Islamic Justice.
Geoffrey Rowell writes in The Times, The moral integrity that makes for a powerful speech.
George Pitcher writes in the Telegraph, The Prince of Wales must keep the faith.
Nick Jowett writes in the Guardian about Baron Friedrich von Hügel.
Earlier this week, Giles Fraser wrote in the Guardian about Proposition 8 in California, Sanctified discrimination.
Yesterday, in the Church Times he wrote Forces buck the me-first trend.
At Comment is free Belief the Question is Should we fight war to end wars? Those responding include Jonathan Bartley, see Redemptive violence is a myth, and Alan Wilson, see Crusading gives me the creeps. So does Valhalla.
And thanks to both Alan Wilson and David Keen, for linking to How To Actually Talk To Atheists (If You’re Christian) by Joe the Peacock.
In The Times Michael Smith writes that The crisis of confidence ignites a crisis of conscience.
In the Guardian Ian Bradley writes about TV talent shows in Face to faith.
At Comment is free Stephen Bates writes on How the faithful voted.
Gregory Chisholm at Thinking Faith explains What scares me about Obama (h/t Simon Barrow).
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about Defending the Church by living out the gospel.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about Dame Felicitas’s handwarmer sold by nuns.
This is the question now being asked at Comment is free Belief:
Is the US still ‘one nation under God’?
After the election, will America still be one nation? And will it still believe that it shelters under God’s providence?
Judith Maltby responds from Urbana, Illinois that The vision survives in surprising places.
In Muslim America and in Episcopalian churches, it’s an ideal that still has has traction
The Farmers’ Market in Urbana, Illinois on the Saturday morning before the US election seemed a good place to get some views on this question. Among the stalls groaning with more types of squashes than I knew existed, was the Champaign County Democrats table. It was being staffed by Al Kurtz, a Democrat on the county board. What did he think? He was upbeat. (I would have, just to be clear, put this question to the local Republicans, but they weren’t at the Farmers’ Market – Illinois’ electoral college votes are about as safe as they can be in Senator Obama’s bag.)
Earlier responses:
Neither one nation, nor under God by Harriet Baber
In 2008, American religion is inextricably linked to social conservatism and the political right
One nation under secularism by George Neumayr
If America is still one nation, that is because no one who might be elected to public office takes religion as seriously as its founders did
Judith Maltby writes in the Guardian that Barack Obama may be able to repair the damage done by the US Christian right, in Face to Faith.
The Times Literary Supplement has a book review titled Soulgasms of the Christian Right by Thomas Laqueur.
The New Yorker has an article titled Red Sex, Blue Sex by Margaret Talbot.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about GAFCON: A garment that will tear apart.
Last week, Peter Selby wrote in the Church Times about immigration policies: This means more pain for the poor.
Theo Hobson writes in The Times that Milton’s vision for Church and State is our answer.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph that Bomber Command’s bombing of Second World War civilians was wilful murder.
Giles Fraser asks in the Church Times Why don’t humanists give value to humans?
Christopher Howse in the Telegraph writes about Peter Howson’s harrowing of hell.
Theo Hobson writes in the Guardian about the sex life of Adam and Eve in Face to Faith.
Stephen Bates asks on Comment is free Who would God vote for?
John Lloyd writes in the Financial Times about Uganda’s controversial pastors.
Earlier in the week, Andrew Brown wrote about The cult of personality.
Simon Barrow wrote a column for Ekklesia titled Beware politicians and ‘God talk’.
Roderick Strange wrote for The Times that We have been beguiled and betrayed by Mammon.
The economy may be in crisis, but there is a wealth of social capital at our disposal, says Pete Tobias in Face to Faith.
Christopher Howse wrote in the Telegraph about The survival of England’s Syon.
Giles Fraser’s column in the Church Times is about The fantasy of easy killing.
Simon Barrow wrote for Ekklesia about Seeking to build a just economy.
George Packer in the New Yorker had a very interesting article about the disaffection of Ohio’s working class. See The Working Vote. It turns out that Andrew Brown also read it, and he comments at Poverty and the sexual marketplace.
Paul Vallely asks in the Independent Religion vs science: can the divide between God and rationality be reconciled?
Ann Pettifor writes in the Guardian about usury, see Face to Faith.
Graham Kings writes in The Times about Living in time with the rhythm of the Church’s year.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about the Episcopal Church, It does not look like a snake-pit in the pews.
Jonathan Wynne-Jones writes at the Telegraph that Happy-clappy songs are judged to have ruined Britain.
Christopher Howse writes about A tax on the font water of our struggling churches.
The Times has The spark of God within us is truth, not empty words by Musonda Trevor Selwyn Mwamba, Bishop of Botswana.
Last week, the Church Times had Creationism has to be exposed by Peter Forster, Bishop of Chester.
This week, the Church Times has Giles Fraser who asks about Facial hair: progressive or passé?
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about John Betjeman on the wireless.
In the Guardian Zaki Cooper and Michael Harris write about Yom Kippur in Face to Faith.
Andrew Brown writes on his new Comment is free blog about God and mammon, redux.
George Pitcher in the Telegraph Archbishops should note the balance between serving God and Mammon
Andrew Brown in The Guardian The red archbishop?
Jonathan Sacks in the Times It would be a saner world if we put our children first
Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah in The Guardian There is even more cause to remember this Rosh Ha-Shanah
Giles Fraser writes on the current financial crisis in the Church Times The bubble needed to burst
The Archbishop of Canterbury has written in the Spectator Face it: Marx was partly right about capitalism.
The Archbishop of York gave a speech to the Institute of Worshipful Company of International Bankers Archbishop Labels HBOS short sellers as “Bank Robbers”.
Stephen Bates in The Guardian Archbishop offers praise for St Bernadette - and Marx
Sadie Gray and agencies in The Guardian Archbishops attack profiteers and ‘bank robbers’ in City
Martin Beckford in the Telegraph Archbishops of Canterbury and York blame capitalism excesses for financial crisis
Ruth Gledhill in the Times The Archbishop of Canterbury speaks in support of Karl Marx
and Time to curb the ‘asset strippers and robbers’ who ruin the financial markets, say archbishops
Steve Doughty in the Mail Archbishops attack the ‘bank robbers’ who have brought economy to brink of disaster
BBC Archbishops attack City practices
John Polkinghorne writes in The Times about Shining a light where science and theology meet.
Peter Francis writes in the Guardian that interfaith understanding is more important than a literal reading of scripture, see Face to Faith.
And yesterday, Jonathan Romain wrote about antisemitism and Islamophobia, see Keeping up the struggle. And there is more about that Pew survey both here and here.
Doug LeBlanc wrote Storming hell’s gates at Episcopal Life Online.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times about A saint who taught me to see real reverence.
Two weeks ago, Ted Harrison argued for fewer bishops in the CofE, see A case of episcopal hyperinflation.
Roderick Strange writes in The Times that We must strive to forgive others as God has forgiven us.
In the Telegraph George Pitcher writes that United Jews put divided Christians to shame.
In the Guardian Simon Rocker writes about A mistake by Michelangelo in Face to Faith.
Earlier in the week, Riazat Butt wrote from Rome on Comment is free about The hard route to Heaven.
And Stephen Bates wrote Sarah Palin talks the God talk.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times When do bankers believe in socialism?
This week’s View from Fleet Street in the Church of England Newspaper is by Riazat Butt. Reproduced here by permission.
My time of abstinence
Ramadan is upon us and, taking my cue from Tower Hamlets council, I’m asking you to be sensitive to my needs during this 30-day period of abstinence and restraint by refraining from publishing stories about gay bishops during the hours of sunrise and sunset.
In the month of fasting I can think of no better example to set than a complete avoidance of phrases such as openly gay and Anglican Communion in the same sentence, especially when ever one is stuffed to the gills already with stories of schism. A little bit of perspective and reflection is required here. There are 80m Anglicans in the world. There are more than 800m Hindus, more than 300m Buddhists and more than 1bn Catholics. The Anglican Communion is, much like Springfield, Illinois, a one-horse town.
I was minded of how bizarre the obsession with gay sex must look to the outside world when I spotted the excellent Stonewall poster — “Some people are gay. Get over it” — on the westbound District line service to Blackfriars. I am thinking of bulk ordering these t-shirts for my Fleet Street colleagues, bishops and archbishops. I am so over gay sex. Alas, the combination of gay bishops and journalists is a bit like competitive dieting. You see other people doing it, so you have to as well. Nobody wants to be the fat one in the photo.
But I would much rather write about other religions, about other stories, which is why I am launching this Ramadan appeal — to go on a gay fast — and I am encouraging others to join me. This month could prove to be one of Jews, Hindus, Sikhs and Quakers instead. Don’t get me wrong — I love gay bishops and I think there should be more of them — I just don’t want to have to write about them all the time. There will be a day when someone’s sexual orientation won’t matter in a recruitment or selection process — just as it is in almost every employment field except religion — and homosexuality will be as normalised and wallpaper-like as hair colour or eye colour and will be greeted with, if anything, a shrug of the shoulders.
At this point someone — probably a conservative evangelical — will think that a homosexual imam would be stoned to death and wouldn’t make it past the initial telephone interview let alone have the top job at a mosque so why the constant mud-slinging at Anglicans?
Undercover Mosque, shown earlier this week on Channel 4, exposed the situation perfectly. I agree that attitudes need a complete overhaul, the way our mosques are funded and run needs serious scrutiny, the way Islam is taught at schools, in the homes, needs to be re-examined and that there needs to be greater involvement from women and young people in the day-to-day activities in places of worship and community centres. There also needs to be less reliance on government money and more independence.
Islam in Britain is not — as some bishops would have you believe — as established as the Christian identity. Nor is it as structured, prevalent or fixed. It is relatively young and fluid. There are Muslim communities — notably in Liverpool and Cardiff — that have been around for longer than the ones in Bradford and Manchester. There are only 2m Muslims. We are not taking over Britain — even if we are taking over the Premier League. Does the Manchester City buyout mean that the only good Muslims are the rich ones?
Attacking Muslims is easy because there is over whelming evidence to support the popular notion that Muslims are mad, bad and dangerous. It is harder to see beyond the bigotry and engage with flesh and blood individuals — the ones who get parking tickets, or take their kids to the park or like Coronation Street — because that would require moving beyond the conventional narrative and talking to someone who has everything in common with you and nothing. Somewhere in there, there is a lesson for us all.
Riazat Butt is the religion correspondent for The Guardian.
Geoffrey Rowell writes in The Times about writing your own obituary, Providence takes us back to the history of the future.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about how Bees are eating Lichfield Cathedral.
And Craig Brown writes that Pop memorabilia are the holy relics of our time.
Also, George Pitcher comments on No women with top Church of England jobs.
At the Guardian David Bradnack argues that The Christian creed is full of bad science that makes it a religion of deception.
And Sue Blackmore writes about the teaching of science in Opening minds.
Giles Fraser’s Church Times column is about Joining the New Orleans resurrection.
In the Guardian this week, Riazat Butt wrote about her sister’s experience wearing a face veil in Southampton, see Turning the tables and if you have time, read the comments too.
Today, in Face to Faith, Shahid Malik writes about Ramadan.
Over at The Times Jonathan Sacks writes about Genesis and the origin of the Origin of the species.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about A delightful case of curiosities. More details about this exhibition are available here. And there is more here.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times about his Norfolk holiday in Surely God is specially present here?
The On Faith website asked various pundits the question: Advise John McCain and Barack Obama on the role religion should play in their presidential campaigns.
I have written two more columns for Matt Wardman.
Last week it was titled Reporters Begging, Press Officers Blagging, Bishops Blogging.
This week, it is Sex, Race and Religion in American Politics. Architectural Open Days in Britain.
Giles Fraser asked in the Church Times How should children behave in church?
Mark Vernon wrote about Humanism in Face to Faith in the Guardian.
Earlier this week A C Grayling wrote The rise of Miliband brings at last the prospect of an atheist prime minister.
Christopher Howse wrote in the Telegraph about Cardinal Newman’s miraculous bones.
Peter Townley wrote in The Times about The value of William Temple’s vision in a cynical world.
Susan Jacoby wrote at the Washington Post’s On Faith site about Saddleback Church Forum: A Religious Test For The Presidency. Other opinions on this topic here.
Giles Fraser in the Church Times writes about China. See Watch what else China is doing.
Unfortunately the website has truncated the article; as a temporary measure I have copied the full text below the fold.
Andrew Brown has written on Comment is free The discussion of religious differences online is not a game.
And earlier in the week, he wrote The religion of politics.
At the Telegraph Christopher Howse wrote At the Gate of the Year.
Rather more interesting is the blog article by George Pitcher titled Exposed: Christian unity preached in church.
Jonathan Romain writes at The Times about Time and chance in the hurdle race of human life.
And earlier, Libby Purves had written about Richard Dawkins, the naive professor.
Giles Fraser: Watch what else China is doing
MAO ZEDONG died in 1976, and since then, two big things have happened to China. The first is the explosion of the Chinese economy. Everybody has been talking about that. The other is the explosion of religion.
The distinguished sinologist Professor David Ownby went so far as to tell a United States congressional committee: “I would wager that the growth rate in popular participation in both official and unofficial religions in China has been equal to, if not greater than,the growth rate of the Chinese economy over the past 25 years.”
So, while many of us are glued to the Olympics, it is worth reflecting on the treatment China has been dishing out to the persecuted religious organisation, the Falun Gong. Although it is less well-known in this country than the Dalai Lama and the Buddhist struggle for Tibetan autonomy, the Falun Gong is arguably a far more significant organisation.
Mao once claimed that “religion is poison,” and he systematically repressed faith. Yet, in the decades after his death, China experienced a charismatic revival. It began with the popular rediscovery of traditional Chinese medicine, and developed into claims of miraculous healings, and some thing remarkably similar to speaking in tongues. The whole phenomenon had a New Age feel, and became amazingly successful, gaining up to 100 million followers (more than the 77 million we claim for Anglicanism).
The star of this powerful revival, known as the qigong, was a former government official and amateur trumpet player, Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong. His writings became essential reading for millions of Chinese, filling parks around the world with stretching Falun Gong exercisers.
The Falun Gong might seem a bit wacky for Christian sensibilities — rather gnostic, from the stuff I have read from Master Li — but it is a peaceful organisation, whose teachers are not allowed to charge for handing on their version of enlightenment. It just got far too big — with a larger membership than the Communist Party — and this flashed red for the deeply anti-religious imagination of the Chinese government.
So, in 1999, the Falun Gong was banned,and derided as an “evil cult”. Li Hongzhi now lives in New York. But many of his followers are not so lucky. According to the UN, 66 per cent of all Chinese torture cases involve a member of the Falun Gong, and half the labour-camp population are members. Many believe that there is an extensive programme of forced organ-harvesting taking place. Amnesty International has been jumping up and down to highlight this wicked persecution — and so should we.
Andrew Brown in The Guardian Dr Williams’ contortions
Mary Ann Sieghart in the Times Rowan Williams was selected as a liberal and now he should govern as one
Roderick Strange writes about Edith Stein in the Times The life and death of a German Jewish Christian nun.
Dr Bernard Ratigan in The Guardian writes that The needs of young people brought up in homonegative faiths are being neglected.
Justin Thacker in The Guardian God and evolution can coexist
Tom Frame in the Church Times Jesus’s checklist for good leadership
The Scotsman carries an article by Kelvin Holdsworth Scotland leads on tolerance – will the Church of England follow?
The Guardian has Jonathan Magonet writing about the new Reform Judaism prayer book in Face To Faith.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about A flinty treat at Southwold.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times that: It is the young who will likely put an end to knife crime.
The Church Times has a leader: The challenge to do miracles.
And Giles Fraser writes: Beware of the morality of legalism.
Rowan Williams writes in the Guardian about A new spiritual politics of limits
Terry Philpot writes in Face to Faith about how The Catholic church has done much lately to protect children, but little to protect priests.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about John Donne on a chill island
In The Times the Credo column is written by the Archbishop of Sydney. No, not that one, the other one. See World Youth Day took Sydney by storm and prayer.
Earlier Simon Barrow wrote on Ekklesia about Peacemaking after Christendom. Read more about his book Fear or Freedom?: Why a Warring Church Must Change.
In the Church Times Giles Fraser wrote Try being transformed by joy.
Christopher Howse avoids Lambeth entirely and writes about gravestones. See Finding a fitting stone reminder in the Telegraph.
In the Guardian Chris Chivers writes that the Anglican communion needs to take a more global perspective on its problems, see Face to Faith.
In The Times Cathy Ross writes that the average Anglican is a black, female teenager.
Giles Fraser writing in the Church Times asks Can there be compromise on women bishops?
And at Comment is free Judith Maltby notices that Suddenly, it’s time for tolerance.
Graham Kings at Fulcrum and the Church of England Newspaper asks how can bishops disagree Christianly?
Gene Robinson writes in the Guardian about The God I know is alive and active in the church, not locked up in scripture.
In The Times Muhammad Abdul Bari writes that British Muslims plan a summer vision.
Christopher Howse writes about a forthcoming TV documentary in Koranic verses on the duty to kill.
Alan Wilson wrote about Church of Navel-Gazers?
‘Facebook Generation’ Faces Identity Crisis, according to Medical News Today (hat tip Mark Vernon).
Will Hutton in The Observer Rebel bishops threaten the very heart of our liberal traditions
Anglicanism is a liberal tradition central to the very conception of Englishness, but it finds itself under mounting threat. Last Sunday around 300 Anglican bishops, largely from Nigeria, Uganda and Australia, but including at least one from England, issued the Jerusalem Declaration. They no longer accepted that the Archbishop of Canterbury led the Anglican Church.
Giles Fraser in The Independent on Sunday Enough is enough. The extremists must be confronted
Rowan Williams has been too compliant in the face of the Church’s conservatives and homophobes
Jane Hedges in the Telegraph Women bishops shouldn’t scare the Synod
“Church in crisis over women priests.” This is the kind of headline that was appearing in the press 30 years ago when the general synod of the Church of England began to debate the ordination of women.
Damian Thompson in the Telegraph Bishops plan conversion to Rome
The Sunday Telegraph carries the news that senior Church of England bishops have met the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to discuss the apocalyptic crisis in Anglicanism and the prospect of converting to Roman Catholicism.
I’m glad that Jonathan Wynne-Jones has respected the anonymity of the bishops in question. We at the Catholic Herald have known for some time about these historic negotiations. I pray that they succeed.
Melanie McDonagh in The Times The Anglican wars are bad for all of us subtitled “If the pews of the Church of England empty, we’ll lose an army of public-spirited volunteers”
Giles Fraser in the Church Times When slaves turn on their oppressors
Damian Thompson in the Telegraph Women bishops? Just get on with it.
Robin Harris in the Times The disaster for Christians in Iraq subtitled “They used to live peaceably with other faiths but now they have been driven out and become refugees”
Andrew Brown in The Guardian Pennies for heaven subtitled “The Church of England relies heavily on its collection plate to fund each diocese – but a threat to solvency is threatening tolerance”
We recommend this essay by the Rt Revd Pierre Whalon, the Bishop in Charge of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe. He writes on ‘what lies past Lambeth 2008. And Lambeth 2018. And 2028…’
Giles Fraser in the Church Times Family love is a model of injustice
Robert O’Neill asks in The Guardian Do we need a global Anglican communion?. His answer is a resounding and heartfelt “yes”.
Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah in a Face to faith article in The Guardian Judaism has had to evolve to survive, and Anglicanism must too. She asks “Is Anglicanism a form of progressive Christianity - and if so, what are its progressive credentials?”
Roderick Strange in the credo column at the Times Genuine conversion unveils our hidden depths
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph that the bees are back at Lambeth Palace. The riddle of the golden syrup tin
Stephen Bates in The Guardian Barack Obama and the Jesus Machine - “Televangelist James Dobson has come out against Obama. But the Democrat might just carry religious voters with him anyway.”
John Bryson Chane (Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington DC) writes in The Guardian The framing of mutual joy where he argues that “Our church’s evolving attitude has led us to the point where we must consider gay marriage”.
Geoffrey Rowell writes in The Times that Christians read the handwritten word differently.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about The bare and desolate SPCK bookshops.
Chris Hardwick writes in the Guardian that It’s healthy for Christians to disagree, but we really must learn to ‘quarrel peacefully’.
Also in the Guardian this week:
Rowan Williams wrote about Henry Chadwick.
Riazat Butt wrote about The ‘pope’ of hope.
Giles Fraser wrote about Me and the secular police.
And over in the Church Times he wrote about Saying ‘no’ to distant government.
To win influence, the Church must first win arguments, writes Stephen Plant in The Times.
Wake up to how people really see the C of E, said Mark Hope-Urwin in last week’s Church Times.
Finding a crucifix on a rubbish heap was a timely reminder of God’s enduring love, says Andrew Clitherow in the Guardian.
Earlier in the week, Giles Fraser wrote in the Guardian: Religion thrives in Africa and the Middle East. So is the argument that clever people don’t believe in God racist? See Intelligent, divine.
His Church Times column this week is titled When mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
Riazat Butt wrote at Comment is free about a conference in Saudi Arabia, see Between a rock and jihad place?
Christopher Howse wrote about Wittgenstein in Jeeves and the idea of human sacrifice.
Zaki Cooper writes in the Guardian about the relationship between faith and food.
In The Times Jonathan Sacks says that Religion can help in the desert of the lonely crowd.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about being Blisterless on the road to Santiago.
Giles Fraser in the Church Times has When mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
Andrea Useem has written an article asking Is Obama’s Real “Faith Asset” His Ability to Speak the Language of American Civil Religion?
Simon Barrow writes on Ekklesia about Moving religion from harm to healing.
In an earlier article, I linked to an article in the Church Times by Jonathan Clark explaining why The C of E is losing its own history.
More recently, Brian Crowe wrote in the Church of Ireland Gazette in response to that, the article was titled The embarrassment of history? Restoring proper confidence in our Anglican past.
That article can be read in full here.
Joanna Collicutt asks in the Guardian Are we “hard-wired” to believe in God?
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about John Wesley’s polygamous brother-in-law.
In The Times Anil Bhanot presents A Hindu view on the challenge to the sanctity of life.
Simon Barrow writes about Globalisation for Ekklesia see Hearing hope through the babble.
Nick Spencer writes for Fulcrum about Neither Private nor Privileged:
the role of Christianity in Britain today.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about Penalties of chaos in Chelsea.
The Church Times leader is about the Festival of the Visitation. See The song from the silence.
In The Times Roderick Strange writes about Corpus Christi in A simple supper in an upper room that feeds us still.
In the Guardian Stephen Heap discusses A truly secular approach can resolve conflicts between religious law and the law of the land.
Christians have no monopoly on morality, says Lisa Jardine, who is interviewed in in the New Statesman.
Also Julian Baggini writes that we need new ways to decide ethical issues in Now let the real battle begin.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about Levelling with odd bedfellows.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about The voices that Joan of Arc heard.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about the City Churches in After the fires of London.
Simon Barrow writes for Wardman Wire on The Struggle to be Truthful: Thinking Aloud.
In the Church Times Rebecca Paveley interviewed Gordon Brown, see Not strangers but neighbours.
Giles Fraser wrote that Doctor Who proves the success of the gospel.
The Times has The value of mercy as a means of overcoming anger by Usama Hasan.
The Guardian has Andrew Copson writing about humanism and the school curriculum in Face to faith.
Geoffrey Rowell writes in The Times about The celestial fire that brings us new life and inspiration.
Chris Duggan writes in the Guardian about our ecological sins. See Face to faith.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about Boris Johnson and the Holy Trinity.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about Maude Royden in Do people need saving from this?
At Ekklesia there are several items. First, and rather belatedly, a link to a paper published some weeks ago by Savi Hensman under the heading Listening and learning in the sexuality debate.
Jonathan Bartley asks Are Christians facing discrimination?
Simon Barrow writes a column titled Land of hope and glory?
And, finally, over in the Spectator there is an article by Theo Hobson ‘It’s Harder For Straights To Feel Christian Charity Than Gays’
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times Teach your children well the power of Passover.
Steve Parish writes about zeal for the social Gospel in the Guardian’s Face to faith column.
Christopher Howse writes about Furnishings that cost Laud’s life in the Daily Telegraph.
In the Church Times Giles Fraser writes about how The battle of good and bad religion hots up.
Over on Comment is free Riazat Butt writes about Our dirty little secret.
The Church Times has a leader about human rights: So, how safe are human rights? This refers to the recent address by Pope Benedict to the UN General Assembly, which is here.
And at Ekklesia Savi Hensman writes about Developing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Giles Fraser in the Church Times focuses more narrowly in Take these Nigerian taunts more seriously.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about suicide bombers in A human bomb does not distinguish.
David Lunan Moderator-designate of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland writes in The Times about The words and the beliefs that determine our lives.
Jonathan Romain writes about faith schools in Face to Faith in the Guardian.
And Andrew Brown wrote last week in the Church Times about what happened at the Daily Telegraph, in Victim of the Telegraph cull.
Abraham Pinter writes that Passover is a good time to think about freedom of religious education in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
In The Times Roderick Strange writes that The resurrection of Jesus was real and physical.
In the Daily Telegraph Christopher Howse reports on Doing God in the land of Mammon.
The Church Times has an article by Jonathan Clark explaining why The C of E is losing its own history.
And last week in the Church Times Elaine Storkey wrote about Taking on the moral high ground.
Simon Barrow writes for Ekklesia about an issue in British parliamentary democracy, see Power to which people, exactly?
Geoffrey Rowell writes in The Times that We need faith, and reality points us to a belief in God.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about The burial of the heart.
Sunny Hundal writes about meaningless rituals in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about Why faith always asks questions.
The TLS carried this review of Rowan Williams’s Wrestling with Angels recently: Inside the mind of the Archbishop of Canterbury by David Bentley Hart. (h/t KH)
Simon Barrow wrote this article for the Wardman Wire: Flexing the Faith Muscle: Thinking Aloud. In it he looks at the style and tenor of church engagement with public life and the realm of politics - arguing that flexing the faith muscle in an overbearing way ends up being profoundly counter-productive.
Mary Warnock who among other things is a member of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s advisory group on medical ethics, wrote an article for the New Statesman which has been titled The politics of religion. In this she argues that religious belief is no basis for law-making.
Are religions becoming more extreme? Riazat Butt comments in the Guardian. A transcript of the lecture by Tony Blair to which she refers can be found here (pdf).
Earlier in the week, Riazat wrote about the issue of whether the British educational system is failing Muslim pupils, see Wanted: faith in the future.
Face to Faith this week is by John Newbury and is about religious broadcasting.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about Thomas Tallis and The Spectator.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times that Genesis tells us we have a duty to protect the planet.
In the Church Times Giles Fraser writes about Earth Hour in Let there be dark.
James Mawdsley writes in The Times about The proper place of the Church in debates of state.
Michael Horan writes about the Resurrection in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Christopher Howse writes about Pictures from a lost village in the Daily Telegraph.
Simon Barrow writes at Ekklesia about The God elusion.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times that After the fire comes the resurrection.
And in last week’s Church Times Paul Oestreicher wrote This is not a religion of the book.
Also Una Kroll wrote Abandon establishment, and gain autonomy.
David Stancliffe writes in The Times about How an election in Sudan signals a new resurrection.
Earlier in the week, Andrew White wrote there about Iraq five years on.
Last Sunday, John Cornwell asked in the Sunday Times Are Muslim enclaves no-go areas, forcing other people out (hat tip Andrew Brown).
Christopher Howse explains in the Daily Telegraph Why the Big Bang is not Creation.
At Ekklesia Simon Barrow follows up on the article by Peter Selby linked here yesterday with Why the church needs a new foreign policy.
And he also wrote Resurrection is no Easter conjuring trick.
In the Guardian Danny Rich writes about how Purim is a timely reminder of past persecution of the Jews and the fragility of Israel in Face to faith.
Giles Fraser also writes there today, about A funny kind of Christian.
And in the Church Times he wrote about Trusting in God beyond my death.
The Church Times leader is titled Only perfect love can cast out fear.
Last week, in the Church Times Peter Selby wrote about Why war is never a final solution.
The Guardian carried a leader today titled In praise of… the Council of Nicaea.
Justin Lewis-Anthony wrote about Gambling and Good Friday.
Mordechai Beck writes in Face to Faith for the Guardian about how the real reason for the veiling of religious women may be lost in the sands of time.
Dave Walker on the Church Times blog has all the gen on the BBC Passion.
Giles Fraser in the Church Times wants us to Learn from Anglicans’ secular cousins.
In The Times Jonathan Romain writes about a New prayer book for Britain’s Reform Jews.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about The city lost in the sands.
Savi Hensman writes for Ekklesia about Being on the side of the crucified.
Geoffrey Rowell writes in The Times about Egeria the fourth century nun and the litany.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about What the maker of mosaics saw.
Pete Tobias writes in the Guardian about Moses and the burning bush, see Face to Faith.
Giles Fraser asks in the Church Times Is it time to snub the Pope now?
Simon Barrow wrote on Ekklesia about Fairness, trade and free market ideology.
Three articles by Giles Fraser this weekend.
In the Guardian he writes in Intimations of mortality that we have lost the art of plain speaking when it comes to death - and that is not healthy for children.
Also in the Guardian he previews the BBC’s Passion (to be broadcast in Holy Week) in Thou shalt not offend anyone: BBC’s Jesus is nice but dull.
And in the Church Times he asks Is Fairtrade the same as fair?.
In the Guardian’s Face to faith column David Bryant writes that the perspective shift urged by the philosopher Martin Buber has the power to heal our world.
In The Times Jonathan Sacks writes Lose faith in God we will lose faith in humanity.
Also in The Times Libby Purves asks whether Oxford scholars should be forced to say grace in Oxford scholars’ grace protest: principled or petulant?
In the Guardian’s Face to Faith column, Alex Klaushofer says that Lebanon’s pluralism could teach the west much about religious tolerance.
In The Times Roderick Strange writes that Water can bring us death or a new life in Christ.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about Rock of Ages and the rebel pilgrims.
Stephen Brown writes at Ekklesia that Church and media need new understanding, says Lutheran bishop (German readers can learn more here).
Paul Vallely writes in the Church Times that Religion can be a solution in Kosovo.
Also, Giles Fraser explains Why I worry about moral foreign policies.
Terry Philpot writes about Catholic care homes in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Usama Hasan writes in The Times about What is Sharia?
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times that the Democrats now do God.
Christopher Howse following the archbishop’s lead tells more Ronald Knox jokes in When Islam and the C of E unite.
Craig Brown tries to be amusing in Dr Rowan Williams’ ‘Cat Sat On The Mat’.
And for a real contrast to that, try the sermon given by Rowan Williams at the memorial service for Charlie Moule last weekend.
Sharia-free zone
Giles Fraser wrote in the G2 section of the Guardian about his recent American travels, God moves to the left.
And he also wrote in the Church Times about Lambeth: a conference of shame.
Christopher Howse wrote in the Daily Telegraph about Dog-collars on the footplate. (Note to American readers: “footplate” is explained here.)
John Wilkins writes in The Times that Divine justice is perfect and tempered with mercy.
Alec Gilmore writes in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column about the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Evangelicals, beginning to voice concern for God’s earth, are critical to the US elections, says James Jones in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times that Love can teach us to listen to our enduring melodies.
Christopher Howse in the Daily Telegraph has An addiction to behaving badly.
Giles Fraser, in the Church Times says that Too much religion is bad for your faith.
Rowan Williams gave an interview to Martha Linden of the Press Association which you can read in full at his site. It’s more wide-ranging than the headline, Archbishop criticises 24 hour drinking.
Simon Barrow wrote about Challenging the neo-liberal paradigm for Ekklesia.
Geoffrey Rowell writes that Paul shows how faith could turn all our lives around in The Times.
Alan Wilson also writes about Saint Paul, in The Power of Love.
Stephen Smith writes about the Holocaust in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about a Coincidence in a Bath bookshop.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about Technology: does it dispel the wonder?
And the Church Times carried a leader about Christian unity: Two ways to hold the body together.
Ekklesia brings us a piece by Martin Marty titled Catholic but not necessarily Roman.
And also, Kersten Storch writes about Praying for unity across a century of division.
Peter Steinfels writes in the New York Times about Praying for Christian Unity, When Diversity Has Been the Answer.
Roderick Strange writes in the Tablet about Newman, in Saintly, but very human.
The Guardian has Theo Hobson writing Face to Faith, and he argues that The Church of England’s gay crisis makes clear that that liberal Anglicanism is finished.
In the Church Times Giles Fraser writes that I cannot eat at your table, Plato.
In the Guardian’s column Face to Faith John Coutts argues that “Mainstream Islam stands where the churches stood in 1650 in terms of religious freedom”.
The Times has Baptism allows us to share fully in the life of Jesus by Roderick Strange.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times that Theologians promoted atheism.
Ekklesia has a piece by Simon Barrow titled Rethinking religion in an open society.
Two weeks ago, the Observer had this article by Richard Harries It is possible to be moral without God.
The Church Times leader this week is Wisdom from the East?
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about why Christianity needs to ditch Plato.
Christopher Howse tells us in the Daily Telegraph What Hrabanus Maurus says about doves.
As Christians celebrate the Epiphany, it’s the people not the presents that matter, argues Chris Chivers in the Guardian’s Face to Faith.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times that you should Count your blessings and begin to change your life.
And from before Christmas, there is this interesting article in The Times by Alan Franks in which Terry Eagleton explains why a Marxist critic has written about Jesus Christ and the Gospels.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Guardian about A very lefty festival.
The tradition of carols as an anarchic and populist form of devotion is alive and well, says Ian Bradley in Face to Faith.
Jonathan Romain wrote in The Times that All the true miracles happen in the human heart.
Vicki Woods wrote in the Daily Telegraph about Going to church when you have no faith.
At Ekklesia Simon Barrow wrote that Christ is an unwanted gift for the religious.
Jonathan Bartley wrote about The real offensiveness of Christmas.
Geoffrey Rowell writes in The Times that The Christmas story allows us to behold God’s glory.
Ruth Gledhill reports: Make every Sunday a Christmas Day, churches told.
Earlier, The Times also had Top ten Carols and things you didn’t know about them.
Despite the seasonal humbug, Christmas has not become ‘content-free’ just yet, writes Judith Maltby in the Guardian.
And also in the Guardian Mark Lawson writes about Victorian intolerance.
The Associated Press reports on what an astrophysicist thinks about “the star in the East”.
In the Telegraph Christopher Howse writes about The shepherds’ dog and the angel.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times about Learning to spot a fading pleasure.
And the Church Times had this leader: Prepare to meet thy maker.
This week’s Tablet has an article by the Archbishop of Canterbury which looks forward to next month’s centenary Week of Christian Unity.
His article is titled No common language yet. It starts this way:
A hundred years on from the establishing of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, how much further forward are we? And what exactly are we praying for during this week of prayer? On the whole, it’s become a fixture for most “mainstream” denominations, a few days when the more enthusiastic or more biddable members of the congregation turn up to someone else’s church for a well-mannered but often rather lukewarm joint service or two, or perhaps for a talk by a prominent local leader.
The aspiration that we end up relating better with each other, or even that we end up more willing to engage in witness and work together is entirely worthy, and is probably widely fulfilled. But are we praying for anything more than this?
For some people, the answer is clearly “no”. To look beyond this fostering of local goodwill, they would say, is always in danger of slipping towards the yearning for some universal institution with clear central control - at worst, a Pullmanesque Magisterium, some people’s nightmare of Roman Catholicism…
Anglicans need deep learning not cheap victory is the title of an article published by Ekklesia and written by Savi Hensman.
Some church leaders caught up in the sexuality row not only refuse to consider scholarship which does not conform to their own perspective but also demand the right to prohibit others from acting on the fruits of study. Anglicans need to be learners not warriors.
The Archbishop of York writes in the Observer I ripped up my dog collar to help topple this brutal tyrant.
Mark Vernon at Comment is free asks “Is philosophy just tinkering around the edges of science, or can a meeting of the disciplines give us deeper insghts into the universe?” in God and the multiverse.
Shelina Zahra Janmohamed argues in the Guardian’s Face to faith column that Spiritual journeys like the hajj must challenge body and soul.
Christopher Howse in the Telegraph writes on Judging when you must fight a war
Also in the Telegraph Sarah Todd hears how one Christmas congregation found room at the inn in Fathers, sons and holy spirits.
Joanna Moorhead in the Times writes that in deepest Surrey, families are flocking to watch a cast of real people in a most extraordinary nativity play O little town of Wintershall.
Also in the Times Ruth Gledhill writes about a study that argues Plagues of Egypt ‘caused by nature, not God’.
In the Church Times Giles Fraser writes about US suburbs: the home of segregation.
In the Guardian Zaki Cooper says Some of the staunchest supporters of Christmas come from other religions.
Also, Pankaj Mishra argues that a public conversation about Islam should not be avoided, in A paranoid, abhorrent obsession.
The Times has Jonathan Sacks writing that The battle to teach moral values is won at school.
In the Daily Telegraph Christopher Howse writes about Trevor Beeson’s new book, Round the Church in Fifty Years, in an article titled Bringing life back into the parishes.
Giles Fraser asks Which party really wants a divorce? in the Church Times.
Andrew Brown argues at Comment is free that Civilisation is safe.
Roderick Strange writes in The Times about Advent: Nativity narratives are a gift from the gospel’s heart.
Martyn Percy writes in the Guardian that: Advent is a time of serious preparation, but it’s about far more than Christmas.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about a new papal encyclical: Spe Salvi, says Pope Benedict.
The same paper also has a piece by Sam Leith titled Loving William Blake for being bonkers.
Giles Fraser who has returned from his US trip, writes in the Church Times about How the US conscience has become diseased.
In the Los Angeles Times there is an essay by Laura Miller on the Religious furor over ‘The Golden Compass’.
Added
And here’s a bonus column: Andrew Brown writes about Kitschmas: Funnier than thou.
Riazat Butt who is the Religious Affairs correspondent at the Guardian wrote a column for the Church of England Newspaper which has now appeared on Religious Intelligence.
See Time for closure in Anglican crisis?
…Talking is something that Anglicans are good at. But I kind of wish they’d do something else. For at least four years the threat of a schism has been hanging over the communion and people write about walking apart and falling off fences but the key word here is threat. Unless I’m deaf I’ve not heard the crack of a rupture so it leaves me thinking that this much-hyped schism, which by all accounts should have happened months ago, is the longest and slowest break-up in history…
Giles Fraser writes from Pittsburgh for the Church Times that I believe the new puritans will fail.
Paul Woolley writes for The Times about how Religion holds its own in the forum of public debate.
Christopher Howse explains in the Daily Telegraph Why Gladstone had God up his sleeve.
Christopher Rowland writes in the Guardian about Blake’s creative engagement with the Bible.
Andrew Linzey had an article in The Times yesterday about electing bishops. In England. See Listen to the voice of the people.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times yesterday about life in California. See California: where the giving is cheerful.
Julia Neuberger writes in the Guardian today about multifaith charity work. Read Face to Faith.
Christopher Howse writes in today’s Daily Telegraph about The strange rites of Coronation.
Ekklesia has an article by Colin Morris titled Violence, the media and redemption.
Stephen Bates has written an article with this title for New Humanist.
After seven years on the faith front lines, Guardian religious affairs correspondent Stephen Bates is glad to be back on civvy street.
Here’s a sample:
…The presenting issue, of course, for what has become a struggle for power and control not only of the Church of England but throughout the worldwide Anglican communion, is homosexuality and the church’s attitude towards gays. Outsiders may have accepted civil partnerships, but the established church is tearing itself apart on the issue with quite extraordinary bitterness and rancour. Only a week or so ago, a US blogger was remarking charitably that it wasn’t worth expending a bullet on the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, who is the first woman to lead a major Christian denomination. The blogger, incidentally, was herself a woman…
Read the whole article.
Giles Fraser writes in today’s Guardian that Anglicanism, a house divided against itself, can’t survive its civil war in one piece. Read Face to Faith.
And in the Church Times he writes about Why equality belongs with freedom.
Christopher Howse in his Daily Telegraph column has Sacred Mysteries: Evidence for the human soul.
David Cooper wrote in The Times yesterday that We need to remember the value of lives of service.
Rebecca Fowler had a report in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph : Women priests and their continuing battle.
The Guardian has a leader about the Anglican Communion: Beyond compromise:
…Always a loose and unwieldy alliance, the communion has survived since the age of empire only because of the effective acceptance that each church was sovereign in its own land. With the initial encouragement of the religious right in America, however, conservative elements of the communion are trying to impose an infeasible doctrinal unity. Dr Williams has responded to this pressure by seeking compromises. His difficulty is that, as the head of such a loose confederation, he does not have the power to make deals stick, as the freewheeling action of the conservatives is showing.
Dr Williams is a liberal who is instinctively supportive of gay people. His desire to hold the communion together, however, has already led him to support a moratorium on the consecration of gay bishops and to suggest that Anglican churches should not recognise same-sex unions through public rites. These concessions have not, however, checked the communion’s unravelling. The fence on which Dr Williams has been sitting has collapsed. It is time for him to preach what he believes.
There is also a news report by Riazat Butt Archbishop urged to delay conference in gay clergy row.
Simon Barrow writes about a special feature this week on Religion and Public Life in the Economist . See The Predictable New Wars of Religion?
The Economist feature is here: In God’s name.
Jay Lakhani writes in the Guardian that All faiths must accept pluralism.
Jonathan Sacks appears twice today. In The Times he writes that The search for meaning must begin outside the self.
Over in the Daily Telegraph he is interviewed by Rachel Sylvester and Alice Thomson in Jonathan Sacks’s solution to family breakdown.
Also at the Daily Telegraph Christopher Howse asks Why should abortion be thought wrong?
In the Church Times Giles Fraser asks Is football in a moral bubble?
The Tablet has a review by Michael Northcott Americans Who Sing For Zion of two books, God’s Own Country and Allies for Armageddon.
Mark Vernon writes in the Guardian that seeing scientific knowledge as limitless erodes our capacity for contemplative wonder. Read Face to Faith.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about Women alone in Paris and Mecca.
Roderick Strange asks in The Times How many of us have given until we felt the pinch?.
And there is another article: Church’s historic home in the City.
In the Church Times Giles Fraser asks Is secularism neutral on faith or anti-religious?.
And there is a leader column: Unity agreeable to God’s will.
The Times has Peter Mullen writing that Wealth creation can atone for the sins of Mammon.
The Guardian has Paul Oestreicher writing about Franz Jägerstätter.
The Daily Telegraph has Christopher Howse reviewing books: In and out of Hitler’s Reich.
Giles Fraser in the Church Times wrote about a film: This move hands the atheists a PR coup.
The Times Credo column last week had Jonathan Sacks on Religion and science are twin beacons of humanity.
This week it has Peter Selby on It’s time to stop giving credit to our culture of debt.
Guardian Face to Faith column: Fasting is not just about giving up food, but trying to be a better person for it, writes Hamza Yusuf.
Daily Telegraph Christopher Howse has The flowering of Exeter’s carvings.
Church Times Giles Fraser wrote about When the real question is: ‘Are you saved?’
Jane Shaw writes in the Guardian about why the bond of baptism means we have no need for a new ‘essential’ Anglican covenant, in Face to Faith.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about Worshipping God through icons.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about Ambition: the spiritual battle in the dark.
Harriet Baber writes in the Church Times that Most Episcopalians just don’t care.
Pat Ashworth writes in the Church Times about how Bishops wade in as Hurricane Katrina aid dries to a trickle.
Peter Selby writes in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column and reflects on how wars have challenged the modern church.
Jonathan Romain writes in The Times that Jews don’t have to believe – if they do what He says.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about A (Muslim) duty to prevent wrongdoing.
Bill Countryman writes in the Church Times about A weakness in the US Constitution.
Giles Fraser spoke on the radio yesterday about the Levellers and Burma.
Geoffrey Rowell writes in The Times that The Divine Compassion has steel as well as serenity.
David Boulton writes about National Quaker Week in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Christopher Howse writes about The bells that make Cockneys in the Daily Telegraph.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about These new bishops are only virtual — not real.
Stephen Bates wrote his final column for the Church of England Newspaper recently. This column can now be found on Religious Intelligence and is titled Sketch: preparing for the Anglican summit.
Ah! New Orleans – the Big Easy, birthplace of the Blues and Louis Armstrong, city of Mardi Gras and Voodoo, the least Protestant town in the US: what better place to witness the latest stage in the break-up of the worldwide Anglican Communion? No prizes to be awarded – can you hear me, Bishop of Carlisle? – for the first one to pronounce God’s judgement if a hurricane hovers into view.
This week’s meeting between Rowan Williams and the American bishops will be my swan-song as a religious affairs correspondent, after eight years covering the subject for The Guardian. I’d have been less keen to attend had the venue been Detroit, but where better to end it? It is time to move on for me professionally, and probably for Anglicans too and this marks a suitable place to stop. There is also no doubting, personally, that writing this story has been too corrosive of what faith I had left: indeed watching the way the gay row has played out in the Anglican Communion has cost me my belief in the essential benignity of too many Christians.For the good of my soul, I need to do something else…
Thinking about the meaning of Ramadan has made me a better Christian, says Chris Chivers in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Reconciliation offers greater rewards than revenge writes Roderick Strange in the Credo column of The Times.
Christopher Howse says Jews fast, Muslims fast, so should Christians in the Daily Telegraph.
Giles Fraser writes about New York, where all our compulsions meet in the Church Times.
In the Washington Post Mary Jordan writes that In Europe and U.S., Nonbelievers Are Increasingly Vocal. (The article is in fact mostly about Europe and in particular the UK.)
Update
In today’s Guardian there is a book review, under the headline Holy Order, by Jonathan Bartley of Stephen Bates’ latest work, God’s Own Country: Tales from the Bible Belt.
Jonathan Sacks writes on the occasion of the Jewish New Year that Freedom can only walk on the path of forgiveness.
Simon Rocker writes about the image of God, in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
And in the Daily Telegraph Christopher Howse writes about What Richard Dawkins makes of Jewish morals.
From the Church Times Giles Fraser asks Should the BBC allow extremist voices?
And from last week, William Whyte writes about the Deceased Wife’s Sister Act in Why did this seem like a great moral safeguard?
The church’s preference for commitment over numbers has made it increasingly irrelevant, says David Self in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Thursday’s Guardian carried this article by John Cornwell The importance of doubt which discusses Richard Dawkins.
The simple life is the way to tackle climate change says Mary Grey in the Credo column of The Times.
Christopher Howse writes about Mother Teresa’s crisis of faith in the Daily Telegraph.
Giles Fraser’s Church Times column is headed A real faith leads deep into the desert.
In The Times Stephen Plant asks How can there can be forgiveness without remorse?
Glynn Cardy writes in the Guardian about the model of the church as a ship in Face to Faith.
The surprise of thatched churches is discussed in the Daily Telegraph by Christopher Howse.
A double dose of Giles Fraser:
The bishops really need to talk from last week’s Church Times and this week When the US Right was not so religious.
And another article from last week’s Church Times: Robin Gill writes about the state of the Anglican Communion: Keeping it in the family.
This week’s Tablet has an interview by Theo Hobson of Metropolitan John D. Zizioulas. Read An eye for the other.
In the Church Times Andrew Linzey writes about animal cruelty in First hit the pets, then the people.
And last week, in the Church Times Harriet Baber wrote about gun control in How to survive in a violent world.
Andrew Clitherow writes the Guardian’s Face to Faith column about the cul-de-sac of formal religion.
Luis Rodriguez writes in The Times that We must work to discover the meaning of suffering.
Christopher Howse visited Thornham Parva and reports, in Masterpiece in a country church.
Peter Thompson, writing the Face to Faith column in the Guardian says that Religion is not a delusion but a quest for ‘home’.
Joel Edwards writes about being an Evangelical with a capital E in the Credo column of The Times, Ever heard the one about Jesus and the good news?
In the Church Times Giles Fraser thinks that Harry Potter is a true evangelist.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about being on holiday: How can happiness be so elusive?
Also in the Church Times Paul Vallely asks Is it right to limit the mega-mosque?
The Guardian has Tom Horwood writing that “Faith leaders could learn a lot from managers in the secular working world” in Face to faith.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about a new film production in Michael Gambon in Brideshead Revisited.
Jonathan Sacks writes that Harry Potter could teach adults how to grow up, too in The Times.
Toby Green writes about the Inquisition in Face to Faith in the Guardian.
Roderick Strange writes in The Times that True prayer begins when we find the kingdom within.
Christopher Howse in his regular Daily Telegraph column writes about A meeting with three unknown persons.
In the Tablet Alain Woodrow writes about the Church in France in No sign of a rapprochement.
The Church Times had a second leader, noting the Church of England connection of John Wolfenden, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act 1967 (scroll down to 1967 and all that).
Geoffrey Rowell writes in The Times about things he found in Geneva and Romania, see Science and politics can mean nothing without faith.
Christopher Howse writes about Orkney for the Daily Telegraph in A round tower in the sea.
In the Guardian the Face to Faith column is written by Gordon Lynch and criticises several modern writers on religion.
Also in the Guardian Karen Armstrong writes that An inability to tolerate Islam contradicts western values.
The Church Times had a leader this week about The Crown’s right to choose priests.
And Giles Fraser wrote about how 1950s Britain was stirred by Bond, not shaken.
Christopher Howse in the Daily Telegraph had this to say about the papal announcement on the Tridentine Mass: The facts about a misreported Mass.
David Bryant in the Guardian wrote about Jean-Paul Sartre in Face to faith.
In The Times Stephen Plant writes about Simone Weil in A passionate companion on the path to religious truth.
And for a bonus article, here is an extract that the Guardian reprinted from Stephen Bates’ new book, God’s Own Country: Tales from the Bible Belt. The piece is entitled Thou shalt not judge.
Colin Slee writes in the Guardian about the Anglican covenant proposal.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times about Elijah and the prophetic truth of the ‘still, small voice’.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about Iraqi Christians, in On the plains of Nineveh.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about how Faith is on the front line in the war on terror.
Christopher Howse at the Daily Telegraph reviews the film, Into Great Silence in Masterpiece of silence.
In The Times Kathy Galloway writes that An inclusive church reaps ever greater rewards for all.
Ian Bradley writes in the Guardian about politicians from Scottish Presbyterian manses in Face to Faith.
Giles Fraser in the Church Times writes that Christians are called to welcome strangers.
The Times has Geoffrey Rowell writing about Midsummer is a time to reflect on the joy of song.
In the Guardian Bob Holman writes about Frederick Brotherton Meyer in Face to Faith.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about Seeking the face of God.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about why The Primates have forced my move to the right.
Chris Duggan writes about the meaning of words in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Christopher Howse writes about The case of the missing Gospel in the Daily Telegraph.
Roderick Strange writes in The Times about True forgiveness.
Giles Fraser has a rant in the Church Times.
Commonweal has two articles, one by Timothy Luke Johnson, the other (scroll down) by Eve Tushnet on Homosexuality & the Church.
Jonathan Sacks asks in The Times Can we really learn to love people who aren’t like us?
Christopher Howse writes about The Beautiful Names of God.
Mordechai Beck writes in the Guardian about The New Sanhedrin.
Clifford Longley writes in the Tablet about Catholic bishops and their approach to UK politics.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times Remember that manners makyth man.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about Norfolk’s heir to the Punjab.
In The Times Stephen Plant writes about why Trinity Sunday helps us to see the real dangers of bad faith.
The Guardian’s Face to Faith column is written by Joanna Collicutt McGrath and discusses Richard Turnbull’s opinions. As the Guardian explains:
The Rev Dr Joanna Collicutt McGrath is a lecturer in the psychology of religion at Heythrop College. A former student and visiting tutor at Wycliffe Hall, she co-wrote The Dawkins Delusion with her husband, Professor Alister McGrath.
Vincent Nichols writes about Pentecost in The Times: Pentecostal drama explodes with energy, freedom and joy.
Carolyn Reynier writes about the Anglican chaplaincy in Nice in Face to Faith.
The Daily Telegraph has Christopher Howse on The enigma of Gerontius.
Giles Fraser writes about Ascensiontide in the Church Times: No clinging to the old ragged cloth.
The Tablet has a feature article: Pentecost is just the start by Denis Minns.
Last week’s Church Times had an article by Bob Holman about why Christians, especially bishops, should not seek power in the Lords: What happened to servanthood?
The Times has a review by Geza Vermes of the book Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI.
And Alan Webster writes there about Life with Lenin in one corner and a holy icon in the other.
Peter Stanford writes in the Guardian about C Day-Lewis in Face to Faith.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about Gregorian chant in Where stone comes to life.
Giles Fraser’s Church Times column is titled Community life isn’t all about pubs.
Last week’s Church Times carried my review of the new play at the Chichester Festival Theatre under the title Post-mortem on the year of three popes.
It has since been announced that The Last Confession will open in London in June at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket.
Geoffrey Rowell writes in The Times that Ascension raises more than a cordial for drooping spirits.
Christopher Howse writes from Spain in the Daily Telegraph about A ploughman who was Chaucer’s ideal.
Christina Rees writes in the Guardian about Li Tim-Oi in Face to faith. See also this site.
Two earlier columns from Ekklesia:
Simon Barrow asked last week Is religion the new parliamentary belief divide?
Even earlier Jonathan Bartley asked Is ‘Christian nation’ rhetoric aiding the far right?
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times about the new exhibition at the British Library in The peoples of the Book need to find a new ‘convivencia’.
Christopher Howse writes about a new book Heresies and How to Avoid Them in the Daily Telegraph: Heresy and the good press that now goes with it.
In the Guardian Bishop Paul Richardson writes about links between religion and good health, in Face to Faith.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about Paul v. Jesus — a bid to take over?
Also in the Church Times this week Peter Doll writes about the history of the Episcopal Church in the USA, When a founding myth becomes a weapon.
In the Tablet Peter Kavanagh interviews the Canadian philosopher and Templeton Prize winner Charles Taylor in Called to question.
Christopher Howse in the Daily Telegraph has Rowan Williams on the side of the angels.
Shelina Zahra Janmohamed writes the Face to Faith column in the Guardian and blogs at Spirit21.
The Times Credo column is written by Roderick Strange.
From the Church Times Giles Fraser writes about film-making in Quarter of a million well spent.
From the Tablet Austen Ivereigh writes about irregular migrants in Plight of the shadow people.
From the Spectator The new religious right by James Forsyth.
Guardian Tom Horwood Religious leaders should be hopeful, not defensive, in public debate.
The Times Jonathan Romain If thy scripture offend one of another faith, pluck it out.
Daily Telegraph Christopher Howse The orientalist of Letchworth.
The Church Times had this leader, Picking up the Bible’s tune.
And Giles Fraser argues that cars are a moral issue.
The Tablet has a feature article by Keith Ward Order out of chaos about Pope Benedict and evolution.
As part of his current brief trip to Canada the Archbishop of Canterbury has given a lecture The Bible: Reading and Hearing to students at Wycliffe and Trinity theological colleges in Toronto. The full press release from Lambeth Palace is below the fold but here is the first paragraph.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan WIlliams, has told an audience of theological students that both intensely liberal and ultra conservative readings of the Bible are ‘rootless’ and are limited in what they can contribute to the life of the church. In the Larkin Stuart lecture, delivered today at an event hosted jointly by Wycliffe and Trinity theological colleges in Toronto, Dr Williams said that Christians need to reconnect with scripture as something to be listened to and heard in the context of Jesus’s invitation to the Eucharist and to work for the Kingdom.
The full text of the lecture is online here and here.
Archbishop - church needs to listen properly to the bible
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan WIlliams, has told an audience of theological students that both intensely liberal and ultra conservative readings of the Bible are ‘rootless’ and are limited in what they can contribute to the life of the church. In the Larkin Stuart lecture, delivered today at an event hosted jointly by Wycliffe and Trinity theological colleges in Toronto, Dr Williams said that Christians need to reconnect with scripture as something to be listened to and heard in the context of Jesus’s invitation to the Eucharist and to work for the Kingdom.
“… The Church’s public use of the Bible represents the Church as defined in some important way by listening: the community when it comes together doesn’t only break bread and reflect together and intercede, it silences itself to hear something. It represents itself in that moment as a community existing in response to a word of summons or invitation, to an act of communication that requires to be heard and answered.”
This, he argues, is crucial in the way in which the communities of Christians are informed by what the Scriptures say:
“Take Scripture out of this context of the invitation to sit at table with Jesus and to be incorporated into his labour and suffering for the Kingdom, and you will be treating Scripture as either simply an inspired supernatural guide for individual conduct or a piece of detached historical record - the typical exaggerations of Biblicist and liberal approaches respectively.”
“For the former, the work of the Spirit is more or less restricted to the transformation of the particular believer; for the latter, the life of the community is where the Spirit is primarily to be heard and discerned, with Scripture an illuninating adjunct at certain points.”
Dr Williams says that neither isolating texts from their contexts nor dismissing them as limited by prevalent cultural understanding were helpful approaches. Quoting from St John’s Gospel, Dr Williams said that Jesus’s teaching that ‘no-one can come to the Father except by me’ (John 14 v 6 ) could not be used simply as a trump card in discussions with other faiths: the verse needed to be heard in its full biblical context as the development of the question posed by his earlier saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ (John 13 v 33).
” … This certainly does not suggest in an direct way a more inclusive approach to other faiths. But the point is that the actual question being asked is not about the fate of non-Christians; it is about how the disciples are to understand the death of Jesus as the necessary clearing of the way which they are to walk.”
Similarly, St Paul’s denunciation of homosexuality in Romans 1 v 27 also needed to be properly heard as an ancilliary point in an argument about another matter entirely. That did not diminish its force but made it harder either to discard it or to use it as a definite proof text.
“It is not helpful for a ‘liberal’ or revisionist case, since the whole point of Paul’s rhetorical gambit is that everyone in his imagined readership agrees in thinking the same sex relations of the culture around them to be as obviously immoral as idol-worship or disobedience to parents. It is not very helpful to the conervative either, though, because Paul insists on shifting the focus away from the objects of moral disapprobation in chapter 1 to the reading / hearing subject who has at this point been happily identifying with Paul’s castigation of someone else … Paul is making a primary point not about homosexuality but about the delusions of the supposedly law- abiding. “
Christians cannot pick and choose amongst the texts of scripture, he concluded; the whole of the Bible needed ot be understood both as inspired and inspiring - the work of the Holy Spirit:
“It is the spirit that connects the periods of God’s communicative action towards humanity and thus connects the diverse texts that make up the one manifold text that we call Holy Scripture. The Spirit’s work as ‘breathing’ God’s wisdom into the text of Scripture is not a magical process that removes bilblical writing from the realm of actual human writing; it is the work of creating one ‘movement’ out of the diverse historical narratives and textual deposits that represent Israel’s and the Church’s efforts to find words to communicate God’s communication of summons and invitation.
“The Spirit through the events of God’s initiative stirs up the words and makes sense of them for the reader/hearer in the Spirit-sustained community. As Karl Barth insisted, this leaves no ground for breaking up Scripture into the parts we can ‘approve’ as God-inspired and the parts that are merely human; the whole is human and the whole is offered by God in and through the life of the body; always shaping and determining the form of that life. “
In The Times Luis Rodriguez who is an Anglican priest writes that the Church will find a special place for its scapegoats — again.
In the Daily Telegraph Christopher Howse asks How did the death of Jesus save us?
In the Guardian Nicholas Buxton, an ordinand at Stephen’s House, writes the Face to Faith column.
Giles Fraser wrote in the Church Times about The great thanksgiving at sunrise.
There is an excellent article in The New Yorker by Jane Kramer on The Pope and Islam.
Judith Maltby wrote Easter: finding God on Comment is free.
Richard Harries wrote Why the church must ease the pain of Rowan’s Passion in Sunday’s Observer.
Stephen Bates wrote Easter: a cross to bear on Comment is free.
The Sunday Times published this Leader: Misplaced sympathy in response to a news report by Christopher Morgan Bishop praises Iran.
Update Monday- Libby Purves has more comment on this matter in Religion: it makes bishops go bonkers.
The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church Idris Jones wrote this Easter Message.
The Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan wrote this Easter Message.
The Archbishop of Armagh Alan Harper wrote another Easter Message.
The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church Katharine Jefferts Schori wrote New life out of death: a message for Easter.
The Times
Geoffrey Rowell On Easter morning a new order broke into the world
And Pete Wilcox Don’t be afraid of the winged messengers
Guardian
Tom Wright Easter’s message of resurrection is a powerful one
And Giles Fraser Embrace freedom
Daily Telegraph
Christopher Howse Ancient Easters caught in stone
And Leader The flesh and blood hopes of Easter
Church Times
Leader Called to be witnesses
And Giles Fraser Why liberals believe the resurrection
Judith Maltby writes in the Guardian about Good Friday.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times about Passover.
Christopher Howse writes in the Daily Telegraph about Circumcision.
Paul McPartlan writes in the Tablet about Palm Sunday.
Simon Parke writes in the Church Times about Labelling.
The Times Many roads lead to the One in southern India by Guy Liardet
Guardian Stephen Tomkins writes about the abolition of slavery campaign.
Telegraph Christopher Howse The lost language of worship
Church Times Giles Fraser Capitalism can have a warm heart
Tablet Dangers, toils and snares by Michael Fitzgerald
Church of England Newspaper via Fulcrum The Church of England: More than Evangelical but not Less by Graham Kings
Jonathan Romain considers issue of national loyalty in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about Templeton Prize winner Charles Taylor in Behind a prize of £800,000.
John Wilkins writes in The Times on why Theologically, Rome and the barrio are still worlds apart.
Robert Mickens in The Tablet has a related article, Iron fist, but velvet glove and there is also an editorial column on this.
Giles Fraser writes about The time of selfishness in this week’s Church Times.
Christopher Ohlson writes the Face to Faith column in the Guardian on the subject of sidelining old hymns.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph’s Sacred Mysteries column about horse-biers in Welsh churches.
Roderick Strange writes in The Times that It’s time to repent our failure to love and seek forgiveness.
Two articles from the Christian Century (hat tip AKMA):
Taking the plunge by James Alison
Pastors writing badly by Lillian Daniel
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times: What am I blind to now?
Updated Saturday morning
Some months ago, Time called Archbishop Akinola one of the 100 most influential people in the world. See this piece by Rick Warren.
More recently, there was an opinion article At the Center of a Schism.
In another opinion piece yesterday David Van Biema Crunch Time on Gays for Anglican Archbishop now says this:
Awkward as it may be for an outsider to intrude in the doings of a country or a church that is not his own, I nonetheless believe that the Most Rev. Archbishop Peter Akinola has some explaining to do. The Anglican Primate of Nigeria, one of the most powerful churchmen in Africa, needs to clarify his stance on a Nigerian anti-homosexuality bill he initially supported, which assigns a five-year prison term not only for practicing gays, but also for those who support them. Akinola either needs to publicly renounce, in strong terms, his early support of the bill’s punitive clauses and to amplify the rather tepid concern he later expressed about them, or else he needs to explain why he’s not doing so to the dozen or so churches in Virginia whose congregants were largely ignorant of the legislation when they voted to join Akinola’s archdiocese in December.
As Jim Naughton points out, Time’s reasoning on this topic does sound odd.
Saturday Updates
Voice of America has Nigerian Activist Slams Anti-Gay Bill
Ruth Gledhill has Akinola must speak out to save gays
In Denying Rights in Nigeria the New York Times today expresses its editorial opinion, starting this way :
A poisonous piece of legislation is quickly making its way through the Nigerian National Assembly. Billed as an anti-gay-marriage act, it is a far-reaching assault on basic rights of association, assembly and expression. Chillingly, the legislation — proposed last year by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo — has the full and enthusiastic support of the leader of Nigeria’s powerful Anglican church. Unless the international community speaks out quickly and forcefully against the bill, it is almost certain to become law…
Update
Matt Thompson reports Passage still imminent.
The website Religious Intelligence has republished from the Church of England Newspaper a column with this title written by Stephen Bates.
So there we were, sitting round the hotel swimming pool in Tanzania, doorstepping the Primates’ Meeting, as one does, and waiting for the regular appearance of Archbishop Akinola, inconspicuously dressed in full Nigerian costume on one of his discreet forays to consult with Bishop Martyn Minns in an upper chamber, when the conversation turned to the question of primatial vicars…
You gotta read it all.
Artistic genius has nothing to do with faith - it’s down to God’s profligacy says Stephen Hough in The Times.
The Times also prints an extract from A Heart in My Head: A Biography of Richard Harries by John S. Peart-Binns under the title Inside track on the road to Anglican schism.
Alex Wright writes about images of God in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
In the Telegraph Christopher Howse writes about the history of the church in Leicester Square, in Delivered from the Prince of Wales.
This week’s Church Times column by Giles Fraser is What’s right with risk.
In the Tablet, Terry Prendergast writes about marriage, in The best chance to grow.
Over at Comment is free Theo Hobson wrote Mass Exodus in reply to last week’s column by David Self.
The Times Jonathan Sacks Failure is one of the greatest gifts bestowed on the faithful
Telegraph Christopher Howse The man who made Byrd live
Guardian It may be a poor imitator of Jesus’s inclusive love and tolerance but the church is necessary, says David Self in Face to Faith.
Church Times Giles Fraser Why Lent needs to be a bit less busy
And, See addicts as victims, not criminals by Paul Vallely
Geoffrey Rowell wrote in Saturday’s edition of The Times that As we outlaw discrimination so we need discernment.
Christopher Howse wrote in the Telegraph on Saturday about liturgical language: Like, see what I’m praying?
Today, the Observer has a review by Rebecca Seal of American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America (earlier review here).
Last week in the Church Times Njongonkulu Ndungane wrote about Why Anglicans must hold together.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about Gays, marriage and Rowan Williams.
Background: Rowan Williams remarks at launch of National Marriage Week. Andrew Brown’s observations on this.
Stephen Plant writes in The Times about Charles Wesley’s hymns: Churches must ask why the English Hymnal is out of tune.
Martyn Percy writes in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column that Anglican dioceses should be more expressive of their catholic identity.
…Bishops have a vital role here in presiding over diversity while maintaining unity. This is why the key to some of the current divisive Anglican dilemmas may lie in dioceses and provinces becoming more expressive of their catholic identity, and celebrating their coherence amid their diversity. A diocese is a part of a larger, organic whole - a branch of the vine. Therefore, exercising its freedom and expressing its particularity is less important than maintaining its connectedness. Naturally, such restraint need not impose limits on diversity. It merely asks that the consequences of exercising one’s freedom be more fully weighed.
As the Anglican primates meet next week in Tanzania, there will be much to contemplate. How to hold together amid tense, even bitter diversity. How to be one, yet many. How to be faithfully catholic, yet authentically local. In all of this, an ethic of shared restraint - borne out of a deep catholicity - may have much to offer the Anglican communion. Without this, Anglicans risk being painfully lost in the issues that beset the church - unable to see the wood for the trees. Or perhaps, as Jesus might have said, unable to see the vine for the branches.
In the Tablet Tina Beattie asks Has liberation theology had its day?
In the Church Times Giles Fraser explains: This is what is wrong with rights.
Earlier in the week, Andrew Brown wrote on Comment is free about Shuttered windows to the soul.
The Tablet has an article by Conor Gearty which analyses the RC Church’s handling of the recent adoption agencies row.
Misunderstanding the depth of post-socialist commitment to equality and diversity, especially that of sexual orientation, was a serious mistake in the Church’s handling of the gay adoption issue, according to a leading Catholic human-rights lawyer
Read Sex and the secular liberal.
There is also an editorial opinion article A welcome modest concession.
The key subtext to the recent row over the right of Catholic adoption agencies to discriminate against homosexuals was the widespread public perception that the Catholic Church is a homophobic institution - a position reinforced by gay lobby groups, which regard the Church’s defeat over the adoption issue as a singular triumph over a powerful enemy…
The Tablet has this leader: Faith’s place in public life and also this feature article by James Freestone Church 1, State 1.
The leader includes this:
…But more broadly even than this, politicians need to consider whether they are dealing a fatal blow to the policy, now promoted by both main parties, of drawing the religious and voluntary sector deeper into the functioning of the welfare state. Ministers have seen that the voluntary sector has a lot to offer; not just expertise but compassion and dedication beyond the call of duty between the hours of nine and five. But those qualities arise precisely because the motivation comes from deep religious commitment. With that religious commitment comes religious convictions, not all of which are likely to be compatible with a monolithic liberal-progressive orthodoxy. In short, the Government may be beckoning the voluntary agencies on board with one hand, and waving them away with the other. And this will be made worse if the perception grows that even politicians with deep religious convictions are no longer welcome in public life. Religion has long had a place in British public life, although as an influence rather than as a protagonist…
Don Cupitt writes Face to Faith in the Guardian: In the post-Derrida world, church leaders are now recognising that they are in a fix.
In The Times Jonathan Romain writes that Clergy need help to love their congregants as themselves.
Christopher Howse writes about RH Benson in the Telegraph.
The Church Times has a column by Giles Fraser that talks about blogs and those who comment on blogs: Poisoning the wells of open debate. He doesn’t mention this blog.
Giles also wrote this book review article for the New Statesman Blind Faith. The book is American Fascists: the Christian right and the war on America and the strap line is Christian fundamentalism offers America’s underclass hope and security - at the price of total obedience. Now it is threatening the Church of England. The article ends this way:
The challenge for the mainstream churches in this country is to recognise that fundamentalism is now beginning to get a grip over here, even within the traditionally liberal and inclusive cloisters of the Church of England. The gay debate is just the beginning of a takeover bid for the soul of the church. And given the way this country’s church and state are joined at the hip, it is no surprise that some are predicting a constitutional car crash. The leadership of the C of E, caught in the oncoming headlights, does little to resist. The quotation from Karl Popper’s The Open Society and its Enemies with which Hedges opens his book, ought to be written in letters of fire on the bedhead of the Archbishop of Canterbury:
Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend the tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.
And on the same theme, Simon Barrow wrote this splendid paper for a consultation convened by the Church of England, Facing up to fundamentalism: A description, analysis and response for the perplexed. It’s worth reading in full.
The BBC interviewed Cardinal Murphy O’Connor on the radio this morning, see report (with link to audio): Cardinal warns of ‘new morality’.
Ekklesia has a news article on all this: Cardinal raises debate about church-government relations after adoption row and also this here.
Ekklesia has also published a comment article, Conscience and justice by Savi Hensman in which she analyses some of the implications of the Anglican archbishops’ recent letter.
The Telegraph has published an article claiming that Opt-out refusal ‘bans church from public life’.
Tom Wright’s rant to Ruth Gledhill (also summarised here) about the decision drew scorn from Jim Naughton who in a piece titled …or weird by Michael Jackson said:
…But being called arrogant by N. T. Wright, is like being called ugly by Jabba the Hutt.
This remark is a reference to an earlier critique of NTW which was titled N. T. Wright: Le Communion c’est moi.
And Savi Hensman has also sent an open letter to NTW which is reproduced below the fold.
Dear Bishop Tom,
I read with surprise your comments quoted in The Times today. I gather that you expressed indignation that the government has come up with ‘a new morality which it forces on the Catholic Church after 2,000 years’ and is seeking to ‘tell the Roman Catholic Church how to order one area of its episcopal teaching’. While you and I would disagree on the theology of sexuality, surely this is not the issue.
The guiding principle for ordering adoption should be the best interests of the child. Roman Catholic adoption agencies already consider as adoptive parents people whose views and lifestyles are not in accord with its teachings, and rightly so. If, for instance, an atheist is able and willing to offer a loving home which is likely to meet the often extensive needs of a particular child, her offer may be taken up without any change in fundamental Church doctrines. As you know, providing appropriate care for a child who may have had a very difficult start in life is not easy, and few people are ready and able to do this successfully. If lesbian and gay couples can be added to the pool of potential adoptive parents, provided they pass through a rigorous selection process, this increases children’s chances of finding parents who can bond with them and provide nurture and security.
This is an open letter; please feel free to share it with anyone you wish.
With best wishes,
Savi Hensman
Vice-Chair
LGCM (Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement)
Simon Barrow has written on Commentisfree: Learning to love again. Church agencies are turning against their own message. ‘Defeat’ at the hands of equality legislation may be the best spiritual outcome for them.
An earlier statement on Religious Adoption Agencies by LGCM is here.
From the Independent Why I wish a non-religious agency had arranged my adoption.
Also Dominic Lawson wrote Don’t be fooled: the Catholic Church is not bluffing over gay adoption and there was also this leading article.
Meanwhile, the Telegraph reports that Compromise on gay adoption is still possible, say bishops and Andrew Pierce wrote Speaking as an adopted gay Catholic . .
The Tablet carries a feature article A love found wanting by Martin Reynolds, and carries an editorial, Need for compromise:
…The Government’s task, of which it is making heavy weather, is to balance the good of outlawing discrimination against homosexuals against the bad of seeing these excellent Catholic agencies close down. And they really would close: the bishops are bound by teachings and policies that are not theirs to change (and certainly will not be changed by this legislation). But most of what both sides want can be achieved by compromise. Gay couples will find plenty of agencies to welcome them, and the Catholic societies can continue with their good work in accordance with their consciences. So the battle boils down to the argument that to allow one exception, even on grounds of religious conviction, would undermine the new law as a whole. That is stretching the argument too far.
It is unwise for issues involving a genuine conflict of rights to be pushed to the point where there is total victory for one side and defeat for the other. But it would be well for the Catholic Church to recognise why its own position has become difficult to explain and defend. Its submission to Government makes reference to Catholic sexual ethics. Not long ago the Vatican published an ill-judged document that described the legal recognition of homosexual relationships as “the legislation of evil”. The Catholic Catechism says that Scripture describes homosexual acts as “grave depravity”. This is far removed from the temper of the times, and probably no longer even reflects what a majority of practising Catholics believe about homosexuals. Many of them have gay friends and gay relatives; Catholic mothers have gay sons. Some of the most devout are gay themselves…
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about Candlemas.
In the Guardian Face to Faith is by Aidan Rankin who writes that the ‘many-sidedness’ of Jainism could inoculate us against fundamentalist rigidity.
The Times has Rodrick Strange writing about how Ordinary loves reveal extraordinary truth of compassion. Also, Greg Watts writes about religious broadcasting.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times In support of the scapegoat.
The Guardian also has a fascinating book review by Diarmaid MacCulloch of Martin Goodman’s compelling account of two crucial centuries in Jewish history, Rome and Jerusalem. See Original Spin.
Andrew Brown writes about the Anglican archbishops’ statement: Is Rowan too subtle or too supple? It is in the nature of churches to regard themselves as higher moral authorities, but there’s no reason for the rest of us to go along with it.
Stephen Bates also writes about this: Gallantry after the battle. The Anglican archbishops’ intervention in the gay adoption row was an astonishing blunder.
Listen to an interview with Stephen Bates on the Guardian website here.
And, Elizabeth Ribbans on the Guardian Editors’ blog asks Was archbishop’s intervention a mistake?
Simon Barrow writes about it at Ekklesia: Adapting ourselves to adoptive grace. It would appear that the most senior figures in the English Catholic and Anglican churches have no real idea just how bad they look to a massive number of people right now.
Ekklesia also reports on what LGCM said, Catholic Church adoption policy seriously confused, says Christian group.
Changing Attitude said this in a press release.
In The Times Mary Ann Sieghart comments on The fallout from the gay adoption row. Jane Shilling also has some comments here. The leaders of Affirming Catholicism have a letter to the editor here.
Update
The full transcript of the BBC TV interview with Robert Pigott which was referenced earlier, hcan be found here.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times: A gentle reminder that soft answers can turn away wrath.
Chris Hardwick writes about Conscience in Face to Faith in the Guardian.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about how The Bible is not a legal document.
Atheists: the bigots’ friends is the headline over a comment article in today’s Guardian by Giles Fraser. The strapline reads: Most Christians back gay rights - and to claim otherwise only boosts the fundamentalists.
The article starts:
Media atheists are fast becoming the new best friends of fundamentalist Christians. For every time they write about religion they are doing very effective PR for a fundamentalist worldview. Many of the propositions that fundamentalists are keen to sell the public are oft-repeated corner-stones of the media atheist’s philosophy of religion.
Both partners in this unholy alliance agree that fundamentalist religion is the real thing and that more reflective and socially progressive versions of faith are pale imitations, counterfeits even. This endorsement is of enormous help to fundamentalists. What they are really threatened by is not aggressive atheism - indeed that helps secure a sense of persecution that is essential to group solidarity - but the sort of robustly self-critical faith that knows the Bible and the church’s traditions, and can challenge bad religion on its own terms. Fundamentalists hate what they see as the enemy within. And by refusing to acknowledge any variegation in Christian thought, media atheists play right into their hands…
In The Times Brian Davies writes about how Aquinas proves atheists are closer to God than they think.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about Sister Wendy in Like Rembrandt refusing to paint.
Ian Bradley writes in the Guardian that The linking of Britishness with religious identity could help integration.
Earlier this week, Giles Fraser reviewed the film Apocalypto for the Guardian: A Christian snuff movie that links blood with salvation. He also wrote in the Church Times about The Heath-Robinson route to decline.
Paul Vallely wrote for the Church Times about the recent church scandal in Poland: Know them by their disgrace.
Judith Maltby in the Guardian writes about Epiphany quoting 17th-century Cornish poet Sidney Godolphin.
Geoffrey Rowell in The Times also writes about Epiphany, quoting (among others) Lancelot Andrewes.
And Christopher Howse in the Telegraph finds that the Wilton Diptych is linked to Epiphany.
Sacrifice, Law and the Catholic Faith: is secularity really the enemy? is the title of the 2006 Tablet Lecture by James Alison. You can read this lecture in full (except for the footnotes) here.
Another lecture sponsored by The Tablet nearly two years ago, on a related theme, was Rendering Unto Caesar - Catholicism, Politics, Law and Democracy by Aidan O’Neill QC. You can read that lecture in full here (and continued here), and also the other material preceding and following it, here.
In The Times Katharine Jefferts Schori writes that A new year is a fine time to search for shalom, Isaiah-style.
See also this video at YouTube of Katharine Jefferts Schori, then Bishop of Nevada and Presiding Bishop nominee, answering the question: “What are the priorities for the new Presiding Bishop?” Recorded May 1, 2006. (hat tip JN)
In the Guardian John Sentamu writes that Ethics must shape our global economy.
Christopher Howse in the Telegraph writes about Our splendid but unseen synagogues.
The Times has Pius Ncube of Bulawayo writing the Credo column: Homeless but not hopeless in Africa.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about Myrrh beyond the gloom. There is a leader entitled The babe in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
In the Guardian the Face to Faith column We must not forget that Bethlehem is under siege is written by Alan McDonald who is the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
The Guardian also has a leader, Beyond belief which is related to the front page report, Religion does more harm than good - poll.
(A related news report by Stephen Bates is Devout Poles show Britain how to keep the faith.)
The Church Times leader is Two cheers for sentimentality.
The View from Fleet Street column for the Christmas issue is written this week by Stephen Bates. You can read it here at Religious Intelligence.
Enjoy.
