eChurch Blog

Urgent notification from our friends at Christian Concern for our Nation

The Government Equalities Office (GEO) is undertaking a Consultation on the proposed Equal Treatment Directive. The perils of this dangerous Directive are clear and manifest. If implemented in its current form, the Directive increases inequality and places severe restrictions on Christians expressing their faith. Indeed, if implemented, we expect massive censorship of Christian freedom of speech and the free exercise of conscience of religious people. The closing date is 28th July 2009. If you can it is URGENT that you add your written response to this consultation. For full details of the consultation, please click here.

Please click here to see our response and to use it to help you respond.

Many problems with the E.U.’s so-called “Equal Treatment” Directive exist, but perhaps the most troubling are its harassment provisions.

The Directive extends “discrimination” law, often used to compel UK Christians to act against their consciences, to the provision of healthcare, social security, housing and education across the European Union. The Directive expressly applies discrimination proscriptions for those of an unorthodox sexual orientation, or those who profess a religion or belief, to the provision of goods, facilities and services, (so that customers, clients or service users will be able to sue). Thus, according to the Directive, things like the provision of healthcare, social security, housing and education, all fall within the competence of the E.U.

The Directive proscribes not just discrimination, but also something the directive calls “harassment”. The Directive vaguely defines “harassment” in Article 2(3) to include unwanted conduct having:

…the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person and of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.

Every Christian believes in the innate human dignity of every person. No Christian would wish to harass anyone in the true sense of that term. “Harassment,” as defined in the Directive however, allows an individual to accuse someone of discrimination merely for expressing something the individual allegedly perceives as offensive.

Individuals can easily alleged offence from a discussion about faith or sexual ethics between an employee and a customer during the provision of a public or commercial service. For example, in a Christian book and coffee shop, such a conversation might arise whilst selling books or serving coffee. If, during the conversation a Christian sales assistant states he believes Jesus is the only way to God, or that he does not believe that civil partnerships are pleasing to God, the customer may allege offence and sue. The freedom to speak freely about one’s religious beliefs should not be considered “harassment”, but should remain a fundamental right in a democratic society.

The extension of the civil law of harassment is unnecessary, because there is already a criminal offence of harassment and a civil remedy for it in the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. This harassment legislation requires a “course of conduct” (rather than a single act or statement) and the opinion of a reasonable person that such a course of conduct amounts to harassment, before the crime or the civil wrong could be proved.

Giving people the right to sue someone because they allege that they feel offended is extremely dangerous for freedom of speech, not least because markedly different opinions exist concerning religions, beliefs and sexual ethics. Adopting a provision covering harassment on the grounds of religion or belief or sexual orientation in the provision of goods, facilities and services creates a massive chilling effect on freedom of speech and the free exercise of conscience by religious people. It denies religious believers to right to preach and to proselytise and makes it virtually impossible for religious individuals or groups to deliver services to the public. A further chilling effect on these fundamental freedoms is created by Article 14 of the Directive. Article 14 makes clear that when an accuser sues a provider of goods, facilities or services, the accuser can receive unlimited compensation from the provider. This could result in bankruptcy for many Christian organisations.

The ill-thought out Directive fails to include necessary balances and exceptions to protect the exercise of one’s conscience or the manifestation of one’s faith. Christians, and all those who value freedom, must act now.

Action Needed

It is important to respond to this Consultation. The UK Government, as one of the 27 Member States, will soon negotiate on the contents of the Directive in the Council of the European Union (the Council of Ministers). Passing the Directive requires unanimity. In view of its effect upon Christian freedoms, we hope and pray that one of the Member States does veto it. If agreed, the Directive will be transposed into the laws of all Member States including the UK.

We recommend you answer questions 1, 2 and 3 concerning harassment. You can find these questions on page 16 of the Consultation by clicking here.

Please use our response to the Consultation and add ideas of your own. Please argue that Article 2(3) on harassment should be removed from the Directive. If you have time, you may wish to answer the general question on page 25 of the GEO consultation, which allows you to comment on the draft Directive as a whole. You can then raise other issues of particular concern using ideas from our more detailed response, such as the suggestion of removing the grounds of “sexual orientation” and “religion or belief” so that the Directive is restored to its original intention of focusing on disability.

Andrea Minichiello Williams

Christian Concern for our Nation

http://www.ccfon.org

Times:-

Sir, The debate in these pages reads as though there is only “a good death” or unbearable suffering at the end of life (“Be honest about the dying process”, letter, July 21). This may reflect the strong feelings of the contributors, but it does not reflect the reality of most people’s experience at the end of their lives.

As a palliative care doctor for the past 23 years, I have seen the journey towards the end of life at close quarters for in excess of 5,000 people. Work in palliative care involves meeting each of these people as individuals. There is no “one size fits all”. Some people wish above all for relief from physical symptoms, and the attention to detail that the science of palliative medicine has brought to the practice of palliative care has enabled us to improve management of breathlessness, nausea, diarrhoea, itch and many other symptoms, as well as a continuing improvement in our ability to diagnose and manage causes of pain. Physical symptoms, though, are only one aspect of palliation.

The emotional journey that people follow once it is known that they have a life-threatening illness is complex and personal. For some there is initial horror and dread, for others there is sadness and regret, and for others there is anxiety and fear. These are normal and natural reactions to such bad news, and most people move through this period of profound emotional disturbance to a calmer frame of mind where pleasure and joy are still part of their daily experience, even if punctuated by some sadness at the transience of life or anxiety about the uncertain future. A few get stuck in their emotional distress, and palliative care practitioners would see this as an emotional symptom just as important to address as any physical symptom.

In parallel with these issues, each person is on a spiritual journey through which they interpret the meaning of their lives. For some this is a religiously based belief, while for others it is about personal worth and contribution to ideals they hold dear, such as family life, care for the environment or world justice. In palliative care we seek to support them in reaching their own inner peace as they measure their triumphs and failings against their own set of ideals.

For some, physical symptoms are few, emotional adjustment proceeds smoothly and their spiritual framework consoles them and contributes to their resilience. For others, difficulties may arise transiently in any one of these domains, and may be met by personal resources or may require additional support from a variety of health, psychological or spiritual advisers. For a few, difficulties in one or more of these domains are severe, and specialist support from palliative care teams may be required.

In other words, this is just real life. Some people appear to get by easily and meet few difficulties; others encounter difficulties and meet them with success; others need help to manage their difficulties and a few get stuck. As a society, we have developed resources to assist people in difficulty. We have not previously proposed that a useful response to being stuck in a difficult position is to offer premature death as an alternative.

I am saddened by the number of contributors who feel anxious about dying. Perhaps they have been witness to one of the unusual difficult deaths that do still occur, or perhaps the way in which our society has increasingly hidden death away over the past five decades has deprived them of the comfort that comes from repeatedly seeing the end of life well-lived with courage, pleasure in each day and peace of mind despite the imminence of the unknown.

Witnesses of good deaths do not appear to feel a need to enter into this type of correspondence. This unfortunately means that the difficult and tragic is overrepresented in the discussion. How can we redress this balance, so that we do not misunderstand and fear death as a society, and thus legislate in ignorance based on fear?

Kathryn Mannix,

Consultant in Palliative Medicine,

Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals and Marie Curie Hospice, Newcastle

South Wales Argus

SWINE FLU: ‘No wine for communion’ – church

GUIDELINES recommending that only consecrated bread is taken during Holy Communion during the swine flu outbreak – rather than both bread and wine – are issued today by the Church in Wales.

Advice for those taking Holy Communion is available on the Church in Wales website following UK government guidelines to help prevent the spread of swine flu.

The guidelines will apply to around 200 churches in the Diocese of Monmouth.

They recommend that while the distribution of consecrated bread should continue, the bread should not be given on the tongue and care should be taken there is no contact between the two people’s fingers when the bread is given.

It is also advised that use of the common cup should be suspended until the risk of contamination decreases and warns that dipping consecrated bread into a common cup may also carry a greater risk.

The guidelines state: “Fingers generally carry a higher level of contamination than lips, so consecrated bread handled by an infected person and then dipped into a common cup will carry a risk of contaminating the consecrated wine. Similarly fingers may dip into the consecrated wine.”

A Church in Wales spokeswoman said the guidelines were drafted in line with government advice in response to growing concerns from people asking for advice on the matter.

In Gwent, the number of reported cases per 100,000 of the population varies. There are 130.1 cases in Blaenau Gwent, 129.2 in Caerphilly, 63.6 in Monmouthshire, 180.1 in Newport and 174.5 in Torfaen.

The average for Gwent is 144.4 cases per 100,000.

A total of 78 people in Wales have been laboratory diagnosed with the virus, with 17 hospitalised.

Anti-viral drugs are now only being offered to groups traditionally at risk from seasonal flu – those considered more susceptible to developing illness or complications – plus pregnant women and children under five.

Preventative medicine will no longer be given to people with whom a flu patient has been in contact and the tracing of any potential contacts will also stop.

Phone the swine flu information line on 0800 1 513 513 for more information.

“Howbeit when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you
into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to
come.” John 16:13

THIS generation hath gradually, and almost imperceptibly, become to a
great extent a godless generation. One of the diseases of the present
generation of mankind, is their secret but deep-seated godlessness, by
which they have so far departed from the knowledge of God. Science has
discovered to us second causes; and hence, many have too much forgotten
the first Great Cause, the Author of all: they have been able so far to pry
into secrets, that the great axiom of the existence of a God, has been too
much neglected. Even among professing Christians, while there is a great
amount of religion, there is too little godliness: there is much external
formalism, but too little inward acknowledgment of God, too little living
on God, living with God, and relying upon God. Hence arises the sad fact
that when you enter many of our places of worship you will certainly hear
the name of God mentioned; but except in the benediction, you would
scarcely know there was a Trinity. In many places dedicated to Jehovah the
name of Jesus is too often kept in the background; the Holy Spirit is almost
entirely neglected; and very little is said concerning his sacred influence.
Even religious men have become to a large degree godless in this age. We
sadly require more preaching regarding God; more preaching of those
things which look not so much at the creature to be saved, as at God the
Great One to be extolled. My firm conviction is, that in proportion as we
have more regard for the sacred godhead, the wondrous Trinity in Unity,
shall we see a greater display of God’s power, and a more glorious
manifestation of his might in our churches. May God send us a Christexalting,
Spirit-loving ministry-men who shall proclaim God the Holy
Ghost in all his offices and shall extol God the Savior as the author and
finisher of our faith, not neglecting that Great God, the Father of his
people, who, before all worlds, elected us in Christ his Son, justified us
through his righteousness, and will inevitably preserve us and gather us
together in one, in the consummation of all things at the last great day.
Our text has regard to God the Holy Spirit; of Him we shall speak and Him
only, if His sweet influence shall rest upon us.

The disciples had been instructed by Christ concerning certain elementary
doctrines but Jesus did not teach his disciples more than what we should
call the A B C of religion. He gives his reasons for this in the 12th verse: “I
have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.” His
disciples were not possessors of the Spirit. They had the Spirit so far as the
work of conversion was concerned, but not as to the matters of bright
illumination, profound instruction, prophecy, and inspiration. He says, “I
am now about to depart, and when I go from you I will send the Comforter
unto you. Ye cannot bear these things now howbeit, when he, the Spirit of
truth is come, he will guide you into all truth.’’ The same promise that he
made to his apostles, stands good to all his children; and in reviewing it, we
shall take it as our portion and heritage, and shall not consider ourselves
intruders upon the manor of the apostles, or upon their exclusive rights and
prerogatives; for we conceive that Jesus says even to us, “When he, the
Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth.”

Dwelling exclusively upon our text, we have five things. First of all, here is
an attainment mentioned-a knowledge of all truth; secondly, here is a
difficulty suggested-which is, that we need guidance into all truth; thirdly,
here is a person provided-”when he, the Spirit shall come, he shall guide
you into all truth; “fourthly, here is a manner hinted at-”he shall guide you
into all truth;” fifthly here is a sign given as to the working of the Spirit-we
may know whether he works, by his “guiding us into all truth,” -into all of
one thing; not truths, but truth.

1. Here is AN ATTAINMENT MENTIONED, which is a knowledge of all truth.

We know that some conceive doctrinal knowledge to be of very little
importance, and of no practical use. We do not think so. We believe the
science of Christ crucified and a judgment of the teachings of Scripture to
be exceedingly valuable; we think it is right, that the Christian ministry
should not only be arousing but instructing; not merely awakening, but
enlightening: that it should appeal not only to the passions but to the
understanding. We are far from thinking doctrinal knowledge to be of
secondary importance; we believe it to be one of the first things in the
Christian life, to know the truth, and then to practice it. We scarcely need
this morning tell you how desirable it is for us to be well taught in things of
the kingdom.

First of all, nature itself, (when it has been sanctified by grace,) gives us a
strong desire to know all truth. The natural man separateth himself and
intermeddleth with all knowledge. God has put an instinct in him by which
he is rendered unsatisfied if he cannot probe mystery to its bottom; he can
never be content until he can unriddle secrets. What we call curiosity is
something given us of God impelling us to search into the knowledge of
natural things; that curiosity, sanctified by the Spirit, is also brought to bear
in matters of heavenly science and celestial wisdom. “Bless the Lord,” said
David, “O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name!” If there
is a curiosity within us, it ought to be employed and developed in a search
after truth. “All that is within me,” sanctified by the Spirit should he
developed, And, verily, the Christian man feels an intense longing to bury
his ignorance and receive wisdom. If he, when in his natural estate panted
for terrestrial knowledge, how much more ardent is the wish to unravel, if
possible, the sacred mysteries of God’s Word! A true Christian is always
intently reading and searching the Scripture that he may be able to certify
himself as to its main and cardinal truths. I do not think much of that man
who does not wish to understand doctrines; I cannot conceive him to be in
a right position when he thinks it is no matter whether he believes a lie or
truth, whether he is heretic or orthodox, whether he received the Word of
God as it is written, or as it is diluted and misconstrued by man. God’s
Word will ever be to a Christian a source of great anxiety; a sacred instinct
within will lead him to pry into it; he will seek to understand it. Oh! there
are some who forget this, men who purposely abstain from mentioning
what are called high doctrines, because they think if they should mention
high doctrines they would be dangerous; so they keep them back. Foolish
men! they do not know anything of human nature; for if they did
understand a grain’s worth of humanity, they would know that the hiding
of these things impels men to search them out. From the fact that they do
not mention them, they drive men to places where these and these only, are
preached. They say, “If I preach election, and predestination and these dark
things, people will all go straight away, and become Antinomians.” I am
not so sure if they were to be called Antinomians it would hurt them much;
but hear me, oh, ye ministers that conceal these truths, that is the way to
make them Antinomians, by silencing these doctrines. Curiosity is strong; if
you tell them they must not pluck the truth, they will be sure to do it; but if
you give it to them as you find it in God’s Word, they will not seek to
“wrest” it. Enlightened men will have the truth, and if they see election in
Scripture they will say, “it is there, and I will find it out. If I cannot get it in
one place, I will get it in another.” The true Christian has an inward
longing and anxiety after it; he is hungry and thirsty after the word of
righteousness, and he must and will feed on this bread of heaven, or at all
hazards he will leave the husks which unsound divines would offer him.

Not only is this attainment to be desired because nature teaches us so, but a
knowledge of all truth is very essential for our comfort. I do believe that
many persons have been distressed half their lives from the fact that they
had not clear views of truth. Many poor souls, for instance, under
conviction, abide three or four times as long in sorrow of mind as they
would require to do if they had some one to instruct them in the great
matter of justification. So there are believers who are often troubling
themselves about falling away; but if they knew in their soul the great
consolation that we are kept by the grace of God through faith unto
salvation, they would be no more troubled about it. So have I found some
distressed about the unpardonable sin; but if God instructs us in that
doctrine, and shows us that no conscience that is really awakened ever can
commit that sin, but that when it is committed God gives us up to a scared
conscience, so that we never fear or tremble afterwards, all that distress
would be alleviated. Depend on this, the more you know of God’s truth-all
things else being equal-the more comfortable you will be as a Christian.

Nothing can give a greater light on your path than a clear understanding of
divine things. It is a mingle-mangled gospel too commonly preached, which
causes the downcast faces of Christians. Give me the congregation whose
faces are bright with joy, let their eyes glisten at the sound of the gospel,
then will I believe that it is God’s own words they are receiving. Instead
thereof you will often see melancholy congregations whose visages are not
much different from the bitter countenance of poor creatures swallowing
medicine, because the word spoken terrifies them by its legality, instead of
comforting them by its grace. We love a cheerful gospel, and we think “all
the truth” will tend to comfort the Christian.

“Comfort again?” says another, “always comfort.” Ah, but there is another
reason why we prize truth, because we believe that a true knowledge of all
the truth will keep us very much out of danger. No doctrine is so
calculated to preserve a man from sin as the doctrine of the grace of God.
Those who have called it a licentious doctrine did not know anything at all
about it. Poor ignorant things, they little knew that their own vile stuff was
the most licentious doctrine under heaven. If they knew the grace of God
in truth, they would soon see that there was no preservative from lying like
a knowledge that we are elect of God from the foundation of the world.

There is nothing like a belief in my eternal perseverance, and the
immutability of my Father’s affection, which can keep me near to him from
a motive of simple gratitude. Nothing makes a man so virtuous as belief of
truth. A lying doctrine will soon beget a lying practice. A man cannot have
an erroneous belief without by-and-bye having an erroneous life. I believe
the one thing naturally begets the other. Keep near God’s truth; keep near
his word; keep the head right, and especially keep your heart right with
regard to truth, and your feet will not go far astray.

Again, I hold also that this attainment to the knowledge of all truth is very
desirable for the usefulness which it will give us in the world at large. We
should not be selfish: we should always consider whether a thing will be
beneficial to others. A knowledge of all truth will make us very serviceable
in this world. We shall be skillful physicians who know how to take the
poor distressed soul aside, to put the finger on his eye, and take the scale
off for him, that heaven’s light may comfort him. There will be no
character, however perplexing may be its peculiar phase, but we shall be
able to speak to it and comfort it. He who holds the truth, is usually the
most useful man. As a good Presbyterian brother said to me the other day:
“I know God has blessed you exceedingly in gathering in souls, but it is an
extraordinary fact that nearly all the men I know-with scarcely an
exception-who have been made useful in gathering in souls, have held the
great doctrines of the grace of God.” Almost every man whom God has
blessed to the building up of the church in prosperity, and around whom
the people have rallied, has been a man who has held firmly free grace from
first to last, through the finished salvation of Christ. Do not you think you
need have errors in your doctrine to make you useful. We have some who
preach Calvinism all the first part of the sermon, and finish up with
Arminianism, because they think that will make them useful. Useful
nonsense!-That is all it is. A man if he cannot be useful with the truth,
cannot be useful with an error. There is enough in the pure doctrine of
God, without introducing heresies to preach to sinners. As far as I know, I
never felt hampered or cramped in addressing the ungodly in my life. I can
speak with as much fervency, and yet not in the same style as those who
hold the contrary views of God’s truth. Those who hold God’s word,
never need add something untrue in speaking to men. The sturdy truth of
God touches every chord in every man’s heart. If we can, by God’s grace,
put our hand inside man’s heart, we want nothing but that whole truth to
move him thoroughly, and to stir him up. There is nothing like the real
truth and the whole truth, to make a man useful.

II. Now, again, here is a DIFFICULTY SUGGESTED, and that is-that we
require a guide to conduct us into all truth. The difficulty is that truth is not
so easy to discover. There is no man born in this world by nature who has
the truth in his heart. There is no creature that ever was fashioned, since
the fall, who has a knowledge of truth innate and natural. It has been
disputed by many philosophers whether there are such things as innate
ideas at all; but is of no use disputing as to whether there are any innate
ideas of truth. There are none such. There are ideas of everything that is
wrong and evil; but in us-that is our flesh-there dwelleth no good thing, we
are born in sin, and shapened in iniquity; in sin did our mother conceive us.
There is nothing in us good, and no tendency to righteousness. Then since
we are not born with the truth, we have the task of searching for it. If we
are to be blest by being eminently useful as Christian men, we must be well
instructed in matters of revelation; but here is the difficulty-that we cannot
follow without a guide the winding paths of truth. Why this?

First, because of the very great intricacy of truth itself: Truth itself is no
easy thing to discover. Those who fancy they know everything and
constantly dogmatise with the spirit of “We are the men, and wisdom will
die with us,” of course see no difficulties whatever in the system they hold;
but I believe, the most earnest student of Scripture will find things in the
Bible which puzzle him; however earnestly he reads it, he will see some
mysteries too deep for him to understand. He will cry out “Truth! I cannot
find thee; I know not where thou art, thou art beyond me; I cannot fully
view thee.” Truth is a path so narrow that two can scarce walk together in
it; we usually tread the narrow way in single file, two men can seldom walk
arm in arm in the truth. We believe the same truth in the main but we
cannot walk together in the path, it is too narrow. The way of truth is very
difficult. If you step an inch aside on the right you are in a dangerous error,
and if you swerve a little to the left you are equally in the mire. On the one
hand there is a huge precipice, and on the other a deep morass; and unless
you keep to the true line, to the breadth of a hair, you will go astray. Truth
is a narrow path indeed. It is a path the eagle’s eye hath not seen, and a
depth the diver hath not visited. It is like the veins of metal in a mine, it is
often of excessive thinness, and moreover it runneth not in one continued
layer. Lose it once, and you may dig for miles and not discover it again; the
eye must watch perpetually the direction of the lode. Grains of truth are
like the grains of gold in the rivers of Australia-they must be shaken by the
hand of patience, and washed in the stream of honesty, or the fine gold will
be mingled with sand. Truth is often mingled with error, and it is hard to
distinguish it; but we bless God it is said, “When the Spirit of truth is come,
he will guide you into all truth”

Another reason why we need a guide is, the invidiousness of error. It
busily steals upon us, and, if I may so describe our position, we are often
like we were on Thursday night in that tremendous fog. Most of us were
feeling for ourselves, and wondering where on earth we were. We could
scarcely see an inch before us. We came to a place where there were three
turnings. We thought we knew the old spot. There was the lamp-post, and
now we must take a sharp turn to the left; but not so. We ought to have
gone a little to the right. We have been so often to the same place, that we
think we know every flag-stone-and there’s our friend’s shop over the way.
It is dark, but we think we must be quite right, and all the while we are
quite wrong, and find ourselves half-a-mile out of the way. So-it is with
matters of truth. We think, surely this is the right path; and the voice of the
evil one whispers, “that is the way, walk ye in it.” You do so, and you find
to your great dismay, that instead of the path of truth, you have been
walking in the paths of unrighteousness and erroneous doctrines. The way
of life is a labyrinth; the grassiest paths and the most bewitching, are the
farthest away from right; the most enticing, are those which are garnished
with wrested truths I believe there is not a counterfeit coin in the world so
much like a genuine one, as some errors are like the truth. One is base
metal, the other is true gold; still in externals they differ very little.

We also need a guide, because we are so prone to go astray. Why, if the
path of heaven were as straight as Bunyan pictures it, with no turning to
the right hand or left-and no doubt it is,-we are so prone to go astray, that
we should go to the right hand to the Mountains of Destruction, or to the
left in the dark Wood of Desolation. David says, “I have gone astray like a
lost sheep.” That means very often: for if a sheep is put into a field twenty
times, if it does not get out twenty-one times, it will be because it cannot;
because the place is hurdled up, and it cannot find a hole in the hedge. If
grace did not guide a man, he would go astray, though there were handposts
all the way to heaven. Let it be written, “Miklat, Miklat, the way to
refuge,” he would turn aside, and the avenger of blood would overtake
him, if some guide did not, like the angels in Sodom, put his hand on his
shoulders, and cry, “Escape, escape, for thy life! look not behind thee; stay
not in all the plain.” These, then, are the reasons why we need a guide.

III. In the third place, here is A PERSON PROVIDED. This is none other
than God, and this God is none other than a person. This person is “he, the
Spirit,” the “Spirit of truth;” not an influence or an emanation, but actually
a person. “when the Spirit of truth is come, he shall guide you into all
truth.” Now, we wish you to look at this guide to consider how adapted he
is to us.

In the first place, he is infallible; he knows everything and cannot lead us
astray. If I pin my sleeve to another man’s coat, he may lead me part of the
way rightly, but by-and-bye he will go wrong himself, and I shall be led
astray with him; but if I give myself to the Holy Ghost and ask his
guidance, there is no fear of my wandering.

Again, we rejoice in this Spirit because he is ever-present. We fall into a
difficulty sometimes; we say, “Oh, if I could take this to my minister, he
would explain it; but I live so far off, and am not able to see him.” That
perplexes us, and we turn the text round and round and cannot make
anything out of it. We look at the commentators. We take down pious
Thomas Scott, and, as usual he says nothing about it if it be a dark passage.
Then we go to holy Matthew Henry, and if it is an easy Scripture, he is
sure to explain it; but if it is a text hard to be understood, it is likely
enough, of course, left in his own gloom; and even Dr. Gill himself, the
most consistent of commentators, when he comes to a hard passage,
manifestly avoids it in some degree. But when we have no commentator or
minister, we have still the Holy Spirit; and let me tell you a little secret:
whenever you cannot understand a text, open your Bible, bend your knee,
and pray over that text; and if it does not split into atoms and open itself,
try again. If prayer does not explain it, it is one of the things God did not
intend you to know, and you may be content to be ignorant of it. Prayer is
the key that openeth the cabinets of mystery. Prayer and faith are sacred
picklocks that can open secrets, and obtain great treasures. There is no
college for holy education like that of the blessed Spirit, for he is an everpresent
tutor, to whom we have only to bend the knee, and he is at our
side, the great expositor of truth.

But there is one thing about the suitability of this guide which is
remarkable. I do not know whether it has struck you-the Holy Spirit can
“guide us into a truth.” Now, man can guide us to a truth, but it is only the
Holy Spirit who can “guide us into a truth.” “When he, the Spirit of truth,
shall come, he shall guide you into “-mark that word-”all truth.” Now, for
instance, it is a long while before you can lead some people to election; but
when you have made them see its correctness, you have not led them
“into” it. You may show them that it is plainly stated in Scripture, but they
will turn away and hate it. You take them to another great truth, but they
have been brought up in a different fashion, and though they cannot answer
your arguments, they say, “The man is right, perhaps,” and they whisperbut
so low that conscience itself cannot hear- “but it is so contrary to my
prejudices, that I cannot receive it.” After you have led them to the truth,
and they see it is true, how hard it is to lead them into it! There are many
of my hearers who are brought to the truth of their depravity, but they are
not brought into it, and made to feel it. Some of you are brought to know
the truth that God keeps us from day to day; but you rarely get into it, so
as to live in continual dependence upon God the Holy Ghost, and draw
fresh supplies from him. The thing is-to get inside it. A Christian should do
with truth as a snail does with his shell — live inside it, as well as carry it
on his back, and bear it perpetually about with him. The Holy Ghost, it is
said, shall lead us into all truth. You may be brought to a chamber where
there is an abundance of gold and silver, but you will be no richer unless
you effect an entrance. It is the Spirit’s work to unbar the two leaved
gates, and bring us into a truth, so that we may get inside it, and, as dear
old Rowland Hill said, “Not only hold the truth, but have the truth hold
us.”

IV. Fourthly, here is; METHOD SUGGESTED: “He shall guide you into all
truth.” Now I must have an illustration. I must compare truth to some cave
or grotto that you have heard of, with wondrous stalactites hanging from
the roof, and others starting from the floor; a cavern, glittering with spar
and abounding in marvels. Before entering the cavern you inquire for a
guide, who comes with his lighted flambeau. He conducts you down to a
considerable depth, and you find yourself in the midst of the cave. He leads
you through different chambers. Here he points to a little stream rushing
from amid the rocks, and indicates its rise and progress; there he points to
some peculiar rock and tells you its name; then takes you into a large
natural hall, tells you how many persons once feasted in it; and so on.
Truth is a grand series of caverns, it is our glory to have so great and wise
a conductor. Imagine that we are coming to the darkness of it. He is a light
shining in the midst of us to guide us; and by the light he shows us
wondrous things. In three ways the Holy Ghost teaches us: by suggestion,
direction, and illumination.

First, he guides us into all truth by suggesting it. There are thoughts that
dwell in our minds that were not born there, but which were exotics
brought from heaven and put there by the spirit. It is not a fancy that angels
whisper into our ears, and that devils do the same: both good and evil
spirits hold converse with men; and some of us have known it. We have
had strange thoughts which were not the offspring of our souls, but which
came from angelic visitants; and direct temptations and evil insinuations
have we had which were not brewed in our own souls, but which came
from the pestilential cauldron of hell. So the Spirit doth speak in men’s
ears, sometimes in the darkness of the night. In ages gone by he spoke in
dreams and visions, but now he speaketh by his Word. Have you not at
times had unaccountably in the middle of your business a thought
concerning God and heavenly things, and could not tell whence it came?

Have you not been reading or studying the Scripture, but a text came
across your mind, and you could not help it; though you even put it down
it was like cork in water, and would swim up again to the top of your
mind. Well, that good thought was put there by the Spirit; he often guides
his people into all truth by suggesting, just as the guide in the grotto does
with his flambeau. He does not say a word, perhaps, but he walks into a
passage himself, and you follow him, so the Spirit suggests a thought, and
your heart follows it up. Well can I remember the manner in which I
learned the doctrines of grace in a single instant. Born, as all of us are by
nature, an Arminian, I still believed the old things I had heard continually
from the pulpit, and did not see the grace of God. I remember sitting one
day in the house of God and hearing a sermon as dry as possible, and as
worthless as all such sermons are, when a thought struck my mind-how
came I to be converted? I prayed, thought I. Then I thought how came I to
pray? I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures. How came I to read
the Scriptures? Why-I did read them, and what led me to that? And then, in
a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of all, and that he was the
author of faith; and then the whole doctrine opened up to me, from which I
have not departed.

But sometimes he leads us by direction. The guide points and says- “There,
gentlemen, go along that particular path, that is the way.” So the Spirit
gives a direction and tendency to our thoughts; not suggesting a new one
but letting a particular thought when it starts take such-and-such a
direction; not so much putting a boat on the stream as steering it when it is
there. When our thoughts are considering sacred things he leads us into a
more excellent channel from that in which we started. Time after time have
you commenced a meditation on a certain doctrine and, unaccountably,
you were gradually led away into another, and you saw how one doctrine
leaned on another, as is the case with the stones in the arch of a bridge, all
hanging on the keystone of Jesus Christ crucified. You were brought to see
these things not by a new idea suggested, but by direction given to your
thoughts.

But perhaps the best way in which the Holy Ghost leads us into all truth is
by illumination. He illuminates the Bible. Now, have any of you an
illuminated Bible at home? “No,” says one, “I have a morocco Bible; I have
a Polyglot Bible; I have a marginal reference Bible.” Ah! that is all very
well but have you an illuminated Bible? “Yes, I have a large family Bible
with pictures in it.” There is a picture of John the Baptist baptizing Christ
by pouring water on his head and many other nonsensical things; but that is
not what I mean: have you an illuminated Bible? “Yes, I have a Bible with
splendid engravings in it.” Yes; I know you may have; but have you an
illuminated Bible? “I don’t understand what you mean by an illuminated
Bible.” Well, it is the Christian man who has an illuminated Bible. He does
not buy it illuminated originally, but when he reads it

“A glory gilds the sacred page,
Majestic like the sun
Which gives a light to every age,-
It gives, but burrows none.”

There is nothing like reading an illuminated Bible, beloved. You may read
to all eternity, and never learn anything by it, unless it is illuminated by the
Spirit; and then the words shine forth like stars. The book seems made of
gold leaf; every single letter glitters like a diamond. Oh, it is a blessed thing
to read an illuminated Bible lit up by the radiance of the Holy Ghost. Hast
thou read the Bible and studied it, my brother, and yet have thine eyes been
unenlightened? Go and say, “O Lord gild the Bible for me. I want an
expounded Bible. Illuminate it; shine upon it; for I cannot read it to profit,
unless thou enlightenest me.” Blind men may read the Bible with their
fingers, but blind souls cannot. We want a light to read the Bible by, there
is no reading it in the dark. Thus the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, by
suggesting ideas, by directing our thoughts, and by illuminating the
Scriptures when we read them.

V. The last thing is AN EVIDENCE. The question arises, How may I know
whether I am enlightened by the Spirit’s influence, and led into all truth?
First, you may know the Spirit’s influence by its unity-he guides us into all
truth: secondly, by its universality-he guides us into all truth.
First, if you are judging a minister, whether he has the Holy Ghost in him
or not, you may know him in the first place, by the constant unity of his
testimony. A man cannot be enlightened by the Holy Spirit, who preaches
yea and nay. The Spirit never says one thing at one time and another thing
at another time. There are indeed many good men who say both yea and
nay, but still their contrary testimonies are not both from God the Spirit,
for God the Spirit cannot witness to black and white, to a falsehood and
truth. It has been always held as a first principle, that truth is one thing; but
some persons say, “I find one thing in one part of the Bible and another
thing in another and though it contradicts itself I must believe it.” All quite
right, brother, if it did contradict itself; but the fault is not in the wood but
in the carpenter. Many carpenters do not understand dovetailing, so there
are many preachers who do not understand dove-tailing. It is very nice
work, and it is not easily learnt, it takes some apprenticeship to make all
doctrines square together. Some preachers preach very good Calvinism for
half-an-hour, and the next quarter-of-an hour Arminianism. If they are
Calvinists, let them stick to it; if they are Arminians, let them stick to it, let
their preaching be all of a piece. Don’t let them pile up things only to kick
them all down again; let us have one thing woven from the top throughout,
and let us not rend it. How did Solomon know the true mother of the child.
“Cut it in halves,” said he. The woman who was not the mother, did not
care so long as the other did not get the whole, and she consented. “Ah,”
said the true mother, “give her the living child. Let her have it, rather than
cut it in halves “So the true child of God would say “I give it up, let my
opponent conquer; I do not went to have the truth cut in halves. I would
rather be all wrong, than have the word altered to my taste. “We do not
want to have a divided Bible. No, we claim the whole living child or none
at all. We may rest assured of this, that until we get rid of our linseywolsey
doctrine, and cease to sow mingled seed, we shall not have a
blessing. An enlightened mind cannot believe a gospel which denies itself; it
must be one thing or the other. One thing cannot contradict another, and
yet it and its opposite be equally true. You may know the Spirit’s influence
then, by the unity of its testimony.

And you may know it by its universality. The true child of God will not be
led into some truth but into all truth. When first he starts he will not know
half the truth, he will believe it but not understand it; he will have the germ
of it but not the sum total in all its breadth and length. There is nothing like
learning by experience. A man cannot set up for a theologian in a week.
Certain doctrines take years to develop themselves. Like the aloe that
taketh a hundred years to be dressed, there be some truths that must lie
long in the heart before they really come out and make themselves appear
so that we can speak of them as that we do know; and testify of that which
we have seen. The Spirit will gradually lead us into all truth. For instance if
it be true that Jesus Christ is to reign upon the earth personally for a
thousand years, as I am inclined to believe it is, if I be under the Spirit, that
will be more and more opened to me, until I with confidence declare it.
Some men begin very timidly. A man says, at first, “I know we are justified
by faith, and have peace with God, but so many have cried out against
eternal justification, that I am afraid of it.” But he is gradually enlightened,
and led to see that in the same hour when all his debts were paid, a full
discharge was given; that in the moment when its sin was cancelled, every
elect soul was justified in God’s mind, though they were not; justified in
their own minds till afterwards. The Spirit shall lead you into all truth.
Now, what are the practical inferences from this great doctrine? The first is
with reference to the Christian who is afraid of his own ignorance. How
many are there who are just enlightened and have tasted of heavenly things,
who are afraid they are too ignorant to be saved! Beloved, God the Holy
Spirit can teach any one, however illiterate, however uninstructed. I have
known some men who were almost idiots before conversion, but they
afterwards had their faculties wonderfully developed. Some time ago there
was a man who was so ignorant that he could not read, and he never spoke
anything like grammar in his life, unless by mistake; and moreover, he was
considered to be what the people in his neighborhood called “daft.” But
when he was converted, the first thing he did was to pray He stammered
out a few words, and in a little time his powers of speaking began to
develop themselves. Then he thought he would like to read the Scriptures,
and after long, long months of labor, he learned to read; and what was the
next thing? He thought he could preach; and he did preach a little in his
own homely way, in his house. Then he thought “I must read a few more
books.” And so his mind expanded, until, I believe he is at the present day,
a useful minister, settled in a country village, laboring for God. It needs but
little intellect to be taught of God. If you feel your ignorance do not
despair. Go to the Spirit-the great Teacher-and ask his sacred influence,
and it shall come to pass that he “shall guide you into all truth.”

Another inference is this whenever any of our brethren do not understand
the truth let us take a hint as to the best way of dealing with them. Do not
let us controvert with them. I have heard many controversies, but never
heard of any good from one of them. We have had controversies with
certain men called Secularists, and very strong arguments have been
brought against them; but I believe that the day of judgment shall declare
that a very small amount of good was ever done by contending with these
men. Better let them alone, where no fuel is the fire goeth out; and he that
debateth with them puts wood upon the fire. So with regard to Baptism. It
is of no avail to quarrel with our Paedo-baptist friends. If we simply pray
for them that the God of truth may lead them to see the true doctrine, they
will come to it far more easily than by discussions. Few men are taught by
controversy, for

“A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still.”
Pray for them that the Spirit of truth may lead them “into all truth.” Do not
be angry with your brother, but pray for him; cry, “Lord! open thou his
eyes that he may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”

Lastly, we speak to some of you who know nothing about the Spirit of
truth, nor about the truth itself. It may be that some of you are saying, “We
care not much which of you are right, we are happily indifferent to it.” Ah!
but, poor sinner, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it was that spake
the truth, thou wouldst not say, “I care not for it;” if thou didst know how
essential the truth is to thy salvation, thou wouldst not talk so; if thou didst
know that the truth of God is-that thou art a worthless sinner, but if thou
believest, then God from all eternity, apart from all thy merits, loved thee,
and bought thee with the Redeemer’s blood, and justified thee in the forum
of heaven, and will by-and-bye justify thee in the forum of thy conscience
through the Holy Ghost by faith; if thou didst know that there is a heaven
for thee beyond the chance of a failure, a crown for thee, the lustre of
which can never be dimmed;-then thou wouldst say, “Indeed the truth is
precious to my soul!” Why, my ungodly hearers, these men of error want
to take away the truth, which alone can save you, the only gospel that can
deliver you from hell; they deny the great truths of free-grace, those
fundamental doctrines which alone can snatch a sinner from hell; and even
though you do not feel interest in them now, I still would say, you ought to
desire to see them promoted. May God give you to know the truth in your
hearts! May the Spirit “guide you into all truth!” For if you do not know
the truth here, recollect there will be a sorrowful learning of it in the dark
chambers of the pit, where the only light shall be the flames of hell! May
you here know the truth! And the truth shall make you free: and if the Son
shall make you free, you shall be free indeed, for he says, “I am the way,
the truth, the life.” Believe on Jesus thou chief of sinners; trust his love and
mercy, and thou art saved, for God the Spirit giveth faith and eternal life

Anglican Mainstream

By George Conger

The archbishop of the new Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) spoke with Christianity Today in Bedford, Texas, where conservatives constituted their alternative to the liberal Episcopal Church.

Q: What is going on here in Bedford?

A: Bedford for us Anglicans is the end of the beginning. We have struggled, some of our congregations for over 30 years, with issues that have been forced upon us by the Episcopal Church. We’ve come to a point where we are not operating in force anymore.

Q: Rick Warren told the ACNA not to be “reactionary,” what did he mean?

A: He means the war [in the Episcopal Church], it’s not yours anymore, that’s behind. God’s got a whole new work for you. We are trying to move on. Don’t be reactionary or reactive means get over the wounds, get over the hurts, get over the lawsuits, get over all the stuff.

Q: What is the ACNA’s plan to reach out to America?

A: We want to be clear that the congregation is God’s fundamental way of doing things, just like the family is God’s fundamental building block for society. And if the chief agency is the congregation, the chief agents are the individual Christians. We have to disciple. We have to teach people to love God … and share their faith. We have to teach them how to engage the world in service, in Christ’s love.

Q What is your message for Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams?

A: He should understand there really is realignment in Anglicanism. There is a new Reformation in the Christian West. I hope he sees the unity despite our diversity. It’s a unity in Christ. He should see the passion for mission. I trust he sees a people that look recognizably Anglican.

Q: What do you have to say to those who criticize the ACNA for being against gays?

A: Jesus was not against anybody. We’re not against anybody. Jesus came to die for all. The Father’s desire is to reach out to everyone—all of us are broken. What I hope people experience from us is the love of God. The starting place is meeting people where they are. What we have embraced as our clear statement is the transforming love of Jesus Christ. I hope that people come out and test us.

Times:-

Worshippers at a Church of England cathedral are being offered a two-track Communion service with a separate supply of “untainted” Communion bread for those who object to its being consecrated by a woman priest.

A special container, for the hosts — unleavened bread representing the body of Christ — which have been previously consecrated by a male priest, is brought out during Sunday morning services at Blackburn Cathedral if a woman priest is presiding.

The special arrangements, which have been condemned by supporters of women priests, were introduced because of the recent installation of Dr Sue Penfold as one of three residentiary canons. Even though she is legitimately ordained and employed, it means that when she is celebrating the eucharist those who dispute the validity of her orders can make sure they receive “untainted” sacrament consecrated earlier by a man.

The special container, known as the “reserved sacrament” after practice in the Roman Catholic Church, is then housed in the cathedral’s aumbry, or tabernacle, and brought out on Sunday mornings when Dr Penfold is celebrating. It is used for those who do not recognise her ministry but many other worshippers also receive these hosts, unaware that they are different.

The Church of England has special exemption from equality legislation in secular law, which means arrangements such as Blackburn’s are perfectly legal. The Church could still refuse to consecrate women bishops if more than a third oppose this when it reaches final debate by the General Synod in the next few years.

Blackburn has for decades been a seat of opposition to women’s ordination. Both the present Bishop of Blackburn, the Right Rev Nicholas Reade, and the Dean, the Very Rev Christopher Armstrong, oppose women’s ordination. It has a regular congregation of about 200 on Sunday mornings, with half a dozen who refuse to receive the sacrament from a woman.

A local clergy wife, Gertrude Robins, who complained about the arrangements in a letter to her local newspaper, the Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, said she had recently discovered the use of the reserved sacrament at Blackburn when Dr Penfold was celebrating and had arranged a meeting with the Dean to discuss it.

“He justified the practice by saying that there are some in the congregation who will not accept the sacrament consecrated by a woman and they have to think also of visitors. I am stunned and saddened. What a shame the Church is allowed to discriminate in this way.”

A retired head teacher, Sally Barnes, of the women priests’ support group Women and the Church, said: “This is quite outrageous. This is what happens when you have a church where women are regarded as tainted. It is an absolute disgrace. Quite a few people in that area have complained about it.”

Even Forward in Faith, the Church’s traditionalist lobby group, described the arrangement as unusual. Its spokesman Stephen Parkinson said: “I’ve never come across this before. It is pretty extraordinary. I can’t understand why the women priests put up with it.”

Dr Penfold and the Dean are on holiday and not available for comment. But the cathedral’s canon, Andrew Hindley, defended the arrangement. He said: “It was agreed by all the clergy and cathedral chapter that this was the best way to handle what we call a mixed economy.”

cnsnews.com

Another New Study Challenges Climate Change ‘Orthodoxy’
Friday, July 24, 2009
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor

(CNSNews.com) – Virtually all changes in global atmospheric temperatures in the late 20th century were the result of nature rather than human activity, according to a new peer-reviewed study, one of whose authors predicted Friday was “sure to cause a stir.”

“It goes against the orthodoxy,” said climate scientist Chris de Freitas of New Zealand’s Auckland University. The new findings called into question the politically-correct, politically-motivated assumptions driving the climate change debate, he said.

De Freitas and Australian scientists John McLean and Bob Carter reported that at least 80 percent of climate variability tracked over the past half a century could be attributed to internal climate-system factors including the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Pacific warming phenomenon and its cooling twin, La Nina.

This left little room for human-caused factors like emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other so-called greenhouse gases. Intermittent volcanic activity, producing significant cooling, was found to have been a factor.

The paper was published Thursday, following a six-month peer review process, in the American Geophysical Union’s Journal of Geophysical Research.

The Australasian trio compared the ENSO and the rise and fall of lower-atmospheric temperatures between 1958 – when continuous records of those temperatures began – and 2008, and found that the one closely correlated with the other, with a lag of around seven months between the ENSO and the temperature variation.

“The sequence of the lagged relationship indicates that ENSO is driving temperature rather than the reverse,” the paper states.

The results showed that the oscillations accounted for some 80 percent of the rise and fall in temperatures, leaving “little room for CO2” as an attributable factor, De Freitas said Friday.

He described the data as established, reproducible, and “out in the open.”

The scientists’ finding flies in the face of the assertion by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in a series of reports, that “global warming” is occurring, is primarily the result of human activity, and requires urgent action.

Advocacy groups warn of catastrophic consequences including rising sea levels, extreme weather patterns and drought, and governments across the planet are exploring ways to combat the problem, mostly through costly cap-and-trade schemes – setting a limit on greenhouse gas emissions and encouraging trading in emissions permits.

A major climate conference in Copenhagen in December aims to produce a new global agreement which may include binding emission-reduction targets and deadlines.

U.N. climate chief Yvo De Boer told the BBC World Service Thursday that wealthy nations will have to put at least $10 billion “on the table” in Copenhagen. “That will allow developing countries to begin preparing national plans to limit their own emissions, and to adapt to climate change.”

De Freitas, based at Auckland University’s School of Geography and Environmental Science and with 30 years of climate science under his belt, does not deny that atmospheric CO2 concentration is rising, but questions the effect that that is having, and in particular whether it is dangerous.

He said the climate debate has been “degraded” by politics, ignorance, “end is nigh” alarmist hype, and the argument that the science has been settled.

The notion of “consensus” is unscientific, he added. “Science is meant to be robust debate.”

Please see my previous post on Richard Branson’s Global ‘Elders’…sorry did I say Richard Branson…I meant Nelson Mandela…no….Peter Gabriel…oh I don’t know…great folks anyway….who are going to save the world….enlighten us all with their superior and powerful wisdom……and save us from our silly old fashioned and outdated religion …phew…glad I got that all off my chest:-

The Elders a group of eminent global leaders say Religious and traditional practices discriminate against women and girls

Jimmy Carter on Religion – The Gospel of Oppression?

Former President Jimmy Carter, speaking for himself and some other religious leaders, made headlines issuing a statement that religion is used to oppress women. Carter says he severed ties with the Southern Baptist Convention because its leaders “claim” that women must be subservient to their husbands, and may not serve as deacons or pastors.

Carter suggests that accepting these teachings pushes women into an inferior role to men. He also seems to draw a parallel between such teaching and the horrors of forced prostitution, genital mutilation, rape, and slavery.

The Washington Post/Newsweek blog “On Faith” asked my response. What I told them was that, with all due respect, I find Carter’s statement imprudent and presumptuous. His statement paints every religious tradition with the same brush.

It is true that some have abused Scripture in pursuing oppressive agendas, like arguments for slavery, apartheid, and the denial of rights to women and minorities. But these abuses cannot be supported by an appeal to God’s word, especially when Scripture is interpreted according to the grand tradition of the Church.

Scripture teaches that men and women play complementary roles. For example, the wife is to submit to her husband exactly as the Church submits to Christ. The husband is to give his life for his wife, as Jesus gave His life for the Church-hardly discrimination or oppression. So, please, let’s not confuse Christian teachings with the offensive practices of other faiths-such as radical Islam’s deplorable treatment of women.

In addition, Carter’s denunciation of the plain teachings of Scripture as “male interpretation of religious texts,” transgresses the teachings of the Fathers, the Reformers, and reliable modern interpreters. God’s Word doesn’t have to conform to the declaration of man or the shifting philosophical sands.

Telling people what the Scripture ought to say is pure hubris. I have more confidence in 2,000 years of careful reflection on the ancient texts and the apostolic tradition than I do with the latest fad or somebody’s “aha” moment.

Most astonishing, Carter charges that biblical teaching about male headship is “in clear violation” of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Does he really imagine that God’s teachings must comply with the United Nations?

Finally, Carter says he is now a member of “an independent group of global leaders” working to address “major causes of human suffering.” Well, I would like to remind the former President that the Church that has always led the fight to relieve human suffering. Early Christians rescued abandoned babies, tended the dying during the plagues, led the fight against slavery.

And we’re doing the same kind of battles today. Surely the former President hasn’t forgotten that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist minister.

When we see the press accepting such charges as distortions of our faith, we had better start doing a better job defending the church against such false claims.

So maybe unwittingly the former President has provided a teaching moment – an opportunity to set the record straight on which faith tradition has always defended human dignity and the rights of the most vulnerable among us.

Urgent request from our friends at Christian Concern for our Nation and the Christian Legal Centre

RE in schools – 10 minute Questionnaire

Please respond to the Simple Tick Box Questionnaire – Curriculum Reform Consultation (Updated guidance on the teaching of Religious Education Questionnaire) for the curriculum in England.

CCFON and CLC have responded to the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ questionnaire on the Updated guidance on the teaching of Religious Education, which forms part of their curriculum reform Consultation.  Please click here to see our response.

To see the current guidance circular 1/94 ‘Religious Education and Collective Worship’ click here.

The proposed replacement to this guidance is called Religious Education and does not include the notion of ‘collective worship’ (click here to view).

Hidden deep in the new proposed guidance on the further reference section on page 46 is the proposal that the circular 1/94 is still “extant”, in other words “in existence” regarding guidance on collective worship.

The proposed guidance states on pages 6 and 7 that Education legislation specifically states the following on Religious Education:

“Every agreed syllabus shall reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are in the main Christian whilst taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain”. (Section 375(3) Education Act 1996).

However, the rest of the guidance on RE fails to follow this by reference to religions “and beliefs”, “diversity of religion” “community cohesion”, being “inclusive”.

In our opinion the current guidance 1/94 meets the Education legislation requirements on RE and collective worship but the new proposed guidance on RE does not and should be rejected.

Responses can be submitted by post or e-mail.  If you wish to download the questionnaire in Word format, please click here. For PDF format, click here.

Finally, if you wish to access the background documents, click here.

BBC

Nurses shift on assisted suicide

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has dropped its official opposition to the concept of helping terminally ill patients to commit suicide.

Instead the college has adopted a neutral position, neither supporting or opposing a change in the law.

Allowing medical staff to provide patients with the drugs they would need to take to end their lives is currently illegal.

The RCN change follows a lengthy consultation of college members.

Members of the RCN council, which voted for the change on Friday, also decided that nurses should be given detailed guidance on the issue, which will now be drawn up.

The guidance will consider the complicated legal, regulatory, ethical and clinical frameworks around assisted suicide.

The British Medical Association remains opposed to assisted suicide, having briefly and controversially adopted a neutral stance several years ago.

Dr Peter Carter, RCN chief executive, said: “Assisted suicide is a complicated issue and this was reflected in the range and variety of responses that we received to our consultation.

“The split in responses shows that there is no overwhelming support among nurses for either opposing or supporting a change in the law on assisted suicide.”

Vulnerable patients

Dr Carter said the consultation had shown that nurses placed great importance on the need to protect vulnerable patients, and to ensure adequate investment in end-of-life care.

The RCN vote follows a three month consultation of members, which drew over 1,200 individual responses.

Of those, 49% supported assisted suicide, but 40% were opposed to the concept.

Overall, the RCN represents 400,000 members.

Sandra James, chair of the RCN Council, said: “Assisted suicide is a high-profile and emotive issue and it is right that we consulted thoroughly with members before coming to our decision.

“Council had a long and careful deliberation of the range of options available.”

The RCN decision follows unsuccessful attempts to amend the Coroners and Justice Bill, which sought to legalise aspects of assisting suicide, including travelling with those who wish to commit suicide abroad.

The Swiss organisation Dignitas has helped more than 115 people from the UK to commit suicide since it was founded in 1998.

Dr Peter Saunders, campaign director of Care Not Killing Alliance, described the RCN move as a “quite bizarre” one which was based on a tiny percentage of its membership.

“This is surely no basis for a shift in the stance of the RCN in this highly controversial issue especially given that this minute sample, in which lobby groups are no doubt disproportionately represented, predictably voiced a very broad range of opinion.”

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, which supports assisted suicide, said: “The assisted dying debate is contentious, but as long as people have to suffer unnecessarily against their wishes at the end of life, it will not go away.

“We believe their decision is very sensible given the overwhelming public support for a change in the law.”

Doctors at the BMA’s annual conference in Liverpool voted overwhelmingly against supporting a motion “allowing the choice of an assisted death by patients who are terminally ill and who have mental capacity”.

A BMA spokesperson said: “The BMA has a firm policy on this issue in that we are opposed to assisted dying and we are not lobbying for any change in the law in the UK.”