eChurch Blog

My friend Polycarp has posted his “Friday Question”:-

What is the proper way to read the bible?

Be sure to pop over and share your thoughts.

George Pitcher over at the Telegraph shares his thoughts on the news that Ministers have ruled out banning teachers who are members of he BNP.

The BNP are predictably eminently jubilant with this news and have said:

The Maurice Smith review ruling that teachers may be members of the British National Party means that democracy has “just survived another leftist totalitarian onslaught on our basic freedoms,” said Nick Griffin MEP.

“This is a commonsense decision, as classrooms should be places of learning and not far left indoctrination centres,” Mr Griffin said.

George Pitcher also takes a positive stance on this news:

It is entirely sensible that ministers have ruled out a ban on teachers being members of the BNP. I’ve always been embarrassed that the Church of England’s Synod voted to prevent its clergy joining Nick Griffin’s party. There is, apparently, one retired clergyman somewhere who’s a member and the action seemed out of all proportion. Let the BNP argue its case and we can see how ridiculous it is. And, like it or not, it’s a legally constituted political party.

Continue Reading

I concur.

No matter what your view on the BNP, they are, whether we like it or not, a legal political entity in the UK and for ministers to have prescribed a ban on teachers being members of the BNP, would have been a profoundly dangerous move and an overt assault on our democracy and liberties.

Notice George Pitcher also mentions this:

I’ve always been embarrassed that the Church of England’s Synod voted to prevent its clergy joining Nick Griffin’s party.

Again, I concur. It is fruitless and counter-productive to simply impose “bans” on folks joining a specific political party and allows parties such as the BNP to portray themselves as persecuted at the hands of powerful and ruthless aggressors.

Leaders in the church have to learn to articulate a persuasive and factual case as to why they believe Christian folk should not align themselves with the BNP.

I have often posted on the BNP in order to counter their claims to represent British Christianity, and you can find my recent post on this below:

Why there’s Nothing British about the BNP’s (British National Party) “Christian values”

The Spitoon have just posted on this one and make some salient points:

No Banning for BNP Teachers

The “religion and society think-tank” Ekklesia is heavily promoting a campaign called Power2010, which is an initiative to urge Church of England bishops to take a lead in reforming the House of Lords.

Just for clarification purposes, this “reforming” would effectively banish Bishops from the House of Lords. Ekklesia are pushing for an ‘all elected’ second chamber, and are opposed to the “special positions” reserved for Bishops.

These are the 5 principles for reform that they advocate:

people of faith participate alongside others in public life through civic action, free debate and good example – not through special reserved places and exemptions

members of the second chamber are elected, publicly accountable and recallable – not based on the appointed status and privilege for a few

legislation is scrutinised for its impact on the most vulnerable in society – not primarily the rich and powerful

membership is open to independent and minority elected voices – not dominated by the big party machines

Parliamentary business is discussed and voted upon in ways that encourage common action, co-operation and understanding of differences – rather than division and confrontation.

The reality well known by most commentators, is that if the House of Lords becomes an elected chamber, then we would see an end to Bishops in the house of Lords, as in reality they would not be able to garnish enough support.

As you can imagine the Bristish Humanist Association are fully behind this campaign also.

Some time ago I received a request to post something about an upcoming debate relating to the issue of the existence of Bishops within the House of Lords, which I did:

Should the bishops be evicted from the House of Lords? A parliamentary debate on the future of the Lords Spiritual

In this debate, arguing that Bishops should be evicted from the House of Lords was Polly Toynbee, President of the British Humanist Association; and Jonathan Bartley, Co-director, Ekklesia.

I wasn’t particularly flattering towards Jonathan Bartley in my post and he kindly took the time to comment, here is a snippet:-

I said:

….it saddens me terribly to watch such an influential figure as you, join forces with groups that are actively opposed to Christianity, such as the humanists.

Jonathan responded:

I am not aware that I have “joined forces” with anyone. I am however prepared to work with people where I believe they are working with, and toward truth.

I do not drive a wedge between sacred and secular and believe that all people who are made in God’s image, have a sense of what is right and wrong. I do not agree with humanists on many things, but where I see them working for justice and equality, which are to me eternal Christian values which resonate with the character of God, and they know what they are because of God (whether they recognise it or not) I will encourage them in that, and debate and discuss with them.

On reflection, as I observe Ekklesia’s preoccupation in ridding the House of Lords of Bishops, I would say that Ekklesia are in fact very much about driving a wedge between sacred and secular.

This Power2010 campaign encourages participants to email the Bishops and they provide a convenient form on their website, with a fully customisable message and every Bishops email address already inserted for you.

Ekklesia have just posted that they are thrilled with the uptake of 20,000 emails sent to the bishops in one day.

In terms of the validity of a campaign strategy of this nature, I am in agreement with a commentator on Twitter who noted the following:-

Not keen on these mass-auto email all the MPs / MEPs / Bishops at once scripts. Smacks of spam techniques.

and

….I’m sure the bishops can handle it! – Missing the point. a) Does it work? b) Do we want click-box politics?

Indeed.

Overall I confess that I am somewhat uncomfortable with Ekklesia’s determination to eradicate Bishops from the house of Lords, and I am certainly uncomfortable with their choice of bedfellows, and I am uncomfortable with their current campaign technique, namely, overwhelming Bishops email inboxes.

I know many will disagree with me, but there you go.

National Post

This new decade has gotten off to a rough start for Christians living in the Islamic world. Just this week, hundreds of Nigerian Christians were killed by Muslims, though the religious dimension of that event is disputed. Just yesterday, in Manshera, Pakistan, suspected Islamists attacked the World Vision office, killing at least five people using bombs, hand grenades and guns. World Vision is the world’s largest Christian overseas relief and development agency, and its employees murdered yesterday — all Pakistanis — were assisting those still suffering from the Kashmir earthquake in 2005.

There was a massacre of Christians in Mosul, Iraq, on Jan. 2, and targeted killings of Christians throughout January and February. The “targeted killing” is an especially effective form of anti-Christian terror. A Christian — either a man or woman will do — is simply grabbed off the street by Islamists while walking to work or school, killed and the body dumped. No one can feel safe. When a Christian leaves home in the morning, he does not know if he will be killed that day solely for being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

There was a targeted killing of a Christian businessman on Jan. 17, the very day the city of Mosul received its new Catholic archbishop, Emil Shimoun Nona. Why the need for a new archbishop for Mosul? Islamists murdered the last one, Paulos Faraj Rahho, just two years ago.

Amid the general decline of Christians in the Middle East, the breakdown of order in Iraq has allowed Islamists to unleash constant violence against Iraq’s Christians. The goal is to drive Christians out from lands in which they have worshipped God since the early Christian centuries.

The figures show the general trend, and the acceleration due to recent violent persecution by Islamist bandits, unrestrained by the Iraq security forces. In 1932, Christians were 20% of the Iraqi population. By 1979, when Saddam came to power, they were 10%. After the first Iraq War in 1991, they were down to 5%. Since 2003 and the second Iraq War they are fewer than 3% and dropping rapidly.

There were some one million Iraqi Christians in 2003, and it is estimated that over half have fled since. Those who remain in Iraq have often fled their homes in the cities to live in the north, without homes or jobs. Hundreds of thousands have fled into neighbouring countries — Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey.

Even if the slaughter was to stop, most of these people could not return home safely. In order to flee Iraq without being killed en route, many Christian refugees have to pay for protection — a nasty combination of religious persecution, organized crime and rapacious banditry. The refugee family likely has no home, no property, no car — nothing to return to. All of it has been given over to the extortion racket, often with an explicit proviso that if the Christian family seeks to return, all will be killed.

It appears that little can be done to stop the Islamist drive to de-Christianize Iraq. But something can be done for some Iraqi Christians, and Canada is leading the way.

In February 2009, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney increased from 1,200 to 2,500 the annual number of privately sponsored refugees that Canada would accept for three years through the Damascus office, where the largest number of Iraqi refugees are. In addition to the privately sponsored places, there are 1,400 annual places in the government-assisted resettlement program for Damascus. Such places are not for Christians alone, but are an undeniable help to Christians seeking refuge.

Yet refugees have to be sponsored and helped once they arrive in a strange land. Canadian Christian churches had extensive refugee sponsorship programs during the Cold War to accommodate those fleeing communist persecution. Over the years, those programs atrophied, as happily there were fewer Christians fleeing religious persecution. Now with the rise of the Islamist threat, those networks have to be reconstituted. It is not an easy task, but an impressive lead is being taken by Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto, whose city will likely be a principal place of resettlement. He has been encouraging his fellow Catholic bishops to intensify their efforts as well, and similar initiatives are being encouraged in other Christian communities.

The possible end of the Christian presence in Iraq — the land of Abraham — is an unspeakable sadness. Writing about this two years ago, I prayed that “fearsome justice” would be visited upon those who slaughter our fellow Christians in Iraq. That does not appear to be imminent. So while justice is delayed in Iraq, solidarity and charity in Canada is the best we can do.

I only want to highlight the BBC headline for this one:-

BBC – Atheists meet in Melbourne to celebrate lack of faith

Is this not hilariously paradoxical?

Today we are seeing headlines like this one:-

Daily Mail – Celibacy to blame for sex abuse cases, says cardinal tipped for papacy

National Post – Cardinal claims celibacy linked to sex abuse

I’ve been informed that these headlines are misleading and that Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn said no such thing:

Catholic Culture:

Vienna’s Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has said that the broadening sex-abuse scandal indicates a need to re-think the training that priests receive. The Austrian prelate called for a thorough and “unflinching” discussion of the possible causes for sexual abuse by Catholic priests. No topics should be taboo during that discussion, the cardinal said; he called for a frank evaluation of how priests have handled the consequences of the sexual revolution that began in the 1960s, and analysis of how priests are trained for a life of celibacy.

Several English newspapers reported that Cardinal Schönborn had said that priestly celibacy is the root cause of the sex-abuse problem. He did not. Nor did he call for an end to clerical celibacy. As spokesman for the Vienna archdiocese, responding to these interpretations of the cardinal’s statement, issued a clarification that Cardinal Schönbron “did not call into question celibacy in any way.” His focus was on how young men are prepared to live with that discipline.

In Rome the prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, confirmed that Church leaders are not planning any change in the rule of priestly celibacy, which he described as “a gift from the Holy Spirit.”

Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiga, asked whether he saw a connection between celibacy and abuse, replied: ‘I don’t understand how there can be a link.” Archbishop Gerhard Mueller of Regensberg, Germany, was even more dismissive, saying that any claim to see a connection was “nonsense.”

Link to Catholic News Agency:-

After media outlets misinterpreted an article by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn to say that he is questioning the Church’s rule of priestly celibacy, several high ranking churchmen have spoken out in praise of celibacy as a gift. They also dismissed the idea that celibacy is connected to pedophilia.

The Times has a good piece on this:-

Cardinal Schönborn says celibacy partly to blame for clerical sex abuse

Perhaps Rowan should read this.

Cross-post from Anglican Samizdat:

From here:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that despite believing Israel has a right to defend itself, he is “baffled and angry” at some of its methods.

Dr Rowan Williams spoke in conversation with Times editor James Harding in front of more than 200 people at a JC-sponsored event organised by the Board of Deputies on Wednesday.

Less than 15 minutes into the 90- minute discussion, Mr Harding asked Dr Williams to face the “elephant in the room” and reveal his views on Israel.

“The state of Israel is a legitimate state,” the archbishop said. “It has a right to exist and right to defend itself. The very fact that Israel makes so much of its status as a democratic state leaves me baffled and sometimes angry at what seems like collusion with unauthorised parties. I want to hear a legal defence of settlements and I am yet to hear it.

“Unless there is a way of representing the settlements as legitimate self-defence I remain very disturbed about that, along with many.”

Rowan would undoubtedly be much happier if Israel would engage Hamas – who don’t seem to make Rowan angry at all – in Indaba sessions, holy listening and telling stories; then, at least everyone would be baffled.

Cross-post from Solomonia:

Received from a reader:

[This] is written by an acquaintance of mine, and older woman who is Catholic. Who somehow got roped into attending something that from her description sounds like some Friends of Sabeel meeting. And she came away very upset, disappointed and confused. She wrote down her thoughts and sent them to me. I would like to see them out there…

Happy to oblige…

Cross post by Mariano over at Atheism is Dead. This is part 2 and part 1 can be found here.

The American Humanists Association is one of the groups that collected donated money to fund self-serving ad campaigns instead of helping people in need during a time of worldwide recession. The 2008 AD ads read “Why believe in God? Be good for goodness’ sake” the 2009 AD ads read the same with the addition of “No God? No Problem!” (see the bus ad/billboard archive).

In this segment I will consider part of the AHA’s 2008 AD explanation for the ads which is entitled “Interesting Facts You Might Not Know.” I will consider one of their facts: “Why not believe in a god?” and consider another in part 3, namely: “Without a god, why be good at all?”

This fact is elucidated thusly:

Why not believe in a god?

There’s no universally agreed-upon definition of God, description of what God does, or list of things God wants humans to do. Different cultures, faiths, religious denominations, theologians, and ordinary people have held wildly varied beliefs for centuries. In fact, people aren’t always talking about the same thing. So it’s difficult to know where to start any rational or useful exploration of the subject.

Most definitions of God aren’t scientifically testable. They are philosophical abstractions, logical contradictions, imprecise spiritual notions, or subjective feelings. So there appears no way to show that this or that particular god idea is true or false, or even makes much sense. Moreover, most people don’t even want their god idea to be scientifically testable, since that might result in it being falsified.

Those definitions of God that are scientifically testable, such as the very humanlike and limited god ideas of children and ancient peoples, have always lacked evidence. The Santa Claus idea also falls into this category [emphasis in original].

Let us parse this elucidation before considering the next.

It appears that the lesson learned is “There’s no universally agreed-upon definition of God…So it’s difficult to know where to start.” Therefore, since it is difficult why bother; just do not believe in a god.

Would this argument be accepted with regards to any other issue with which humans deal? “What son? Your schooling is difficult? Well, just quit.” Or why not, since it is difficult, just go ahead and choose one, or more, god(s) out of a hat?

Furthermore, “Most definitions of God aren’t scientifically testable.” But why is scientific testability the criteria? Is it scientific testable that scientific testability is the ultimate, if not only, cogent epistemology? If not, then the criterion fails its own criteria and eternally loops in a cycle of circular illogic (for how atheists restrict their thinking by appealing to “science” see Atheism and Science – Is There a Relation? part 1, part 2, part 3).

They have not established why we must adhere to their search for God parameters. If we do not know whether there is a God we do not know for what sort of evidence to look. If, for example, God is non-physical should we expect a non-physical being to give off, or leave behind, physical evidence? Do we look for wet evidence of a dry object? Science deals with the natural so why is it being called upon to investigate the supernatural? In fact, when science begins to uncover evidence of God it must change in order to accommodate the new evidence.

Try this, “There’s no universally agreed-upon definition of _________ (fill in the blank)…So it’s difficult to know where to start.” It just so happens that we do have a place to start: natural theology, or general revelation—inferring the existence of a creator and even particular characteristic of this creator from nature. This is one way to show that this or that particular God idea is true or false, or even makes much sense. So, to be fair, they are stating that “it’s difficult to know where to start” well, you can start at the parsed post On the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Invisible Pink Unicorns, et al.

This essay is copyrighted by Mariano of the “Atheism is Dead” blog at http://atheismisdead.blogspot.com.

It may be republished in part or in its entirety on websites, blogs, or any print media for whatever purpose—in agreement or in order to criticize it—only as long as the following conditions are met:

1) Give credit to “Mariano of the ‘Atheism is Dead’ blog at http://atheismisdead.blogspot.com”
2) Inform me as to which essay is being reproduced and where it is being reproduced via the comments section at this link

PART 3 HERE. PART 4 HERE

The Moroccan authorities are really ratcheting up the intimidatory pressure on Christians, which is disturbing. I posted about this back in February and wrote:-

This is a worrying escalation against the Christian community in Morocco.

Morocco is strategically very important for the Gospel, as it is the entrance point to Islamic North Africa and being geographically so close to Southern Spain, provides a very convenient jumping-off-point.

Of course the Moroccan authorities know this only too well.

And now this new “episode”:-

CBN

Expelled Christians Forced to Leave Orphans Behind

More than 40 Christians have been kicked out of Morocco this week, including members of a group that helped run an orphanage in the country.

The government says the missionaries were proselytizing, which is against the law in Morocco.

Many of the Christians worked at the Village of Hope where 33 orphans are currently housed. For the Moroccan children there, Christian aid workers are the only parents they’ve ever known.

The Village of Hope Web site shows a picture of two workers clearly devastated by the government order to leave the Islamic country.

The series of deportations began when a pastor visiting from the U.S. was expelled last February. To protect his identity, CBN News will not reveal his name.

“Understand that there were 60 officers involved, from Secret Service, from the police station and from the Army,” he recalled. “There were clearly-drawn weapons as we were escorted downstairs.”

The pastor added, however, that some of the police officers were secretly supportive.

“About 3 o’clock in the morning, one of the armed, dressed police officers went out and bought us a ‘tarjin’ and brought it in and set it down on the table for us… and we began eating,” he said. “I wanted the locals to be blessed with the food. He clearly wanted me to sit at the table. I sat down. He looked me straight in the eye and he said ‘God bless you.’”

Pastors around the world are calling for an international outcry on behalf of the Moroccan children who they say will suffer the most from the government’s actions.

The expulsion of foreign Christians could be linked to the rise of radical Islam in Morocco– a threat that CBN News has reported for years.

“I think we should be very concerned about the continued operation, cultivation, support and probably growth of al Qaeda cells in North Africa,” radical Islam expert Steven Emerson told CBN News in 2005.

Meanwhile, the workers expelled from Morocco are praying for their children and for the government to allow them to continue caring for the orphans.

UPDATE:-

Middle East Online – Morocco takes tough line against proselytisers – Communications Minister says Rabat will severe with all those who play with religious values after missionaries expelled.