eChurch Blog

Cross-post by Young Mr Bear of Marmalade Sandwich:

I’ve been reading the accounts (Telegraph and Mail) of the arrest of Dale McAlpine, a street preacher, in Workington. Mr McAlpine is just the latest in a string of street preachers in Britain to be approached by police for questioning about alleged homophobic remarks. If the story is as reported is is pretty worrying.

Tim Worstall comments

“I have a very strong feeling that the actual crime here is pissing off a policemen. And that might be an even greater problem than the restriction of free speech one. That we’re hiring people into the police force who have such thin skins, are not able to understand that what is illegal and what might hurt a policemen’s fragile ego are not the same thing, that’s a problem.”

He may have a point. There has always been a problem of people with an agenda who like a police uniform because it gives them an opportunity to bully people who annoy them. And seven hours in police cells is not minor bullying – it’s pretty serious.

But the real issue is freedom of speech, and the blatant abuse of the 1986 Public Order Act. In the context of the latest arrest, the remarks of Lord Dear, former Chief Constable of the West Midlands, speaking on the debate on the Waddington amendment last year, are very interesting.

“ . . . prior to the Waddington amendment, the police regularly received complaints from homosexual groups that exception was taken to remarks that homosexuality was deplored on religious grounds. The police were forced to act. They operated, as we have already heard alluded to, against a background of the Home Office’s guidance notes on how to handle hate crime under the Public Order Act 1986, to which the issue of sexual orientation was added by the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.

“The so-called guidance notes in fact required rigid adherence. Any complaint of hate crime, by whomsoever made, even a bystander, had to be recorded as such and fully investigated. No exercise of discretion was countenanced. Accordingly, the police, and later the CPS, when faced with a complaint concerning remarks about sexual orientation, would follow the Home Office’s guidance notes, go through the whole procedure of interview, sometimes following arrest—fingerprinting, taking DNA samples, police bail, sometimes charge—even though pretty well everyone in the official process knew that there was little or no chance of a prosecution, much less a conviction, following.”

“. . . With the Waddington amendment in place, the police are released from the virtual straitjacket imposed on them previously; they can exercise common sense and good judgment on the day; and they can police with the light touch which is so often sought and required by society.”

Hmmm. Common sense? Good judgment? Light touch? I don’t think so.

There is, of course, another issue. The Conservative Party manifesto has sections (p79) entitled “Restore our civil liberties” and “Protect our freedoms”. The Liberal Democrat manifesto says (p93) “Liberal Democrats will protect and restore your freedoms.” Yet the leadership of both parties have, as far as I am aware, been totally silent on the police harassment of street preachers over the past 13 years.

I realise that they cannot comment specifically on this case, since Mr. McAlpine has been charged, and his case has not yet come to court. However, they have just been handed an opportunity to speak out about the erosion of freedom of speech under successive Labour governments. Somehow, I can’t see them taking it. I suspect that they are scared that they’d be accused of being libertarians. Or something like that.

The reports that the National Secular Society is taking a North Devon council to court in an attempt to outlaw the practice of prayer before council meetings, is the most notable Christian related ‘news’ currently.

Although this most certainly appears vindictive and petty, before we get too het up and give the NSS further impetus and exposure, let’s take time to prayerfully consider:

CrossWalk – Muslim Extremists Execute a Somali Christian

Catholic.Net – MOSUL, Iraq, MAY 3, 2010 – Four people were killed and 171 were wounded Sunday when a bus convoy carrying Christian students to the University of Mosul was attacked.

CNS – Iraq’s embattled Christian minority came under attack again on Sunday, when a double bombing near the northern city of Mosul targeted a convoy of buses carrying Christian students, injuring scores of them.

Telegraph:

The National Secular Society (NSS) is taking a council in North Devon to court for a judicial review of the time-honoured practice which is shared by at least 118 councils around the country.

Christian groups have branded the move an attack by “aggressive atheists.”

The majority of councils currently opt to start meetings with a Christian prayer, while a handful open with prayers from other faiths.

The NSS has hired Beachcroft, the leading legal firm, to launch the judicial review against Bideford Town Council, which has begun its meetings with prayers since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

The atheist group argues that the prayers breach Article 9 of the Human Rights Act, which guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and religion for non-believers.

Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the NSS, said: “If members of councils wish to pray before their meeting they can do it, preferably in another room. We’ve no problem with that. We’re not infringing anyone’s right to worship.”

George McLauchlan, the town clerk, said: “I don’t know why they have singled out Bideford. This is a national matter, not just a local matter.”

Andrea Williams, of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “Religious freedom should be respected. In a free and civilised society, councils and public bodies should be free to open meetings with prayer.”

Prayers at council meetings elsewhere in the country range from an elaborate opening ceremony at Boston Council in Lincolnshire, to the three word Latin prayer, Domine Dirige Nos – meaning ‘God guide us’ – at the City of London.

Tameside Council in Greater Manchester, Harrow Council in north London and Leicester Council are among 118 others which hold prayers before meetings.

Further Link:

Political Correctness – Thou shalt not pray: Atheists’ bid to ban prayers before British council meetings – because they breach ‘human rights’ of non-believers

Dr James McGrath has today posted two insightful blog posts over at Exploring our Matrix, which both follow the theme of Biblical literalism or letterism.

The first looks at Biblical literalism and homosexuality, which is reproduced below (with kind permission):

Biblical Evidence that 50% of Homosexuals Will Be Raptured

Here’s another example of how a literal reading of the English Bible is relevant to the question of homosexuality and salvation, considered from a conservative Christian viewpoint. The King James Version of Luke 17:34-35 reads:

I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Pretty clear, isn’t it? Roughly one out of every two homosexuals will be raptured!

For many readers, this is probably an old joke they had heard before. But it does illustrate an important and serious point. Words change in their meaning, the connotation of English words in their contemporary usage provides a dubious ground for determining “what the Bible says,” and cultural context is relevant. There are cultures today in which two men sleeping in the same bed has none of the sexual connotations it does for American readers of the King James Bible.

But perhaps we should set aside such concerns, and encourage so-called Biblical literalists to take these verses at face value and believe them literally…

An excellent point, I’m sure you’ll agree.

The second blog post from Dr McGrath concerns Biblical literalism and the drive towards anti-evolutionism, for which I provide a link below and encourage you to pop over and have a read:

Dr James McGrath – Why Anti-Evolutionism Is Evil

This is a cross post from our US based Lutheran CyberBrethren:

Perceptions of Islam Among Protestant Pastors

Ed Stetzer shared some interesting polling results:

The Christian Post has released some brand new data about the views of Protestant pastors in regard to their views of Islam.

The article explains:

Protestant pastors in the U.S. have a negative view of Islam and more than half agree with Franklin Graham’s statement that Islam is an “evil” religion, according to a just-released study by LifeWay Research. More than 4 in 10 agree that Islam is dangerous and promotes violence.

Be sure to read the whole story here, but this excerpt may help:

Protestant pastors were asked which is closer to their beliefs: Graham’s widely reported comment that Islam is “a very evil and a very wicked religion,” or former President George W. Bush’s remark that “the Muslim faith is based upon peace and love and compassion.”

Forty-seven percent of the pastors surveyed believe Graham’s assessment of Islam is accurate, and an additional 12 percent agree with both Graham’s and Bush’s statements. Twenty-four percent agree with the former president’s statement only. The rest could not decide.

The survey indicated:

• Three out of 4 pastors disagree with the statement, “Christians and Muslims pray to the same God”
• Eighty-two percent say Islam is “fundamentally different from Christianity.”
• Forty-two percent agree that Islam “promotes violence.”
• Four in 10 say the religion is “spiritually evil.”
• One in 3 says Islam “promotes charity.”
• Twenty-eight percent consider the religion “relevant today.”

You can download the full PowerPoint presentation at the LifeWay Research web page.

Please feel free to share your comments and thoughts.

Just a quickie to let you know that I’ve added a subscribe to comments link on the upper left sidebar.

I didn’t realise that we had this facility available, and so you can now view all new comments made on the blog through your RSS feed reader if you wish.

Click here to subscribe to eChurch Blog Comments RSS

Calvin L Smith (Principal of King’s Evangelical Divinity School) has put together a thoroughly insightful essay on the rise of US Televangelism, fueled by the Pentecostal phenomenon.

This is the most interesting and comprehensive piece I have read on this subject, which is astonishing given the brevity. Calvin covers the political and social impact, the comfortable fusion of conservative and fundamentalist expressions of Protestantism with the medium of TV, and the inherent problems associated with it.

Although this essay is explicitly looking at the US, I believe we are seeing much cross-fertilisation with the UK, as the European “Christian” channels absorb more and more programming from the US, for financial reasons.

Well worth a read and only takes a few mins:

Calvin L Smith – televangelism

Cross post by Brian LePort of Near Emmaus:

Today I saw a short rant against religious abuse from a person who is no stranger to pointing out what is wrong with the church although himself a Christian. He wrote about destroying religious systems. He dropped a nice big profanity for emphasis. In some sense I can relate though my assumption is the church he would create would be a very uncomfortable place for most honest Christians, myself included!

I have been in a similar place and I have done this very thing. Actually, there was a period of my life where I could hardly find a good thing to say about Christianity because my interactions with fellow “Christians” seemed so negative. I do not remember when it occurred but one day a novel concept came to mind: I am just as messed up as everyone in the church that I am criticizing. I realized that I am just as bad at showing Christ to the world as most fellow Christians. I realized I am as much a hypocrite as the next person. It was a hard pill to swallow.

Soon after this was followed by a paragraph from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together (p. 27) that forever changed my view of the church. He wrote the following,

Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.

I am sure that the church today is a mess. I am sure there are plenty of places where the church is simply an embarrassment to Christ. I am also fairly confident that the church is rarely in as bad a shape as it was where Bonhoeffer lived. If you think your congregation is annoying image your church being overtaken by Nazi ideologies!

While I understand the frustrations of the aforementioned ranter I must point out a few things: (1) Anyone this frustrated at the church that is not frustrated with themselves is oblivious to their own shortcomings (unless they are really, really better like maybe some missionaries and the Apostle Paul); (2) Anyone who can openly verbally abuse the church in such a manner has a weak ecclesiology. Jesus said the world would know we are his disciples because he love one another. This does not mean we should not call out wrongdoing in the church. It does mean we should not paint broad strokes labeling all Christians that do not think and act like the first person singular are somehow in need of reform that I can provide. (3) It shows that this person does not really recognize that the church is the people of God. As messed up as we may be we are still those God has elected from the people of the earth.

Along with Bonhoeffer I would suggest that if you are frustrated with the church and you think the church needs to reform the best place to start is by loving your brothers and sisters in the church that you think are so horrible. It is my assumption that this is what will shock the world around us. Too often we (myself especially) treat those who dislike just like the world. This shows them that there is nothing different about us. You can try to reform all you want to make the church appear as you would like it to look but everyone will see right through that as just another political ploy.

The first step toward reform is to love the church. Love her as she is now. Let Christ be Lord. You can’t help the church if you find that deep down you have come to hate her.

Let all moral flesh keep silence,
and stand with fear and trembling,
and lift itself above all earthly thought.
For the King of Kings and Lords of Lords,
Christ our God,
cometh forth to be our oblation,
and to be given for food to the faithful
Before him come the choirs of angels,
with every principality and power;
the Cherubim with many eyes,
and winged Seraphim,
who veil their faces
as they shout exultantly the hymn,
Alleluia

This one’s beginning to hit the fan:

Guardian

Rising Tory star Philippa Stroud ran prayer sessions to ‘cure’ gay people

Conservative high-flyer Philippa Stroud founded a church that tried to ‘cure’ homosexuals by driving out their ‘demons.

A high-flying prospective Conservative MP, credited with shaping many of the party’s social policies, founded a church that tried to “cure” homosexuals by driving out their “demons” through prayer.

Philippa Stroud, who is likely to win the Sutton and Cheam seat on Thursday and is head of the Centre for Social Justice, the thinktank set up by the former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, has heavily influenced David Cameron’s beliefs on subjects such as the family. A popular and energetic Tory, she is seen as one of the party’s rising stars.

The CSJ reportedly claims to have formulated as many as 70 of the party’s policies. Stroud has spoken of how her Christian faith has motivated her to help the poor and of her time spent working with the destitute in Hong Kong. On her return to Britain, in 1989, she founded a church and night shelter in Bedford, the King’s Arms Project, that helped drug addicts and alcoholics. It also counselled gay, lesbian and transsexual people.

Abi, a teenage girl with transsexual issues, was sent to the church by her parents, who were evangelical Christians. “Convinced I was demonically possessed, my parents made the decision to move to Bedford, because of this woman [Stroud] who had come back from Hong Kong and had the power to set me free,” Abi told the Observer.

“She wanted me to know all my thinking was wrong, I was wrong and the so-called demons inside me were wrong. The session ended with her and others praying over me, calling out the demons. She really believed things like homosexuality, transsexualism and addiction could be fixed just by prayer, all in the name of Jesus.”

Continue Reading

Further Links: PinkNews, FreeThinker

Whilst on the subject of politics, here’s a couple of other links relating to Christians and the election which caught my eye today:

Guardian – Secret Christian donors bankroll Tories – Increasingly powerful Conservative grassroots organisation numbers 37 prospective candidates among its members

Read the above link first then read the following link:

Richard – Bartholomew – Links Between Christians and the Conservative Party Explored

BBC – The Christian Party has unveiled its election poster campaign and a platform based on “reconciliation”.

Here we go yet again.

The following comes from the MailOnline and it’s worth reading the whole article as it contains interesting commentary from Peter Hitchens:

A Christian street preacher has been arrested and charged with a public-order offence after saying that homosexuality was sinful.

Dale Mcalpine was handing out leaflets to shoppers when he told a passer-by and a gay police community support officer that, as a Christian, he believed homosexuality was one of a number of sins that go against the word of God.

Mr Mcalpine said that he did not repeat his remarks on homosexuality when he preached from the top of a stepladder after his leafleting.

But he has been told that police officers are alleging they heard him making his remarks to a member of the public in a loud voice that could be overheard by others.

Mr Mcalpine, 42, who earns about £40,000 a year in the energy industry, was arrested and taken to the local police station in the back of a police van after preaching in the Cumbrian town of Workington on April 20.

After seven hours locked up in a cell, he was charged with using abusive or insulting words or behaviour contrary to the Public Order Act 1986.

Mr Mcalpine – who has delivered open-air sermons and handed out leaflets in Workington for years, and has never been in trouble with the police – said the incident was one of the worst moments of his life.

‘I felt deeply shocked and humiliated that I had been arrested in my own town and treated like a common criminal in front of people I know,’ he said.

‘My freedom was taken away on the hearsay of someone who disliked what I said, and I was charged under a law that doesn’t apply.’

He said he was not homophobic and has gay friends, but he feels compelled by his faith to urge people to abandon all types of sins so they can seek salvation.

‘If you are preaching hate and calling on people to harm others, it is right that is against the law,’ he said. ‘But I would never do that. If we have a free society, I should be allowed to preach the Gospel as generations have before me.’

Christian campaigners said last night they were alarmed that the police seemed to be using legislation originally introduced to deal with violent and abusive rioters and football hooligans to curb free speech.

Neil Addison, a barrister and expert on religious law, said: ‘People should be able to express their opinions freely as long as their conduct is reasonable. In fact, it is part of the duty of the police to protect free speech.’

Mike Judge, a spokesman for the Christian Institute, which is supporting Mr Mcalpine, said: ‘Dale is an ordinary, everyday Christian with traditional views about sexual ethics.

‘Some people will agree with him, others will disagree. But it’s not for the police to arrest someone just because others may disagree with what is said.’

Continue Reading

And this from the Christian Institute: