eChurch Blog

Telegraph:

Around 1,000 travellers have descended on the 30-acre site with 200 caravans in Swavesey, near Cambridge.

South Cambridgeshire district council gave permission for the six-day Life and Light Mission festival but claim they had no idea so many travellers would be coming to the area.

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Minister Abraham Howard of the mission said: “We are meeting to talk about the word of Jesus Christ. We haven’t come to do any harm we’re just here to save the ‘lost ones’ from hell.

“People have nothing to fear – we are Christians.

“This the biggest mission of the gipsy world, we preach all over the world. We’ve never been here before but we’ve come to share the word.”

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Telegraph:

Vasily Boiko-The Great, who controls a major agricultural holding, has written to his 6,500 employees, ordering those “living in sin” to get married in church within two months or be fired.

The deadline, 14 October, is a Russian Orthodox festival. He has also banned any of his employees or their wives from getting abortions, saying he does not want to work with “killers.”

The farming tycoon said he was forced to resort to extreme measures after Russia was struck by an unprecedented drought and thousands of wild fires this summer.

“Such an extreme situation is punishment for the Russian people’s sins,” he told daily newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. “I need to take extreme measures including looking at the way my employees treat God.”

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I simply found this one bizarre and tantamount to communicating the message that in general Judges and law courts are crap and should look to the Bible to improve.

Do remember that it wasn’t all that long ago that Lord Carey along with a certain Christian legal group were making demands for ‘unfriendly’ judges to stand down in favour of more Christian ‘friendly’ judges.

Christian Institute:

Thousands of Bibles are being sent to Scottish law courts and judges as part of a campaign urging them to reflect on the Christian virtues of justice and mercy.

But Terry Sanderson, head of the National Secular Society, blasted the scheme saying it “could put the Sharia laws of the Middle East to shame”.

The initiative has been launched by the Scottish Bible Society (SBS) and it is backed by one of Scotland’s most respected legal figures, Lord Mackay of Clashfern.

Lord Mackay, a former Lord Chancellor and Lord Advocate of Scotland, wants to highlight the Bible as the “foundational source book for Scotland’s legal system.”

The SBS, of whom Lord Mackay is the honorary president, is also sending an introductory pamphlet to every court in the land.

The pamphlet, entitled The Bible in Scots Law: A Guide for Legal Practitioners, features an introduction by Lord Mackay.

The 83-year-old says: “I believe the teaching of the Bible is vitally important for guidance in daily living for all of us.

“The words and phrases of the 1611 King James version have permeated modern English, and this makes it a valuable book of reference, but the modern version is especially useful in dealing with our day-to-day challenges.

“If we use it in this way, we will soon learn that what it says about human beings is as true today as it was when it was originally written all these years ago.

He added: “The Bible is a unique resource as the foundational source book for Scotland’s legal system.

“The SBS is pleased to have the opportunity to donate a Bible to courts, so that it is readily available for reference in any case which may arise.”

The pamphlet also reminds the courts of the Queen’s acceptance of the Bible as the “Royal Law” during her coronation, and argues that legal professionals should be bound by this.

However, the scheme has angered secularists.

Mr Sanderson said: “What Lord Mackay is proposing could put the Sharia laws of the Middle East to shame.

“He and the SBS make absolutely no concessions to the progress of legal thought over the past two millennia.”

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Further media links:

Herald Scotland – Law chief urges Scots courts: consult the Bible in judgments

Express – FORMER LORD CHANCELLOR SAYS ‘USE BIBLE TO JUDGE CROOKS’

Mirror:

Prison sources said he had asked for a Roman Catholic priest to visit him in his cell and spent three hours talking to him. Since then he has made a crucifix out of string and has been given a set of plastic rosary beds.

He also spends hours reading the Bible in his cell.

Venables, who along with Robert Thompson tortured and murdered two-year-old James Bulger in 1993, was sent back to jail last month for breaking his parole when child porn was found on his computer.

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“They think that whatever they did in the past will be forgotten because they have suddenly become religious.

“He’s been going around talking about God and how in his eyes he will be forgiven for his sins……

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Mail Online

Panic broke out this morning as some 30,000 worshippers, priests and nuns crowded into the Sanctuary in the foothills of the Pyrenees in south west France.

Explosives experts were sent the area as people – many of whom are ill or disabled – were told to leave just as the midday mass was due to begin.

Pierre Adias, spokesman for Lourdes, said: ‘Police received a warning that four bombs were due to explode at 3pm on the site of the Sanctuary, so we are currently evacuating the area.

‘We are also preventing people from coming in. The whole Sanctuary has been shut down. Clearly some people are extremely worried, but we are trying to deal with the situation with calmness.

‘We have no idea who is behind. Bomb scares are not something you associate with Lourdes.’

Local police said they received an anonymous call. The two main masses of the morning were over when the evacuation began.

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UPDATE – From the BBC:

Thousands of Roman Catholic pilgrims were evacuated from the Sanctuary of Lourdes in France after a bomb scare which turned out to be a hoax.

Thanks to Dr Jim West for mentioning this article:

New York Times – Opinionator

My August 1 essay, “Philosophy and Faith,” was primarily addressed to religious believers. It argued that faith should go hand-in-hand with rational reflection, even though such reflection might well require serious questioning of their faith. I very much appreciated the many and diverse comments and the honesty and passion with which so many expressed their views. Interestingly, many of the most passionate responses came from non-believers who objected to my claim that popular atheistic arguments (like popular theistic arguments) do not establish their conclusions. There was particular dismay over my passing comment that the atheistic arguments of Richard Dawkins are “demonstrably faulty.” This follow-up provides support for my negative assessment. I will focus on Dawkins’ arguments in his 2006 book, “The God Delusion.”

Dawkins’s writing gives the impression of clarity, but his readable style can cover over major conceptual confusions. For example, the core of his case against God’s existence, as he summarizes it on pages 188-189, seems to go like this:

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Both P Z Myers and Ophelia Benson have made responses to this piece.

Seriously what is going on in this country at the moment? it’s a frenzy of hatred emanating from some.

Clerical Whispers:

A company selling papal visit T-shirts and hoodies has been in talks with police after receiving anti-Catholic abuse online.

Staff at Catholics with Attitude, which makes hooded tops with slogans such as “Team Benedict”, “Vatican All Stars”, and “I Love Papa Benny”, said they were “stunned” by the messages.

They said they were particularly worried because one message referred to a specific member of staff by name.

[.....]

“It was distressing because we did not know who this person was or what they would be capable of. What would make someone want to do this?”

He said after talking about it they decided “it wasn’t us who should be going away and hiding just because we are living a Christian lifestyle”.

The Telegraph has a piece today warning of a potential attempt to physically block the route of the Pope:

A few links I found interesting for one reason or another:

Science and Theology – Illuminating quote(s) of the week: The pursuit of knowledge

Biblicus Semitae – St Maximilian Mary Kolbe

CyberBrethren – How to Fit in At Nearly Any Church

Outside In – England – Land of no-Popery

Scientia et Sapientia – Flight of the Conchords on what’s wrong with the world

Parchment and Pen – Hidden Dismissals and Thoughts on Fostering More Honest Theological Dialogue

George Pitcher – Dignity in Dying gets in another awful muddle – and what is this bogus ‘Commission on Assisted Dying’?

Jerusalem Post:

BEIRUT  — Two Shiite Muslim television stations in Lebanon canceled a controversial program about Jesus on Friday, saying they do not want to stir up sectarian conflict in the country.

The 17-episode program, which was produced in Iran, describes Jesus from an Islamic point of view. Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet and a teacher, but not the son of God.

The debate has particular resonance in Lebanon, an Arab nation of 4 million people with a grim history of sectarian strife. The country’s population is divided into 18 sects, including Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Christians and Druse. A television station run by Hizbullah, and the National Broadcasting Network, NBN, started airing the program this week at the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Christian priests and politicians quickly protested, saying the topic might endanger national coexistence.

The program does not show respect to “Jesus, the church and Christianity,” Catholic Maronite Archbishop Bechara el-Rai told reporters Friday.

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Just for a larf OK: