eChurch Blog

Sign of the times eh.

Independent:

A Roman Catholic primary school in the heart of an Asian community in Lancashire looks set to become the first in the country to convert to an Islamic faith school.

Just a decade ago, Sacred Heart RC Primary School in Blackburn was a flourishing Catholic community, with 91 per cent of its pupil intake professing the faith. Now that number has dwindled to no more than 3 per cent.

As a result, the Diocese of Salford – which is responsible for the running of the school – has concluded it is no longer “appropriate” for the Catholic Church to remain in charge. Instead, its future is the subject of a consultation, with the local mosque a leading contender to take over the day-to-day running of the school.

…..continue reading

Tom Rees of Epiphenom has a piece examining the views of the religious on organ donation.

Epiphenom – Religiosity and Organ Donation

This is not a particularly “faith friendly” piece but informative nonetheless.

Matthew 7:13:-

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

Spending time in hospital gives you time to reflect, whether you want to or not. Our “faith journey” is a narrow path and wide is the road leading to destruction. It’s all too easy to veer off the narrow path without realising and be seduced by smooth sounding soothing platitudes.

Anyway, two Christian scholars have sounded a warning today, which resonated for me personally.

Firstly from Dr Jim West:

The mamby pambyness of much modern Christian speech has achieved absolutely nothing.  It really is time, it seems to me, for Christians to stop being so afraid of everything and to stop being on the defensive and most certainly to stop accommodating the gospel to the mob.  It’s time for Christians to speak out against the false preachers and the manipulators and the money seekers and the liars which inhabit our Churches.  It’s time for Christians to engage society and politics as unflinchingly Christian and unashamed of the Gospel.  In short, it’s time for Christian theologians to excoriate heresy.

…..read all

Secondly from Archbishop Charles Chaput

Christians’ lack of faith and cowardice are the primary obstacles to Christian culture at a time when unbelief is the spirit-destroying “state religion” of the modern world, Archbishop Charles Chaput has told a gathering of academics. He urged personal repentance and witness as the path to cultural renewal.

The Archbishop of Denver delivered his remarks on Sunday in Baltimore to the annual convention of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, which awarded him the organization’s Cardinal O’Boyle Award.

He told the scholars that their task is to strengthen their zeal in advancing the Gospel, their courage in struggling against sin, and their “candor in naming good and evil.” He advised them to use their God-given skills to strengthen this spirit in each other, their students, and their colleagues.

“If you do only that, but do it well, then God will do the rest,” Archbishop Chaput declared.

…..continue reading

The Daily Mail has revealed today that we are being sold ritually slaughtered Halal meat by our major supermarkets.

Thabiha or Dhabiha are the terms used for the prescribed method of ritual slaughter which involves the animal having its throat cut while still conscious in accordance with Islamic law. The slaughter itself is preceded by the words “In the name of Allah”.

The Daily Mail revealed last week that Halal meat is being routinely served at some of Britain’s most popular sporting venues, pubs, schools and hospitals without the public’s knowledge.

The Daily Mail investigation also found that fast-food chains including Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, KFC, ­Nando’s and Subway are also using halal meat without ­telling customers.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like it one bit.

I suppose all we can do is ensure we give thanks for our food and take to heart the following Scripture:

1 Corinthians 8:

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God.

So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has caused much consternation with his comments in an interview with the Times relating to homosexuality and bishops.

Guardian:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has said he has “no problem” with gay people being bishops but they must remain celibate.

In his first explicit declaration on the subject since taking office in 2002, Dr Rowan Williams signalled his personal support for the consecration of gay bishops in the Church of England but said he would never endorse gay clergy in relationships because of tradition and historical “standards” .

His comments, in an interview in the Times, risk deepening divisions within the church and the wider Anglican communion. Liberals will be angered by his explicit acknowledgement that celibacy must be compulsory for homosexual clergy but not for heterosexuals. While conservative ire will be fuelled by his stance which puts him at odds with church teaching.

In the interview, Williams explained why he has stood with conservatives against homosexuality when it came to official church policy.

He said that he could not endorse gay relationships for clergy and bishops because “the cost to the church overall was too great to be borne at that point”.

Read All

The media headlines are generally running along one of these formats:

Rowan Williams backs gay bishops

or

Archbishop Williams has ‘no problem’ with gay bishop

Both of which are somewhat misleading.

As the Guardian piece rightly alludes the Archbishop will [as usual] be left in ‘no man’s land’ attacked from both sides (liberal and conservative) over his perceived bias on this issue.

Charlie Peer of Always Hope has the best handle on all of this and highlights the fact that the Archbishop’s ‘new’ stance is exactly the same as it has been since 2002, therefore, this is in fact a non-news story:

The Archbishop of Canterbury, not a man to avoid controversy when he can leap into it with both feet, has apparently given an interview (in today’s Times) in which he says he has “no problem” with gay bishops. It’s worth emphasising that what he says here is no different to what he has been saying since 2002 – that he accepts people in ministry who are gay, but that he believes all should uphold the standard set by the C of E (ie. they should be celibate/non-practising). But even this statement is enough to get some people hot under the collar, encouraged by a recent survey that suggests about 1% of the population are gay, which is apparently lower than previously thought. This has been leaped upon, not just by the Mail, but by various conservative and evangelical Christians who are using this to assault the poor old ABC again.

Continue Reading

Some conservative folk will never be content with gay clergy and bishops even if only permitted within a celibate and non-practising context, however, if the practice of homosexuality is to be deemed a sin which excludes a person from a ministerial position, then surely the non-practising position should be acceptable to conservatives. Put another way, as no human is perfect, is it not entirely reasonable to suppose that there may already exist bishops who are non-practising adulterous?

As for the liberal view on this matter, sometimes I am ashamed to witness their desire to promote their own agenda over and above the unity and stability of the church itself.

I never imagined that two weeks after September 11th, one of the hot potatoes in my news reader would be about bloomin’ burning Qu’rans.

To be clear from the outset, I don’t like this new fad of burning religious books, irrespective of the religion in question, but I’ll say this much, if folks feel so inclined to burn said books, then they should have every right to do so within the confines of health and safety regulations.

Regular readers will be aware that I deplore Christians burning books of other faiths and I have blogged on this issue previously and noted the consequences of playing into the hands of extremists.

Now, it would appear that several men whom may be affiliated with a far-right group filmed themselves burning Qu’rans on the Sept 11th anniversary and popped the footage on YouTube. As a consequence they found themselves duly arrested and are expected to be charged with stirring racial hatred.

They are currently released on bail pending further inquiries.

This is outrageous.

Even though I’m perfectly aware of the famous Heinrich Heine quote: Where they burn books, at the end they also burn people, I still maintain that if the non-religious desire to deface or otherwise destroy religious books that are in their ownership, then so be it.

I find this practice personally distasteful and have read this very day of disturbing mass Bible burnings in Iran (where’s the outrage?), however, they are at liberty to perpetrate such an act and the same should apply within the Western world.

With two exceptions (Roger Pearse & Cranmer’s Curate) it would appear the only voices of condemnation over the arrest of these men is coming from the atheist world.

The Freethinker, MediaWatchWatch and P Z Myers have all commented on this incident and all note the absurdness of charging these men with “racial hatred” when in fact, the Koran does not represent a specific racial group.

In a joint statement, Northumbria Police and Gateshead Council said:

The kind of behaviour displayed in this video is not representative of our community as a whole.

Our community is one of mutual respect and we continue to work together with community leaders, residents and people of all faiths and beliefs to maintain good community relations.

Still doesn’t make it illegal though does it, especially in relation to stirring up racial hatred. This is a worrying development for all folk who are concerned for freedom of expression.

Roger Pearse ends with this comment:

Today it is a bunch of Geordies having a lark who find themselves in handcuffs.  Tomorrow, will it be us?

And there may be some truth in his question, for if we pursue this path, how long until the Christian message itself is deemed as offensive to the Qu’ran and liable for prosecution under the “incitement” laws?

The Evangelical Alliance is reporting on new estimates of the religious profile of Great Britain published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The research by the Office for National Statistics entitled Integrated Households Survey: Experimental Statistics showed that 71 per cent of the British population describe themselves as Christians, confirming the last national census figures from 2001.

Read All

Forgive my cynicism, but I simply find this statistic hard to believe. Would I be alone in suspecting that many respondents tick the Christian box motivated by a cultural compulsion?

The British Religion in Numbers (BRIN) website has a lot more on this.

For those interested, the statistical bulletin and appended documentation can be found here.

The mainstream media have tended to major on the statistic from this research relating to the number of respondents identifying themselves as gay. It would appear this is around the 1% mark:

Daily Mail

The first ever official count of the gay population has found that only one in 100 adults is homosexual.

The figure explodes the assumption  -  long promoted by social experts and lobbyists  -  that the number is up to ten times higher than this at one in ten.

[.....]

The Office for National Statistics said 1.3 per cent of men are gay and 0.6 per cent of women are lesbian.

Read More

This research does need fleshing out somewhat and BRIN have stated that they hope to undertake a fuller analysis of this and subsequent IHS data, which I will notify you of once available.

Interesting and revealing research nonetheless.

Just noted an interesting study evaluating the correlation between health and religiosity entitled, Losing your religion deemed unhealthy, from the Penn State University, which has been picked up by both the Telegraph and Big Questions Online.

People who leave strict religious groups are more likely to say their health is worse than members who remain in the group, according to a Penn State researcher.

The percentage of people who left a strict religious group and reported they were in excellent health was about half that of people who stayed in the group, said Christopher Scheitle, senior research assistant in sociology.

“Previous research showed some association between belonging to a religious group and positive health outcomes,” Scheitle said. “We became interested in what would happen to your health if you left a religious group. Would people demonstrate any negative health outcomes?”

About 40 percent of members of strict religious groups reported they were in excellent health, according to the study. However, only 25 percent of members in those groups who switched to another religion reported they were in excellent health. The percentage of the strict religious group members who dropped out of religion completely and said their health was excellent fell to 20 percent. The difference between switchers and non-switchers, in reference to health, is statistically significant for the strict groups. The researchers reported their findings in the current issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

The study also indicated that people who were raised and remained in strict religious groups were more likely to report they were in better health than people affiliated with other religious groups. Scheitle, working with Amy Adamczyk, assistant professor of sociology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at the graduate center, City University of New York, defined strict religions, such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Jehovah’s Witnesses, as exclusive groups with strict social, moral and physical guidelines for members.

The researchers suggested several possible reasons for the declining health conditions reported by former members.

Strict groups typically require members to abstain from unhealthy behaviors, such as alcohol and tobacco use. These groups also create both formal and informal support structures to promote positive health, according to Scheitle. The social bonds of belonging to the group might be another factor for better health.

“The social solidarity and social support could have psychological benefits,” Scheitle said. “That could then lead to certain health benefits.”

Religious beliefs may also promote better health by providing hope and encouraging positive thinking.

Besides losing connection to these health benefits, exiting a religious group may increase stressful situations.

“You could lose your friends or your family becomes upset when you leave, leading to psychological stress and negative health outcomes,” said Scheitle.

The study does not necessarily mean that leaving a group causes poor health, Scheitle said. Poor health actually could prompt a member to leave the group. Strict sectarian groups require active involvement in meetings, services and social events that hinder participation by unhealthy members. An unhealthy member may also question membership in a group that promotes the belief in an all-powerful being who has failed to heal his or her condition.

Read All

Firstly thanks to everyone who sent messages and prayers following my recent short stay in hospital. Thoroughly on the mend now and ready to get blogging.

I have something in the region of 8,000 news items in my feed-reader (not to mention zillions of emails) and so will have to delete anything over 48 hours old, which I’m loathe to do.

At this point I have no idea how the Pope’s visit was received by folks in general and the media specifically, but having the opportunity to watch most of the excellent BBC coverage on the hospital ward was truly uplifting and it was during the Mass in Glasgow that I felt a sense of peace for the first time since being admitted to hospital.

Right I’ll crack on and hopefully get the first few bits and pieces up later today.

Hi Folks

Webmaster would like to offer his apologies for the lack of blogposts, but he is a little poorly and has been in hospital since Wednesday.

He is recovering well though, and will be back with us and blogging soonest.

Kind regards
Wifey