Tim Kimberley over at the Parchment and Pen blog, is featuring a series based on the top ten Biblical discoveries in archaeology.
As promised, I intend to link to them from here, and so here is the tenth and final offering, at number one on the list:
Top Ten Biblical Discoveries in Archaeology – #1 Dead Sea Scrolls
Christian Today is reporting on a Bible Society initiative encouraging Christians to take their Bible to work on Monday 25th October. As part of this they commissioned some research which I found particularly interesting:
Here’s some snippets:
While most Christians said they would feel fine having their Bible at work, 43 per cent said they would feel uncomfortable actually getting it out to read and almost a third were worried about what work colleagues might think.
In fact, Christians are more likely to feel uncomfortable about having their Bible on display at work than their work colleagues. Seventy five per cent of atheists questioned said they would not consider it to be a problem.
[.....]
It found that while Christians may feel uncomfortable about reading their Bible at work, in breaks or at lunchtimes, only 14 per cent of workers would feel uncomfortable if they did it and as many as half would be happy to talk about the Bible with Christian colleagues.
[.....]
Reacting to the survey results Ann says, “There are a variety of issues here from a misplaced fear about a hostile reception to having a Bible at work to a lack of certainty about what to do with it if you do to take it to work. This makes the need to break down the divide between the sacred and the secular all the more urgent. We need more training on the significance of the Bible in our everyday lives.”
A few years ago I worked for a large American pharmaceutical company here in the UK and as was my wont, on the approach to Easter, I would have a large cross shaved into the back of my head.
Yep, I really am that mad.
I would always find an empty table in the cafetiere at lunch time as my preference is not to hold conversation whilst eating, and the day of revealing my new hair style was no different.
After five minutes or so of eating I became aware of others around me and when I looked up from my meal, I had been joined by around eight other workers, none of whom were eating and were silently watching me eat.
One of the guys at the table enquired about my shaved cross and I simply said I was a Christian and this was part of my Easter celebration.
One by one, they all confessed to being Christian and not one of them knew the others were Christian, which was all the more remarkable as some of them had worked at close quarters for many years.
The upshot was meeting together regularly for prayer and visiting one another’s church and so on. We were asked for prayer from other colleagues and generally emboldened and encouraged one another.
Sometimes it’s just as simple as sending out a visible sign to others that you are Christian and you just never know what might come of it.
David over at Anglican Samizdat alerts us to a MailOnline article purporting the fifty funniest jokes of all time – David’s joke was rather funny as well.
Here’s a couple I liked:
38. A lorry-load of tortoises crashed into a trainload of terrapins, What a turtle disaster.
26. I cleaned the attic with the wife the other day. Now I can’t get the cobwebs out of her hair.
15. ‘There’s two fish in a tank, and one says to the other “How do you drive this thing?”
I must confess number one had me chuckling.
“Banish Dark Side of Halloween” is the headline emblazoned on the front page of my local paper. When I saw the headline I had that ominous feeling of inevitability, the sinking feeling that it would be an article based on comments from a local church.
I was of course correct.
This is the second time this year my local rag has featured ‘churchy’ stuff on their front page and last time was cringy enough, surely this would be better.
Here’s some excerpts for you:
“Worried about children’s safety and the ‘dark side’ of Halloween.”
[.....]
“We have become increasingly concerned about the increased prominence given to Halloween and how people celebrate it,” church secretary said.
[.....]
“As Christians, we are also concerned about some of the sinister and dark sides of Halloween.”
Yep cringy and extremist fear mongering as last time.
They’re going to combat this night of darkness with a ‘crazy colours’ party to celebrate ‘brightness and light’ and they say:
“In this way we hope that a positive message might shine through rather than allowing children to be dragged down by darkness and fear”
I’m all for the church putting on alternative activities, but to celebrate brightness and light? To stop children being dragged down by darkness and fear?
I’ll be honest, I’m no fan of trick-or-treating and if the church spoke on just this element of Halloween it might resonate a little better with readers, but harping on about the ‘dark side’ makes them look like frightened little poppets, yet again.
I wonder if they’ll ever be a positive, hopeful, encouraging, moderate, spunky church piece on the front page of my local rag……nah.
Agenzia Fides have produced statistics on the global Catholic church and it really is a panoramic view that gives you a handle on the breathtaking size of this church.
You can download the document here.
Here are a few snippets:
World population
On 31 December 2008 the world population was 6,698,353,000 with an increase of 81,256,000 persons compared with the previous year. Population growth was registered on every continent including Europe, as it was noted in the previous year: Africa (+ 29,674,000); America (+ 5,687,000); Asia (+ 42,914,000); Oceania (+ 670,000); Europe (+ 2,311,000).Catholics
On the same date Catholics in the world numbered 1,165,714,000 with an overall increase of 19.058.000 more than the previous year, in every continent as follows: Africa (+ 8,025,000); America (+ 7,579,000); Asia (+ 3,152,000); Europe (+ 193,000); Oceania (+ 109,000).
The world percentage of Catholics increased by 0.07 %, settling at 17.40%; by continent: increases were registered in Africa (+ 0.29); America (+ 0.44); Asia (+ 0.05), while decrease was shown in Europe (- 0.1) and Oceania (0.2)
Did you note that increase of over 19 million in one year alone! My goodness that’s a church on the march. Check out these Catholic school stats:
Catholic schools
In the field of education, the Catholic Church runs 67,848 kindergartens with 6,383,910 pupils; 93,315 primary schools with 30,520,238 pupils; 42,234 secondary schools with 17,758,405 pupils. The Church also cares for 1,968,828 high school pupils, and 3,088,208 university students.
30 million primary school children! Not to mention the health care:
Catholic charity and healthcare centres
The Church runs 5,428 hospitals most of them in America (1,717) and Europe (1,288); 18,025 dispensaries mainly in America (5,516), Africa (5,375) and Asia (3,547); 529 Care Homes for people with Leprosy mainly in Asia (285) and Africa (184); 15,985 Homes for the elderly, or the chronically ill or people with a disability mainly in Europe (8,265) and America (4,143); 9,962 orphanages, about one third in Asia (3,437); 11,902 creches; 13,945 marriage counselling centres mainly in Europe (5,991) and America (5,044); 34,250 social rehabilitation centres and 10,800 other kinds of institutions, mostly located in America (4,285), Europe (2,937), and Asia (2,009).
I read last week that Catholic hospitals make up nearly a quarter of all hospitals in the US.
So much for the demise of Christianity.
Twitter and the blogosphere are alive with critical condemnation of yesterday’s spending cuts. There is a particular vehement repulsion at the cheering from the Tories during the announcements.
Within the Christian community there is a chorus of approval on Twitter following comments from Archbishop Dr John Sentamu on the spending cuts and “Big Society”. I’m going to reproduce his reflection in full below – hopefully no copyright issues – as I think it’s well worth a read:
Following the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, the Archbishop writes in the Yorkshire Post and The Sun newspapers.
Dr John Sentamu, having listened to the Government’s spending review, reflects on the impact of investment cuts on communities and families.
The Big Society
A man asked me recently: “What do you think of the Big Society?” So I told him: “The Big Society? The church has been doing it for over 2000 years!”
There is nothing new in a set of Government policies that looks to encourage individuals and voluntary groups to be enabled, to be engaged within our community, to care for one another.
The Church of England knows all about volunteering. More people do unpaid work for church groups than any other organization. Churchgoers contribute 23.2 million hours voluntary service each month in their local communities.
The Church of England alone provides activities outside church worship in the local community for over half a million children and young people aged under 16 years, and 38,000 young people aged 16 to 25 years. Over 136,000 volunteers run activity groups for young people which are sponsored by the Church of England.
The Church employs more youth workers than any other organization and is involved on a daily basis trying to make the lives of young people better. What I am trying to say is that the Church understands the importance of volunteering and being active in our communities. As one of my predecessors, Archbishop William Temple said, “The Church is the only organisation that exists for the wellbeing and fraternity of its non-members”.
But what we must not forget that the state has responsibilities too.
There is a reason we pay our taxes. Whilst it is easy to pretend that much of our hard earned cash goes to fund expense fiddling MPs, disreputable casino-style banks or mad politically-correct quangoes for do-gooders – actually we should expect the state to run and fund strong public services, with our money.
How to raise that money is another question. I am not an economist, and I am not a politician, but to cut investment to vital public services, and to withdraw investment from communities, is madness.
You do not escape an economic downturn by cutting investment and by squashing aspirations.
The Government has signalled for a long time that cuts must be put in place to tackle the economic deficit. The Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) is the swinging axe that follows the cuddly blanket and soothing words of “The Big Society”.
I know many people today will be afraid of what the Government cuts outlined in the CSR will mean for them and their families.
I think we would all accept that this is a difficult time for our country economically. There are difficult choices to be made, and real debates to be had about what is the best way forward. Debate, discussion and compromise can all be positive when those involved are conducting themselves in the right spirit. However we need to ensure that no-one is left behind.
The promotion of social justice should be a primary moral imperative for any government, and for every publicly funded institution. For when the government puts the promotion of social justice at its heart, we can stand together as one nation, as one people in solidarity with each other, recognizing the dignity of all, and affording all fair and equal opportunities for access and services. Freedom, fraternity and informed choice must characterise our social fabric.
For the first time in many years we have a coalition government in place. We have politicians from different parties with differing views on many issues making public policy. It is not for me to judge whether the current coalition will be successful, or whether it is a good thing for people in Britain, but I would draw a comparison with the National Governments of the 1930s.
The coalition governments of the thirties had to deal with an unprecedented global economic downturn, due to the effects of the Wall Street Crash in the United States. It became known as ‘The Great Depression’. These governments had to achieve several different, contradictory objectives by working together with those that had previously been their political opponents. But these individuals put aside past differences in order to do what they felt was best for the good of the country as a whole.
What were the key aims of the National Governments? Maintaining Britain’s economic position by maintaining the pound; balancing the budget; and providing assistance and relief to tackle unemployment. You could argue these are the same aims that lie before our Parliamentarians today.
Perhaps we should reflect on three words that were common in the inter-war years. Duty. Service. Nationhood.
When was the last time you heard these three words in a modern political context? I would argue that we need to get back to a situation where we put the interests of others first. Where we think about the importance of public policy in creating strong communities and strengthening the country as a whole, in particular by looking out for those who are poor or vulnerable.
I still find it incredible that following the end of the Second World War, the country’s politicians set out on one of the most radical social investment programmes ever seen. The Beveridge Report paved the way for the establishment of institutions that today we take for granted – the creation of a Welfare State, the creation of the NHS and the expansion of National Insurance.
Why did the politicians do this? Partly because they had the vision to see something radical had to be done, but also because these reforms were what the public wanted and needed.
The then Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, said it was “the first time anyone had set out to embody the whole spirit of the Christian ethic in an Act of Parliament”.
You may ask, were the recommendations of The Beveridge Report ‘affordable’ at the time? The country had suffered the severest of economic depressions during the 1930s and then had suffered the devastation of a second World War straight afterwards – if ever money had been short in history, this would have been it.
Politicians need to be responsible for our economic well-being in the present, while also looking to the needs we will have in the future.
Are our politicians genuinely looking towards a common good – or are they just looking out for what in electoral terms guarantees success? Democracy, after all, offers the possibility of success but never guarantees it.
Time will tell, but for hard working families – especially those living in the poorest communities – I think we should stand up and call on the state to play its part by investing in Britain’s recovery.
What many who may face redundancies will not understand is why the banks who caused the credit crunch and the downturn, and had to be bailed out, are giving themselves huge bonuses. When will the Government have the guts to tackle the huge bank bonus culture. This is a gravy train that is running out of control. Urgent action is needed.
Versions of this article originally appeared in The Yorkshire Post and The Sun newspapers on 21st October 2010.
The following is a cross-post by Bataween of the Point of no Return blog and is a continuation of the plight of Ezekiel’s tomb in Iraq. Previous posts for background reading can be found here.
The voice of the muezzin rings out as Muslims gather for prayer at Ezekiel’s tomb at Kifl in Iraq. After all the speculation about the shrine’s fate, this video by Stephen Farrell of the New York Times, for all its politically-correctness towards Jews, Muslims and Christians, gives a good idea of the state of what was once one of the holiest pilgrimage sites for Iraqi Jews.
The Hebrew inscriptions appear intact, though the fabric of the building is in dire need of repair, and there are photos of Jews in the 1930s on the walls. We see the leaning minaret in the courtyard surrounded by scaffolding. Archealogical excavations have also been going on, we are told.
Most interesting however, is that Farrell shows the plans the Minister of Heritage has for the shrine’s renovation, presumably restoring the shrine to the way it was as a Jewish site . These plans are welcomed by Zvi Yehuda, whom Farrell interviewed in Israel. While burbling inexplicably about the fact Jews had big stores in the Kifl market, many Jews would come and visit the renovated shrine, Yehuda claims. Left unsaid is that these tourists would be mainly Jews from Israel.
So things sounds promising. But until we know for sure that Iraq is not about to turn Ezekiel’s tomb into a mosque, better keep signing our petition.
UPDATE: Another post from the Point of no Return Blog:
I haven’t blogged about the Lausanne Congress currently underway in Cape Town South Africa for three reasons. The first is that I’m not there, the second is that a zillion bloggers are there and the coverage is quite staggering, and the third is that there is an historically important gathering of Middle Eastern Bishops which is garnering next to no coverage.
But this did catch my attention as it would appear there has been a deliberate malicious attack on the Lausanne Cape Town 2010 website, and at the same time an internal virus attack on the conference computers.
As this Christianity Today article notes, this was a particular blow as global Internet participation of the conference was a key element.
Thought this an interesting article relating to US Catholic blogging:
Pressure is on to change the Roman Catholic Church in America, but it’s not coming from the usual liberal suspects. A new breed of theological conservatives has taken to blogs and YouTube to say the church isn’t Catholic enough.
Enraged by dissent that they believe has gone unchecked for decades, and unafraid to say so in the starkest language, these activists are naming names and unsettling the church.
In the Archdiocese of Boston, parishioners are dissecting the work of a top adviser to the cardinal for any hint of Marxist influence.
Bloggers are combing through campaign finance records to expose staff workers of Catholic agencies who donate to politicians who support abortion rights.
I follow a few US based blogs whose sole purpose appears to be the calling out of ‘heretics’ and ‘charletans’ within the church.
In my opinion we in the UK Christian blogosphere are not quite so aggressive as some of our US counterparts, but I have seen portents of such behaviour, and not just from the conservative wing.
It does seem to me that conservative Christians appear more adept online and I’m not sure why this would be. Perhaps the sense of being on a moral quest – or even crusade – to safeguard righteousness and virtuousness against depraved adversaries and vanquish immoral polluters, provides energetic impetus.
Thinking as I write, I’m fairly sure the largest and most influential US Christian blogs are all quite conservative in their leanings. Let me know if I’m wrong.
Will it be the case of where the US Christian blogosphere leads, the UK is sure to follow?
