eChurch Blog

Oddly, this piece appeared in the Jesusalem Post:

Britain today has become one of the most godless societies on Earth. Its principle ‘religious’ exports today are thinkers who despise religion. From Richard Dawkins, who has compared religion to child abuse, to my friend Christopher Hitchens, who titled his 2007 book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, the British have cornered the market on being anti-God – at least the Christian and Jewish varieties.

While 92 percent of Americans believe in God, in Britain only 35% do and, according to Britain’s National Center for Social Research, 43% say they have no religion. The percentage of those affiliated with the Church of England dropped from 40% in 1983 to 23% in 2009.

In truth, though, if Britain’s Christian tradition is dying out, the leaders of the faith have only themselves to blame.

Europeans are in the habit of making fun of American evangelicals as backward religious knuckle-draggers who believe that Adam and Eve actually ate apples with a talking snake. But for all this condescension, evangelical Christianity in the United States represents the single largest voting bloc in the world’s main superpower. One out of five Americans identifies as a born-again Christian – something inconceivable in Britain. American evangelicals build mega-churches that draw thousands of worshipers, while British churches are empty. Leading evangelical pastors like Rick Warren and Joel Osteen enjoy vast cultural influence among millions of Americans, while in Britain no religious figure could even hope to compete with William and Kate in exciting the youth.

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Israeli scholars have confirmed the authenticity of a 2,000-year-old burial box that appears to bear the name of a relative of the high priest Caiaphas mentioned in the New Testament, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Wednesday.

The find offers support for the existence of the biblical Caiaphas, who appears in the New Testament as a temple priest and an adversary of Jesus who played a key role in his crucifixion.

The ossuary — a stone chest used to store bones — is decorated with the stylized shapes of flowers and bears an inscription with the name “Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphas, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri.”

The ossuary was seized from tomb robbers three years ago, the government antiquities body said in a statement. Because it “was not found in a controlled archaeological excavation and because of its special scientific importance,” the statement said, it has been undergoing lab tests since then.

The tests, which used powerful microscopes to inspect layers of buildup on the box and inscription, were carried out by two scholars, one from Tel Aviv University and the other from Bar Ilan University, the statement said. The research indicated that the inscription is “genuine and ancient.”

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Reuters have an interesting article with this headline:

Who wants to live forever? Scientist sees aging cured

The article begins thusly:

If Aubrey de Grey’s predictions are right, the first person who will live to see their 150th birthday has already been born. And the first person to live for 1,000 years could be less than 20 years younger.

A biomedical gerontologist and chief scientist of a foundation dedicated to longevity research, de Grey reckons that within his own lifetime doctors could have all the tools they need to “cure” aging — banishing diseases that come with it and extending life indefinitely.

“I’d say we have a 50/50 chance of bringing aging under what I’d call a decisive level of medical control within the next 25 years or so,” de Grey said in an interview before delivering a lecture at Britain’s Royal Institution academy of science.

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I doubt I’m alone in daily marveling at the scientific and technological advances made by humans, and it’s not impossible to get the impression that if science continues to progress apace, then there will be very little they couldn’t achieve.

In view of this, I have to wonder at the spiritual / theological / ethical implications of this sort of technology becoming available to us.

The Libyan rebels’ would-be regime has been recognised by the Islamist government of Turkey.

Have you got the message yet?

SOURCE

Just stumbled on a very interesting essay written by Elaine Graham – University of Manchester – that takes a looks at the contribution of religion in making people happier.

This is analysed against the backdrop of the ‘paradox of prosperity’, which is the phenomenon whereby increases in material wealth, do not lead to similar increases in happiness and quality of life. In fact the opposite can be the case.

I’m only half way through the essay and so am linking here for my own benefit, with the hopeful suspicion that some of you may enjoy reading this also.

So here’s the link in PDF Format:

Health, Wealth or Wisdom? Religion and the Paradox of Prosperity

If you do read the article and have any thoughts please do share them.

In the meantime, here’s the Abstract to wet your appetite:

The so-called ‘happiness hypothesis’, associated with the work of the economist Layard, has attracted much public debate over recent years. Its main contention is that despite rising levels of material prosperity in the west, incidence of recorded happiness and greater quality of life has not increased accordingly. In considering the major contributory factors to happiness and well-being, however, Layard is not alone in identifying the significance of religious values and participation in religion for positive and enduring levels of happiness. In response, this article critiques some of the evidence correlating religion and well-being, as well as considering the broader and much more vexed question of how far public policy is capable of incorporating questions of belief and value into its indicators of happiness and the good life. Drawing on traditions of virtue ethics as the cultivation of ‘the life well-lived’, I ask whether specifically Christian accounts of human flourishing and the good life still have any bearing in the wider public domain, and what ‘rules of engagement’ might need to be articulated in any dialogue between Christian values and the discourse of theology and a pluralist society.

My fear here is that the crass diminution of encouragement of and support for arts, humanities and social sciences in both school and university means that not only are we creating a culture that values mechanics, but doesn’t do ‘deep’ thinking. Not only are we in danger of depriving the current generation, but we are cutting off the expertise and enthusiasms we need for a future generation of teachers. We can lose in one generation what will take several generations (at least) to recover. To see the arts and humanities as ‘unproductive’ in terms of balance sheet bottom lines is more than myopic; it is dangerously and narrowly stupid.

SOURCE

I hold to what some would term as Zionist Theology, whatever the heck this actually means, seems to vary according to folks preconceived prejudices.

For me, it includes not running with the anti-Israel propaganda pack, but equally does not equate to a blank-cheque approach towards Israel, as all nations err. Even given this, I’ve still been accused of being an extremist.

Anyway, within Israel, the Ultra-Orthodox Jews – especially Yad L’Achim – continue to persecute and harass Christian Missionaries and especially Messianic Jews. The most recent justification given for their action, is that Christians and Messianics constitute a security risk.

A hard-line Jewish ultra-Orthodox group in Israel has launched a campaign against Christian missionaries and Jewish Christians, known as Messianic Jews, who they view as a security threat.

The group Yad L’Achim confirmed Wednesday, June 29, that one of its latest activities wasa noisy demonstration near the home of Serge and Naama Kogen, a native Israeli couple,who allegedly “converted” a Jewish teenager to Christianity.

Sunday’s protest in Mevasseret Zion, a suburb west of Jerusalem, came despite public denials by the couple that they forced 16-year-old Donna Lubofsky to have faith in Yeshua (Jesus).

The couple said Donna expressed interest in attending their congregational worship and they had “obtained permission from her mother.” The Kogens also claimed they helped the girl to overcome alcohol abuse and other potentially self-destructive behaviors amid tensions with her parents.

Donna said in published remarks that the Kogens “never tried to get me to believe. They are just good people.”

Yet, Yad L’Achim argued that “shocked parents quickly contacted” its “countermissionary department, which investigated the case and found that it was serious.”

Yad L’Achim added that its lawyers visited the family “to help them file a police complaint against the missionary for harassment.”

The group also said it would pressure Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, to introduce tough legislation banning missionary activities in the Jewish state.

It already published an advertisement in Haaretz newspaper warning that “Messianic Jews are pulling the wool over our eyes”. “The time has come to legislate a law that will put the brakes on the missionaries’ destructive activities!”, the June add concluded.

The group has also organized a mass protest against missionaries.

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I wish these ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups would simply leave Christians and Messianics alone, to get on with their lives in peace. What is it exactly that groups such as Yad L’Achim are so terrified of?

The title of this post was inspired by a Psychology Today article entitled: ‘Is anyone normal today?’

This reminded me of a blog post by Sally – Eternal Echoes – in which she posited:

The thing is that people are always categorising other people, it is a trait of humanity to define ourselves as normal and then there are others. We define others by gender, sexuality, colour, race, creed, religion,wealth, poverty, ability and disability… the list goes on…

We certainly have a tendency to judge and categorise other folk, but I wonder if we all have the trait to define ourselves as ‘normal’, and judge others accordingly.

I mention this, as for most of my life, I have operated in exactly the opposite manner. I’ve tended to  judge everyone else around me as ‘normal’ and aspired to be the same.

This tendency was amplified on becoming a Christian.

The Christians I first rubbed shoulders with all seemed so together, you know the type: sin free, perfect kids, great jobs, consistently harmonious and perfect marriages, always in touch with God, you get the idea.

You have to bear in mind that I started my faith journey with the Jehovah Witnesses and outwardly they appeared rather like their tranquil images of paradise portrayed in their pamphlets. The JW’s wasted no time in informing me that I was head of the household and solely responsible for the spiritual life and conduct of my family. As a brand new convert in my early twenties with 3 young step children, this constituted a crushing weight of responsibility, especially given that I couldn’t even be responsible for my own spirituality, and didn’t really understand what the concept even meant. They offered no practical assistance in this regard, except to cherry-pick damning passages from the Bible.

I will say this though, the JW’s made it abundantly clear that my – then – girlfriend and I were living in sin, and so we rushed off to the registry office and got hitched.

Best thing I ever did!

Although, to give you an idea of my sinful and deviant nature, when booking the registry office with my best man, we pretended to be gay lovers wanting to get married. This may not sound like a big deal nowadays, but this was before the days of civil partnerships, and the look of sheer shock and horror on the face of the registrar was pure gold.

CAVEAT: I’m of course now a beacon of light and righteousness. HA!

Upon leaving the Jehovah Witnesses, I ended up in a wonderful local Anglican Church filled with nice, middle class Christians, exhibiting the love of God and perfect ‘normality’.

Boy did I strive to be like these folk, failing miserably at every turn, and wondering why this sanctification business that I’d heard so much about, wasn’t working for me. I was just as much a scumbag as ever.

My wife used to try to reassure me that even these ‘normal’ Christians had sin issues somewhere in their lives, and over the years she was proved right. This was affirmed by growing closer to some of them, and peering beneath the ‘Sunday Face’ veneer.

It was a MASSIVE revelation for me to discover that these same Christians that I’d held up as paragons of virtue, were in fact beset with their own struggles: with sin, with family, with church, with God, and so on.

It took years to break the ‘normal Christian’ illusion, in the same way it had taken me years previously to break the ‘normal’ illusion with those folk I met in society at large.

This was a true breakthrough for me as it meant I could forgo the exhausting business of appearing ‘normal’, both within the church and outside. I could happily cast my ‘Sunday Mask’ in the bin.

I now understood that if faith was indeed an ongoing journey, then we will all be at different places, and junctures on that journey. We all have our own journey to make.

Putting on the ‘Church Face’ or ‘Sunday Face’ is counterproductive to ourselves and potentially damaging to others.

The real irony lies in the fact that Jesus Himself was the image of the ideal and normal Christian, and yet how many of us have achieved His standard?

So, in some ways, Jesus is in fact abnormal in his perfection of Godly living. Yes we should aspire to His standard, but not just through our own effort, but by the infusing of His vitalising and transformative power.

We’re not to judge ourselves against our brothers and sisters, but against Christ. However, He will never overburden us and crush us with the weight of responsibility, for He will lift this burden onto himself.

So, with us all on different parts of our faith journey, I no longer believe in a ‘normal’ Christian to aspire to and imitate.

And if you still labour under the illusion of the ‘normal’ Christian that you wish to emulate, give it up, they doesn’t exist. There’s no such thing as ‘normal’.

We’re all a work in progress and if you put any other flawed human on a pedestal, you will surely end up disappointed.

I’ve officially now given up trying to be – and appear – normal, and it feels great! I am what God has made me to be and that’s enough for me, as Jesus leads me by the hand, home to the Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And that’s all that counts.

Tony Blair has been interviewed by the Vatican Insider. I discovered this via the Richard Dawkins website and I must say that reading the ireful comments over there, never fails to charm me.

Anyway, I thought this interview quite revealing. See what you make of it:

According to the Blair Faith Foundation, “though many Enlightenment thinkers assumed that religion and faith were on the wane, to be inevitably replaced by rational, scientific insight, this theory looks increasingly implausible today. Rather than Europe leading the way, it is now clearly the exception to the rule. The world is becoming more religious”. How do you explain this trend?

The point is that though the aspect of religion that sometimes wrongly seems to mirror superstition, is on the decline; the aspect of Faith that is about creating a basis of moral guidance for life, is very much still with us. Moreover, people do not see that basis as coming from humanity alone, but reflecting the will of a Higher Being. Yet the empirical evidence as to how people view Faith today, is hard to come by.We really need accurate qualitatitive and quantitative surveys and they are thin on the ground.

 

Why is Europe going in the opposite direction of this trend, and how can Europe deal with a world in which religion plays an increasing and sometimes dominant role?

I do not think that all of Europe feels the same on this. Also I believe that, whereas there is alot of disillusion with some parts of established religious organisations, there is still a deep yearning within Europe for spiritual fulfillment. Also I note that despite a lot of negative advance publicity around the Pope’s recent visit to the UK, when he actually arrived, there was a fantastic reception given to him. The vast majority of our contemporary cultures understand the world and think of their problems in a religious idiom. That is why two of my Faith Foundation’s programmes are about developing religious literacy, one in schools and the other in universities. It means both learning respectful language and sensitivity to people of other faiths and having the capacity to analyse two of the major forces in our world today, faith and globalisation in their contemporary interaction. I really believe that statesmen, entrepreneurs, leaders of civil society, civil servants who lack this knowledge and these skills are not equipped for the 21st century whether they are Europeans or not. We need to overcome a blinkered parochialism encouraged by extreme secularism in Europe. It impedes a vital aspect of statecraft.

 

How should religious minorities be treated? Is the way forward through multiculturalism, through a Republican assertion of shared civic values, or some mixture of the two?

I have come to the conclusion that the rights of religious minorities are a central issue for today. But they cannot be divorced from the creation of a global human rights culture that includes all the rights set out in the UN Declaration. The core concept we are dealing with here is equal citizenship. Whatever a citizen’s religion, they should have the same opportunity to participate in the life of the nation, as well as the same property rights, absence of “glass ceilings” in employment, and, of course, freedom of worship without any impediments at national or local level. No nation or state, community or family, can dispense with shared values. Freedom of religion means that each religion has a right to the outward manifestation of its core values. Shared civic values may clash in certain specific instances with the expression of religious values. These are difficult judgement calls. But if the clash is sufficiently grave and no compromise is available, I would say that there is only one way to resolve such clashes and that is recourse to Law.

 

How can the different faith traditions employ their different resources and perspectives to create compatible human rights cultures that affirm the human dignity of all human beings and peoples?

The answer to this is very simple: by interfaith dialogue. The Muslim initiative on A Common Word is a great step forward in its attempt to tease out by dialogue what is implied by love of God and love of neighbour. I would also add dialogue with secular thinking. Pope Benedict’s discussions with Jurgen Habermas provide a striking example.

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The July Biblical Studies Carnival is now published and comes courtesy of Chris Brady of Targuman.