eChurch Blog

Forgive the brevity of this post, I have an Interview with the palliative care team to determine my role this morning. Prayers gratefully received.

Did you know that non-Church going (lapsed) Catholics number around 5 million in the UK? That is rather a lot.

Anyway, a new initiative is being started called: Crossing the Threshold, to reach out to lapsed Catholics in England and Wales and is part of the gearing up process for the re-evangelisation of the UK.

Bones has all the details and it makes for some interesting reading.

OK, before I start this post let me say that there are a million and one things I do wrong on this blog, that could be easily called out, and sometimes are.

Today, two Christian bloggers have used the term schizophrenia inappropriately.

These are bloggers that I thoroughly respect and have no desire to single out publicly; especially as this practice is all too common. It revolves around using the term schizophrenia in a metaphorical sense, to denote the split nature of something.

Schizophrenia is a: dreadful, chronic, debilitating, sometimes scary, disease of the mind, and we need to tread carefully when using mental health terminology in a metaphorical sense. In fact, I would strongly urge avoiding this usage completely.

Other terms are often employed in this way, such as: Bipolar, and I would greatly encourage you to read a recent BBC article on this topic:

Terms like “bipolar”, “autistic” and “schizophrenic” are often used in jest to describe character traits. But how harmful is it to bandy the names of such conditions about?

It’s a common form of hyperbole.

The neighbour who keeps his house tidy has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). A socially awkward colleague is autistic. The weather isn’t just changeable, it’s bipolar.

Such analogies are so familiar they surely qualify as cliches. They are also inaccurate and, to many, deeply offensive.

Campaigners are targeting what many say is an increasingly common practice – deploying the language of clinical diagnosis to describe everyday personality traits.

Using these terms metaphorically is just a joke, not to be taken seriously, argue some. Others, however, warn that this serves to further obfuscate conditions that are widely misunderstood and stigmatised.

Either way, you don’t have to look hard for evidence of such terminology being deployed in this manner – even from sources you might not anticipate.

In December 2010 the Observer newspaper apologised for describing TV presenter Gok Wan’s dress sense as “schizophrenic”. The International Monetary Fund’s September 2011 World Economic Outlook, characterised a volatile global economy as “bipolar”. In an article for the Sunday Times, the writer Robert Harris described Gordon Brown and Richard Nixon as displaying “political Asperger’s syndrome”.

The mental health metaphor also has the distinction of having been deployed by that noted savant of the English language, Katie Price. During a court appearance in which she insisted she had been spraying scent rather than using her mobile phone while driving, the glamour model said: “I am quite OCD about my perfume habits, all my friends know that I’m always spraying perfume.”

Research suggests these are far from isolated examples. A 2007 study of the terms “schizophrenia” and “schizophrenic” in the UK national press found that 11% of references were metaphorical, with broadsheet papers more likely to deploy such phrasing than tabloids. By contrast, cancer was only used in this manner in 0.02% of cases.

[.....]

Nonetheless, Arun Chopra, a consultant psychiatrist at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and the author of the British research, believes the tendency has a negative impact on the treatment of patients.

He argues that deploying terms in such a way contributes to public misunderstanding – for instance, reinforcing the false notion that schizophrenia is a “Jekyll and Hyde” illness related to split personalities.

Moreover, he says it can be deeply upsetting to patients and their families, and recalls seeing a woman whose son was diagnosed with the condition bursting into tears when she read a newspaper article which described the weather as “schizophrenic”.

“The use of the word as a metaphor is tremendously damaging,” Chopra adds. “It’s part of the process of creating a stigma around mental illness.

“You would never hear it used in relation to a physical condition. You wouldn’t hear someone being described as a bit diabetic.”

As such, he says he would like the Oxford English Dictionary to remove its secondary definition of schizophrenic: “With the implication of mutually contradictory or inconsistent elements”.

…..read all

Seriously why? Why are the Occupy protesters setting up camp outside another bloomin’ Cathedral? Can anyone enlighten me?

This post allows me to accomplish two purposes.

The first is to highlight a very thought provoking blog post on the historically fraught interaction between Christianity and Judaism, written by Doug Chaplin.

The second is to let you know that after a very short excursion into the world of Blogger, Doug has moved back to WordPress and his new address is:

http://dougchaplin.wordpress.com/

If you’re not following Doug; you should.

Believe me when I say I have fought and fought against the temptation of posting this, but I’m weak and so much of Mundabor’s post on the ‘do-gooder’ rings true:

One of the most common trait of every internet discussion – and of many discussion in the real world – is the unavoidable intervention of the compulsive do-gooder.

The compulsive do-gooder lives in a world made of platitudes and common places. He thrives so much in such an environment, that he googles around looking for controversial discussions on the Internet – this forum, or that blog – to intervene and dish his accustomed list of banalities.

For the do-gooder, war is always bad. He can’t countenance that some be rich, and many other poor (he is, well, certainly not rich himself; if he is, he feels guilty for that, but without becoming poor). He finds it extremely worthwhile to complain about “inequalities”, as if God had made a world dominated by equality, and men had decided to subvert God’s plan. That human beings have always possessed the most varied degrees of intelligence, wit, beauty, or physical strenght never occurred to him and hey presto, here’s the next platitude…..

Most of all, the compulsive do-gooder has no controversial opinions. He will tolerate everything and everyone, as long as he feels approved. He will throw “Jesus” in every discussion, and this will allow him to avoid taking a stance on whatever problem, or controversy, or perversion going against the thinking of the lazy, indifferent, fat mainstream.

…..continue

Just returned from my local Remembrance Sunday parade and it was moving and fabulous as usual.

On an aside, I heard the police commander say: “My people are ready to shut down all the streets”, wouldn’t you love to able to say that; just once!

It was this time last year that I got into some serious hot water over my Remembrance Sunday blog post, in which I said:

Strangely, it was at this point I thought about atheists, humanists and secularists, as it was the very fusion with Christianity which gave this event meaning beyond the secular. The collective prayers and petitions to God for the fallen…

….the marvelous hymns and poems for reconciliation between people groups. I was particularly struck with the collective community holiness and solemnity of the proceedings. It was the very Christian aspect which provided the community glue and perception of togetherness in collective solemn remembrance.

All of sudden I felt pity for those who would desire the removal of Christianity from such occasions and who would exclude themselves from this type of collective worship.

I cannot conceive how a community could even begin to mark such an occasion without the Church, and of course God Himself.

For me, it was the revelation that humanists, secularists, and atheists might never understand or appreciate the essentiality of Christianity and the wonderful meaning this brings to such occasions.

Frankly I felt sorry for them and wondered if they would refuse to participate in the Christian element if they were present.

These sentiments caused something of a backlash.

Ekklesia were featured in that blog post, as they were busy lamenting the fact that a request from the British Humanist Association (BHA) for armed forces humanists to be included at the Cenotaph in London, was refused.

Well, guess what, Ekklesia feature in this blog post also.

I’ve just watched the BBC Newsnight episode (UK viewers only from 23 mins) from a couple of days ago, which features Jonathan Bartley arguing that the red poppy is now a political symbol. He was soundly trounced by Major Gordon Corrigan.

Bartley cited Cameron saying the poppy was a statement of pride in the nation state, and argued this was evidence of the poppy being a political symbol. The Major retorted with: “There’s nothing political in being proud of what you have achieved and what you have done”.

Bartley argued that as the poppy was a symbol of remembrance of those that had laid down their lives for our freedom; with those that lost their lives during recent conflicts such as: Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland, many folk may not believe they had died for our freedom. The Major responded by saying it doesn’t matter if you agree or disagree with the war; you, the country, sent them off to die; therefore, you should remember them. We approve of the men, not the conflict.

Right at the end, in the concluding comments, Bartley mentions the language we use and says: “We need to recognise that they died in vain and death is not glorious”, to which the Major said: “They didn’t die in vain and we sent them off, so let’s remember them and have one symbol that’s all embracing”.

Bartley was sporting the white poppy, which I believe is symbolic of peace and ‘No More War’. Now I’m not entirely sure if Bartley is a pacifist, I do know that he supports such groups and that another director of Ekklesia certainly is a pacifist.

I don’t like war or conflict of any type, I also respect the fact that pacifists view war as intrinsically evil, but I’m with the Major when he says that in the real word, we will always have conflict. I agree. This is an irrefutable fact. Whilst Christians should be advocates for peace at every opportunity, we still live in the real world, and in this world there will be war. As a consequence, we must remember ALL those that go to war on our behalf, with pride.

Personally, I don’t believe we will have true peace on earth until the Prince of Peace returns, and at that time the great Scripture from Isaiah 2:4 will be fulfilled:

And he shall judge between the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

And so to conclude. Last year I was in trouble for my comments on atheists, humanists and secularists, and this year, I will say that pacifism; whilst laudable, is misguided in the real world that we inhabit.

A new Parliamentary inquiry called, Clearing the Ground, began on Tuesday to hear evidence on whether Christians are badly treated by the law and if they are being pushed out of society.

It’s being run by Christians in Parliament, is chaired by Conservative MP Gary Streeter, and supported by the Evangelical Alliance.

The first session heard evidence from the Evangelical Alliance, Premier Christian Radio, the Lawyers Christian Fellowship and Maranatha Community.

At the start of the enquiry MP Gary Streeter was quoted as saying:

“We want to do is expose the gap between perception and reality and help to blow away the fog and the fear that currently exists for many Christians. We want to dispel any myths that have grown up but also identify problems, and we’re not going to shy away from calling for changes to the law if that is what is needed.”

The Church Times reported:

THE Christian faith in the UK is facing its “biggest challenge in the last 400 years” as Christians experi­ence rising intolerance in society, the first sitting of a parliamentary in­quiry, Clearing the Ground, heard on Tuesday.

[....]

The leader of the Maranatha community, Denis Wrigley, told the inquiry that there was “a struggle taking place for the soul of the nation”, and Christians were losing the ability to speak freely and express their convictions. The executive director of the Lawyers Christian Fellowship (LCF), Mark Barrell, told the inquiry: “Many Christians are apprehensive they’re not ‘as equal’ before the law”. Christians were taking their cases to court as a last resort, but these cases were just “the tip of the iceberg”.

Tom Cordrey, a barrister from the LCF who was also giving evidence, said that there needed to be more proportionality applied in court cases involving Christians. He quoted the case of Lilian Ladele, the registrar in Islington who asked to be excused from carrying out same-sex cere­monies. Mr Cordrey said that the judge should have taken into account that there were plenty of other regis­trars to carry out these ceremonies.

The chief executive of Premier Christian Radio, Peter Kerridge, said that Christians’ freedom of expres­sion was being limited by “other groups’ rights encroaching upon Christians expressing them­selves”. Opposition to Christians was exemplified by coverage on the BBC, he said, which was “signifi­cantly more warm and sympathetic and positive in its portrayal of the Mus­lim faith than the Christian faith”.

The inquiry panel comprises: Labour MP Gavin Shuker, Conservative MPs David Burrowes and Fiona Bruce, and Conservative peer Lord Edmiston.

There are scheduled two further hearings over the next two weeks.

Here is an open thread to talk about whatever…….

The floor is yours.

By the way, anyone can request an open thread at any time, if you want to discuss something. I did try this once before and there weren’t many takers and so I’m opening this one on request and we’ll see how it goes.

Ah, time for one of my ‘Internet nemesis’ blog posts. How I enjoy these.

To give you some background, a Fundy declared on the Premier Forum: “The pope isn’t even a Christian”, which sparked a new discussion thread, to which I attempted a humorous first-strike response:

OK, the first priority must be one of ‘containment’ and damage limitation. This could be very damaging to the Pope’s reputation and so I propose an emergency meeting to be held at a secret location in Italy, where we might formulate the ‘fightback’ campaign.

All those in agreement with this proposal indicate so with the secret seal…..

Yes, there really is a discussion on this; exploring whether the Pope is a Christian. Here’s my favourite response so far:

By Joining the catholic religion or any religion the pope has cut himself of from Christ by creating there own salvation they oppose the holy spirit. Amen come lord Jesus

But the real corker came when I asked the guy that made the original assertion that the Pope wasn’t Christian, the rationale behind such a statement. In response, I was greeted with this riposte from my Internet nemesis:

Stuart,

Its probably the same as my rationale – the Pope doesn’t fit the biblical template for a Christian – although I would have to admit he’s possibly the best Roman Catholic about………..he fits the Roman Catholic template perfectly.

Why do have this desire to have your cake and eat it ?

Why can’t you be content to be a good Roman Catholic?

Why the need to muscle in on ‘Christian’ territory ?

I mean you don’t see me elbowing my way into Romanism – do you – I’m quite content to be just ‘a Christian’ – why can’t you be as content to be just a Roman Catholic?

You know – if you would stop trying to call youself both a Christian and a Roman Catholic – I would stop being so antagonistic towards Romanism.

You don’t see me railing against Islam. Buddhism, Hinduism etc., etc – do you?

Continuing in the vein of my Nemisis’s ‘logic’ I asked:

Continuing this ‘logic’ Jack, is it just Catholics that should stop referring to themselves as Christians, or does the same apply to Orthodox, Anglicans, Methodists, Lutherans etc?

I’m still awaiting a response to this question.

A couple of observations have struck me. The first, is that the most vociferous antagonists towards the Catholic Church tend not to attend any church at all. Secondly, they are often lone wolves employing private reading and interpretation of the Scripture, which – we are duly informed – is all led by the Holy Spirit. There is no reference to accumulated Church wisdom, theologians, Church Fathers, the Creeds; in fact, there is reference to nothing except for their own imaginings.

Their imaginings lead them swiftly to the conclusion that the Church went wrong shortly after the period of the apostles, and has remained in this state ever since. And so they can conclude with supreme confidence that the Church is not the work of Christ; in fact, the very opposite is true, and that the body of Christ comprises a remnant of outsiders similar to themselves. Those within the Church are deceived.

Going back to the heart of my Nemesis’s criticism, should I, as someone converting to Catholicism, now discard my Christian identity?

Christian rasies this question in a comment and I must admit its given me pause for thought. It does seem strange. Christian gives a rather bleak explanation:

Interesting tho’ how it is the Catholic/Non-Protestant countries that have been hit the hardest in the Eurozone. Partly because they were economical with the truth about their own finances when they joined the Euro and were also places of gross financial mismanagement – in addition to becoming places of considerable materialistic greed (as a comparison between Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy etc. circa 1991 and Ireland circa 2007 would demonstrates). All the countries that have had problems – with the exception of Greece – have been overtly Catholic. Each typifying that well known religious habit of being able to say one thing and do another. Which is probably why Benedict is eager to shift the attention elsewhere.

I’m certainly no expert in such matters and hope there may be more to this.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?