eChurch Blog

This is one for your prayers folks.

I don’t have to reiterate just how profound a moral and ethical impact decisions made in Europe have on us all:

Today, we continue our high-level European training with the second round in Strasbourg!  After an intense first 4-day conference in Brussels in March, the same 70 selected participants will come together again at the heart of the Strasbourg-based European institutions.

Journalists, political staff and NGO leaders  from 28 European countries are being trained for the next three days in advocacy at the Council of Europe – Europe’s largest human rights institution with 47 member states – and in the European Court of Human Rights system. On the agenda are numerous training sessions and case studies of court cases regarding freedom and subsidiarity in Europe, religious freedom, marriage & family, hate speech and bioethics.

[.....]

The participants will also learn about the interaction between the Council of Europe and the churches with addresses from the Representative of the Russian Orthodox Church and from the Permanent Mission of the Holy See.

The purpose of the European Advocacy Academy is to bring together a network of activists dedicated to the protection of human rights and the promotion of freedom and justice within a framework of human dignity.  It will equip them with the skills and knowledge to increase their impact on the activities of the European institutions and national governments, and will enable them to collaborate more effectively across Europe.

….read all

Christian consultant psychiatrist Dr Rob Waller has written an interesting article on the topic of mental illness entitled: Questions from Churches. He begins:

Talking about mental and emotional health problems is a common topic for today. The church’s perspective on this (you could argue like many other church perspectives!) can seem at odds with current secular thinking. There are times when the church needs to be distinctive – especially when it thinks it is right and society is wrong. However there are also times when we need to press the refresh button on what we believe – especially where our beliefs are merely sub-cultural as opposed to doctrinal, and where our views add unnecessarily to the church’s reputation for being out of touch.

In this article, I respond to four questions I have been asked by an old friend of mine who attends your church. To make this a punchy article, I have been quite provocative at times – the aim is to stimulate thought…

The questions tackled from an old friend attending your church are:

1. Are severe mental illnesses the result of the impact of the Fall and the ongoing frustration and bondage that creation is experiencing?

2. How do you as a consultant psychiatrist (a real professional) and a believer (born again disciple of Jesus) communicate the Bible’s meta-narrative regarding both the diagnoses and the source / process of healing for those who come to you for help?

3. How can the local church live out the freedom of God when many within it struggle with their mental health, and how can it communicate the love of God to those who do not believe?

4. If mental health problems are a fact of living in the ‘now but not yet’ of the Kingdom of God, how can we find a balance between letting the ‘professionals’ deal with it and seeking healing / driving out demons – daring to believe that God can bring transformation?

I think my favourite quote from the article is:

So when we think about people who struggle, we need to see this as normal too. We can look at those who ‘struggle with mental illness’ and try to ‘set them free’, but I have yet to meet a person who is truly free (apart from Jesus of course). When we subdivide the church into the ill and the sane, we increase the struggle as well as set an impossible goal. If we were all more open about the ‘Pilgrims Progress’ of our own internal worlds, perhaps those who struggle with their mental health would not feel so useless. If sinners are allowed to lead churches, perhaps we should allow the depressed to lead us in worship. In fact, I know a few well-known worship leaders who are…

Indeed.

Well worth reading the article in its entirety.

Oh you have no idea how much fun it was thinking up that title.

In case you don’t know, Hunt is in a whole heap of trouble after evidence emerged during the Leveson Inquiry, which appeared to show his support and collusion with News Corp, in their bid for BSkyB.

Interestingly, Hunt recently opposed an application for a judicial review of an advertisement ban, placed on London Christian Radio (Premier Radio) by the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC).

The advert in question encouraged Christians to report their experiences of marginalisation in the work place.

Here is the text of the offending radio advert:

“We are CCP. Surveys have shown that over 60% of active Christians consider that Christians are being increasingly marginalised in the workplace.

We are concerned to get the most accurate data to inform the public debate.

We will then use this data to help make a fairer society.

Please visit CCP magazines.co.uk and report your experiences.”

Hunt and the RACC deemed this ‘political’ and promptly banned it. Hunt then attempted to block a judicial review of the banning. A judge has now upheld the ban and makes this interesting comment on Hunt:

But he stressed that the MP’s stance was not “anti-Christian” and that his reasoning could apply to any other religion.

Yeah, that would be because Hunt is such an impartial chap.

I think today gives the lie to that.

Anyway, if you want to get to the legal nitty-gritty and controversies on this banning case, you’d do no better than clicking this link.

The complexity of the interplay between psychiatric disorders and demon possession has always fascinated me.

I’m certainly no expert in such matters but I have sadly noted some elements of Christendom frequently labelling the mentally ill as demon possessed at one end of the spectrum, and others completely denying the reality of any form of spiritual influence at the other.

It deosn’t surprise me that a Humanist group in Canada should pounce upon the issue of exorcism, as it is a great arena for them to oversimplify and overgeneralise the Christian positions with comments such as:

“There isn’t a lot evidence to suggest that these claims for demonic possession are anything more than an association with known medical and psychiatric illnesses,” Trottier said.

“We can’t have unlicensed and unregulated individuals performing what essentially amounts to medical or psychiatric treatment.”

Of course, the truth is, that in the case of the Catholic Church in particular, there is a fantastic amount of awareness of psychiatric disorders presenting themselves in what some would be quick to label as ‘demon possession’. And this nuanced and cautious Catholic position is nicely articulated by the Bishop responding to the Humanist group:

“In Jesus’s ministry, there were exorcisms and so it’s not something we can lightly dismiss,” Bishop Don Bolan with the Saskatoon Roman Catholic Diocese said Tuesday.

[....]

The church recognizes the importance of psychology and medicine to assist those struggling with mental illness, said Bolan, adding that prayer and spiritual support are part of the healing process.

“We are seeking as a diocese to determine how to pastorally respond to people in all kinds of situations of mental distress,” he said, but looking for a priest trained in performing exorcisms isn’t a priority.

“I’ve been a priest for nearly 21 years and I have never been a part of an exorcism, never heard a direct report of an exorcism,” Bolan said.

Interestingly, the Director of the Saskatchewan branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association had this to say:

He said, however, there are rare circumstances where an exorcism might be helpful as an additional intervention, depending on the type of mental illness or psychiatric problem.

“In the context of a person’s religion or their culture, it might be demonstrated that some sort of intervention, like an exorcism may be some help with that.”

Now it’s very interesting to me that a mental health expert should mention exorcism as an ‘additional intervention in a psychiatric problem’. Initially I thought this may be problematic, but why should it be?

If the psychiatric patient is convinced that this type of spiritual intervention would be of benefit, then why should it not be provided if wanted and needed? I’ve certainly sought spiritual intervention when mentally unwell.

If the patient does believe that they are demon possessed and this is part of their psychiatric condition, then what harm is an exorcism anyway? Indeed, it could potentially be most beneficial to the patient and simply constitutes a holistic approach to the healing process. We are after all complex beings and a truly holistic healing approach is to address mind, body and soul. The holistic approach is certainly recognised within the nursing profession. Perhaps it’s fair to say that the holistic approach is more neglected in the psychiatric world and the spiritual element almost cast aside. In fairness to psychiatrists, this may be due to the prevalence of religious delusion they encounter.

Of course, even when I say the word exorcism, in the minds of some it will conjure up the image of some mad priest, shouting and hollering and generally behaving like some sort of maniac. But the truth is that it’s nothing like the films portray, at least within the Catholic world, and if you’re interested, you can read the Catholic Rite of Exorcism here.

I was interested to read on New Advent that the very first instruction prefixed to this Rite is none other than:

Possession is not lightly to be taken for granted. Each case is to be carefully examined and great caution to be used in distinguishing genuine possession from certain forms of disease.

From what I’ve heard there are very few trained Catholic exorcists as this is immensely specialised and rare; and the first port of call in any case, would be to work in conjunction with the psychiatric services.

So much for stereotypes and generalisations.

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

Accepting Abundance – Why We Should Not Use Abortion Statistics

Rosh Pina – Messianic Jewish Leaders Warn United Methodists Poised to Betray Israel and Scripture

Peter Ould – Neil Addison on Marriage and European Law

Beyond Blue – No April Joke: 20 Things You Should Know About Suicide

Buzfeed – 33 Stunning Photos Of Our Amazing Planet Earth Taken By A Guy In Space

Turtle Bay and Beyond – The Hungarian new family law: a legitimate answer to contemporary crisis

God and Politics – For every £1 given this Christian Aid Week, the Government will add another

Bad Catholic – ReligiON, ReligiOFF

And two generous bloggers responding to my blog post on mental illness and trying to be pathetically brave (UPDATE: That’s me being pathetic not these kindly bloggers)

Opinionated Vicar – Blogging about mental illness

Lisa Graas – Blogging About My Mental Illness: It’s That Identity Thing Again

In case we forget:

Damascus: April 16, 2012. (PCP) The Syrian Orthodox Church, which represents over half of Syrian Christians, issued a statement saying revolutionary fighters had expelled some 50,000 Christians from the embattled city of Homs. That figure is estimated to account for about 90 percent of the Christian community there. Hundreds more — including women and children — were slaughtered, according to charitable organizations operating in the area.

The Orthodox Church referred to the persecution as the “ongoing ethnic cleansing of Christians” by Muslim militants linked to al Qaeda. According to its report, the so-called “Brigade Faruq” is largely to blame, with Islamic extremists going door to door and forcing followers of Christ to leave without even collecting their belongings. Their property is then stolen by rebels as “war-booty from the Christians.”

Christians in Homs were reportedly told that if they did not leave immediately, they would be shot. Then, pictures of their bodies would be sent to the pro-Syrian-regime-change Al Jazeera — a media broadcaster controlled by the dictatorship ruling Qatar — with a message claiming that forces loyal to Assad had murdered them.

…continue

Thanks go to Tim for sending this one in.

Puts it all back in perspective doesn’t it……

Ed West today has an article in the Telegraph in which he notes the current plight of Iraqi Christians and suggests Britain should take action in this regard, even to the point of offering sanctuary here in the UK.

I used to posit the same, but now my views have shifted.

Rather than remove this ancient Christian presence from the region, they should be given their own territory and homeland.

Sound impossible? It has been achieved in the past; just think Israel.

How would this be achieved; where would this territory be located? No idea, but I still think it’s a solution worth floating even though it’s not realistic.

Short of assimilating Christian minority groups from Islamic lands into Western nations, what is to be done?

From a purely pragmatic perspective, imagine the strategic benefits of a small Christian nation allied to the West and located in the Middle East!

I like the sound of it, even if it is only the land of my imaginings…..

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

Outside the Asylum – The Church of Feliks Dzerzhinsky

The Biblical World – Cursing Your Enemies the Bible Way: Still yet another way not to use the Bible.

The Jerusalem Post – Another Orwellian day at the UN

Pravoslavie – Historical Christian Cemetery demolished in Kerman, Iran

Nick’s Catholic Blog – Does the Letter of 3rd John refute Protestantism?

Psychology Today – It’s a Fine Line between Narcissism and Egocentrism

Catholic Church Conservation – The Catholic Church in the Holy Land plans in future to celebrate Easter according to the Orthodox calendar.

Firstly happy Easter folks.

There’s been a slew of rather disheartening stats released relating to Easter.

The Daily Star has picked up on a poll conducted by the hotel chain Travelodge:

A QUARTER of children reckon Easter is about celebrating the Easter Bunny’s birthday.

53% do not know what Easter is, instead seeing it as just a chance to scoff chocolate.

The BBC note that ++Williams is expected to warn against downgrading religious education in schools in his Easter message. Frankly, if the above stats are to be accepted, it would seem that religious education in schools is already failing.

British Religion in Numbers have covered a YouGov poll that finds:

Spending time with family and friends is the most important part of Easter for 43% of Britons, followed by having a break from work (18%) and only thirdly the festival’s religious meaning (17%), with the exchanging of Easter eggs trailing at 2%.

79% of respondents had no plans to go to church over the Easter period, 16% thought they might (three-quarters of them on Easter Sunday), with 5% uncertain. It is likely that the good intentions of many of the 16% may well not translate into reality.

Read all

Civitas have just published a new report by Professor David Conway on faith schools. The report can be found on this link in PDF format.

The introduction begins with an outline of the history of faith schools and I thought this particularly pertinent:

Increasingly since then, however, in response to the country’s growing diversity, plus ever diminishing regular religious observance in an increasing number of its households, the kind of religious education provided by these schools has tended to become of the non-committed variety that secular humanists are alone prepared to condone, but which was roundly condemned by William Temple. Likewise, their religious assemblies have tended to dispense with collective acts of worship. Instead, children attend the assemblies of community schools, as these schools are now known, are likely to be informed in them about current festivals of the faiths practised by the families of various of their pupils who may be invited to enact and talk about their associated rituals and ceremonies. Even some denominational schools, or faith schools as this variety of schools has since become called, have begun to follow community schools in offering neutral non-committed forms of religious education and non-worshipful assemblies. They have begun to do so, as increasing numbers of their pupils have started to come from families in which some other faith is practised other than that for whose nurturance these schools were established.

[.....]

Despite all these concessions to diversity and to secular modernity, secular humanists remain dissatisfied by the place religion still occupies in the country’s state-funded schools. They consider many still far too accommodating of it. Their chief grievances have been three. First, they claim, publicly-funded faith schools are socially divisive and subvert community cohesion. They do so, these critics say, by segregating schoolchildren along lines of religion, and, since religion so often correlates with ethnicity, on those of ethnicity too. Second, they urge, faith schools give rise to a further no less pernicious form of segregation among schoolchildren, one that they claim is especially prejudicial to those who come from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds and attend community schools. This is the segregation of schoolchildren on lines of social class. Faith schools are said to generate such social segmentation between schools by their selective admissions policies which allow them, when over-subscribed, to accord priority to applicants whose parents can give them evidence of adhering to the faith of their sponsoring bodies. These admissions policies have been found to result in faith schools admitting a much higher proportion of children of middle-class background than do community schools.

The report goes on to look at:

Faith Schools, Religious Segregation and Community Cohesion – Pages 6-11

Faith Schools, Social Segregation and Social Mobility – Pages 11 – 15

Faith Schools, Indoctrination and Autonomy Pages 15 – 18

Here’s some snippets from the conclusion:

First, religious beliefs have been found to have a markedly beneficial effect on the academic performance of children in whom they have nurtured, especially if growing up in urban environments where the distractions from study can otherwise be liable to prove as alluring as they are damaging.

[.....]

The provisions contained in the 1988 Education Reform Act for religious education were designed to make it possible for schools to provide such forms of it, even when their pupil rolls had become so diverse as to preclude any single form any longer being suitable for all of them. Only a hostile teacher-training profession, plus a colluding civil-service, conspired to place on these provisions such a tendentious interpretation as has led to their being taken to authorise, if not mandate, the neutral non-committed form of religious education that has replaced the committed variety in so many of the country’s schools.

[.....]

Insofar as this country’s unique willingness to stand up to brutal dictatorship in 1939 and since has been due, not least in part, to the spirit that has been infused into the majority of its inhabitants by their common Christian faith, which I would unhesitatingly assert to be the case, then the broadly Christian type of committed religious education for whose instatement in all the country’s state-funded schools William Temple had been calling in his 1942 address is one from which all its inhabitants would benefit, as indeed would the rest of the world. They all would, provided schools there made due allowance for alternative committed forms of religious education classes and assemblies and even separate faith schools, for children of minority faiths for all which alternative varieties of committed religious education the 1988 Education Reform Act made ample provision.

All would stand to benefit from such committed forms of religious education in the country’s state-funded schools, not simply because it would be likely to improve the educational performance, behaviour and well-being of the nation’s schoolchildren. They would also all benefit because, I believe, only by continuing to provide it can this country be assured of remaining the independent and united liberal polity that it has for so long been and from whose continuing to be such all its diverse inhabitants would derive benefit, even those who do not share that faith or any other.