eChurch Blog

This is super news folks.

On Monday, for the first time in more than a decade, the U.N. General Assembly condemned religious intolerance without urging states to outlaw “defamation of religion”.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) – comprising 57 Islamic nations – have been trying for years to introduce a ‘Defemation of Religion” UN resolution. This would have only favoured Islam, violated free speech, and ushered in a dangerous global blasphemy law.

I think we have all seen how blasphemy laws are used in some Islamic nations to terrify, subjugate, imprison, and in some cases, murder religious minority groups.

I’ve blogged about the “defamation of religions” many times in the past; most recently: here, here and here.

The resolution approved on Monday declares that “discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief constitutes a violation of human rights.” It also expressed concern about the incitement to religious hatred and the failure of some states “to combat this burgeoning trend.”

The General Assembly adopted the resolution by consensus without a vote. The versions passed in previous years had enjoyed increasingly less support in assembly votes due to Western and Latin American opposition to the “defamation” idea. The resolution barely received a majority of yes votes in 2010.

The New York-based rights group Human Rights First welcomed the resolution prior to its adoption, describing the new version as “a decisive break from the polarizing focus in the past on defamation of religions.”

“Governments should now focus on concrete measures to fight religiously motivated violence, discrimination and other forms of intolerance, while recognizing the importance of freedom of expression,” Human Rights First’s Tad Stahnke said.

Earlier this year Western countries and their Latin American allies joined Muslim and African states in backing a new approach that switched the focus from protecting beliefs to protecting believers. That new approach led to Monday’s resolution.

….read all

You probably know by now that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has died of a massive heart attack whilst travelling on a train. His son Kim Jong-un will ascend the throne and it’s great to hear they’re cracking on with testing mid range weapons.

If you feel “engulfed in indescribable sadness” then may I suggest you spend some time on this powerful and moving blog:

kim jong-il looking at things

I’m not going to say anything about David Cameron’s speech as so much has been said already. I think the general consensus in the Twitterati world seems to be that he’s a hypocrite, with a few folk suggesting he has no real faith, but more a belief in belief.

Anyway, you can be the judge of all that if you wish.

Here is the link to his speech in full.

Let us know what you think.

Christopher Hitchens has died.

There is no doubt that he was brilliant man in many respects and perhaps this explains why the Christian Interweb is ablaze with tributes and “RIP” sentiments for him.

The irony is that Hitchens was himself no fan of the polite obituary.

The fact of the matter is that Hitchens detested the church and our God and was the most prolific anti-Christian polemicist on the planet. He wrote some plain nasty material and was in fact an insufferable bore on the subject of religion. In all honestly I used to cringe at the fantastical expectation of some for a deathbed conversion.

Squeezed almost silently in between the fawning platitudes today, I glimpsed stories of Christians brutally murdered in Iraq and Nigeria. I’ll be frank, it saddens me that so much Christian ink will be spilt over Hitchens’ death, when in front of our noses martyrs will be made today without so much as a sidewards glance by many of their brothers and sisters.

I’m sad for the family of Hitchens at this time, but the fact of the matter is, if we do believe the tenets of our faith, then we have to accept the fact that Hitchens will be granted exactly as he desired; namely, existence without God.

ChurchAds have revealed their new Christmas 2011 poster:

ChurchAds had this to say about their new campaign:

We are asking individual Christians and church fellowships to donate towards a National Christmas Advertising Fund. Every penny of this will be spent on advertising in national newspapers, on posters in major shopping centres and on radio.

Research has revealed that 85 per cent of people agree with the statement that “Christmas should be called Christmas because we are still a Christian country”. But it also shows that only 12 per cent of adults know the facts of the Christmas story in any detail.

So if we Christians really want to keep Christmas focused on Christ, we must constantly re-tell the story of his birth in ways which engage positively with the public’s interest.

Our “Christmas Starts with Christ” campaign re-tells the Christmas story in modern, secular contexts to capture the general public’s attention and interest. Poster ads in previous years have set the nativity in a bus shelter and featured a dramatic “Jesus babyscan”. Radio ads have placed the story in a football match, horse race and pop chart countdown.

Research shows 61% of people surveyed like the message “Christmas Starts with Christ”, with 41% saying it makes them think more about the true meaning of Christmas.

This year we have a very simple but dramatic idea. To re-set the nativity in modern professions and high street fashions. Shepherds become cycle couriers and plasterers. Wise men are successful entrepreneurs and their gifts are iconic “treasures” of modern culture: a Swarovski crystal perfume bottle, a Faberge egg and a replica Damian Hirst skull. All are sharply dressed. But the traditional nativity arrangement is unchanged, with Jesus as its clear focus. And the message is compelling: “However you dress it up… Christmas Starts with Christ”.

It’s the meeting of Christianity and high street consumerism, with Christ in the middle.

In the final few days before Christmas, millions of people will be heading for shopping centres. Could there be a better time to expose them to this Christian message?

Church leaders across the denominations have welcomed the campaign and are urging Christians and churches all over the country to get involved.

Love it. And we should support this.

Enter stage: The Rev Dr Peter Mullen (Ebenezer Scrooge) – Boo…Boo…Hiss..Hiss

No doubt all this clodhopping heavy glitziness will be described as “ironic” and “prophetic”.

Well, I suppose we should all just enjoy a good giggle at the churches’ latest expedition into the land of idiocy. Except for one thing which troubles me deeply. The replacement Wise Men are cast as three successful entrepreneurs. And I worry as to how the church hierarchy will answer for this sign of conspicuous consumption and the virtues of capitalism when they next go to talk adolescent politics with their mates in the Occupy camp outside St Paul’s.

You should read the whole miserable piece in the Telegraph to see what a negative, miserly, moany, cheap, piece this really is.

And what a breathtaking example of utterly missing the point.

The whole premise of the poster is that it doesn’t matter a hoot about your bling, it doesn’t matter about your wealth, it doesn’t matter about your gifts; it’s ALL about Jesus.

That’s the point Mullen.

So to conclude. Good for ChurchAds for another fantastic poster campaign and congratulations to Rev Dr Peter Mullen for winning my coveted “Scrooge of the year” award. Boo….Boo…Hiss….Hiss…He’s behind you….

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

Thirsty Gargoyle: L’esprit de l’escalier: Third Thoughts on Redefining Marriage

Daydreamer: The truth about depression

Church Mag: The 5 best toys of all time

Countercultural Father: Mass on Saturday Evening or Sunday Morning?

The Atlantic: Is Iran already under attack?

BioLogos: The miracle of light

The Orthodox Church Blog: Will this be the first time the world sees the Ark of Covenant? Leaking roof in Ethiopian chapel ‘will lead to relic being revealed’

The Telegraph: David Icke – would you believe it?

I don’t usually highlight these all too frequent prayer bans and controversies at council meetings, but as I live in Gloucestershire, I will make an exception:

PRAYERS have been banned from full council meetings at Shire Hall – causing fury from Gloucester’s Sheriff.

For years, Gloucestershire County Council has observed a one-minute prayer at the start of all full council meetings.

The time of quiet reflection has allowed politicians to take a moment, steady their thoughts and prepare for debate.

But the current chairman of the authority, Councillor Brian Thornton (Con, Tidenham), said he believes the historic practice “excludes” some of them.

To a shocked council chamber before a meeting at Shire Hall on Wednesday, he said: “This is not a religious setting, it is a council one. As such, I have decided I do not wish to cause exclusion in any way, so we will do without the prayers.”

He added that some politicians might feel “embarrassed” about taking part.

The stance caused fury, with the deputy Mayor of Gloucester and Sheriff, Councillor Pam Tracey calling it “disgusting”.

….continue

Sad.

As you might imagine the National Secular Society are delighted.

Whilst on the subject of the NSS and prayers at council meetings, the NSS legal challenge against Bideford Town Council in Devon has reached the High Court. Apparently this action was taken after a complaint was made by councillor Clive Bone, in which he claimed he was disadvantaged and embarrassed as a non-believer by the saying of prayers as part of council business.

It’s worth hopping over to Ben’s blog at this point as he raises some very interesting observations on the matter.

I thought I’d put this new ‘Christian sues employer’ article on, as it differs from most in that it brings Islam / Muslims into the mix.

Nohad Halawi was sacked from her job based in Heathrow Airport as a result of five Muslim colleagues complaining she was being anti-Islamic following a heated conversation in the store. Halawi is suing, claiming bullying and intimidation by ‘extremist’ Muslims espousing ‘fundamentalist’ Islam. To give Halawi her due, a petition signed by 28 colleagues, some of them Muslims, argued that she had been dismissed on the basis of “malicious lies”.

Andrea Minichiello Williams of the Christian Legal Centre is representing Mrs Halawi and states this is one of the most serious cases they’ve handled.

Apart from the claims of ‘creeping Islamic extremism’ (disturbing if true given the sensitive security location) I think we can get to the heart of the matter via this comment by Mrs Halawi:

“This is supposed to be a Christian country, but the law seems to be on the side of the Muslims.”

And this from the Christian Legal Centre:

……say it raises important legal issues and also questions over whether Muslims and Christians are treated differently by employers.

Anyway, we’ll see how this pans out; in the meantime you can read the details over on the Telegraph.

Oh Lord!

Sky News have a disturbing report on the deaths of HIV positive patients which can be directly attributed to churches declaring them healed and telling them not to continue with their medication.

Gordon notified me of this and sent me a link to one of the churches mentioned in the article, to which Sky sent undercover reporters. The Church is called: Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), which is based in Southwark, South London and if you click the link, you’ll see videos of testimony of purported healing of: HIV, mental disorders (of course), Crohn’s, cancer, and bizarrely:

Healing & Deliverance From Eating Uncooked Rice

Deliverance From Eating Mattress

I don’t care what anyone says, these people are dangerous and irresponsible madmen.

And no, I don’t deny the possibility of miraculous healing.

There’s been some new – and extensive – research conducted looking at the representation of Muslims and Islam within the UK press. The researchers analysed over 200,000 media articles written over an eleven year period: 1998 – 2009.

Engage have the details, but I was particularly drawn to this quote:

The study, conducted by Dr Paul Baker, Professor Tony McEnery and Dr Costas Gabrielatos, reiterates key findings from other studies reinforcing claims of media bias towards fringe groups at the expense of mainstream Muslims, and on word association with Islam and Muslims engendering negative connotations with the religion and its adherents.

How familiar does that sound? I mean, does anybody else ever sigh heavily when you see the same extremist fringe Christians trotted out in the media and touting themselves as the ‘voice of Christians’? And when I say extremist, I’m not referring to just one side of the coin. And the ‘word association’ element is so important also. I see so many examples of carefully crafted media pieces designed to prod you in a certain direction through the choice of wording. This applies not just to the portrayal of Christianity and Christians, but also the portrayal of moral and ethical issues, such as abortion and euthanasia.

But then again, how ‘newsworthy’ is the moderate, nuanced, balanced, mainstream, approach? This doesn’t sell newspapers and the like, does it.

I’d love to see similar research conducted on the Christian representation in the UK press. I think it would be enormously revealing. Perhaps such a study has already been undertaken and I’m not aware of it. Please do let me know if this is the case.