 A blog-like posting of some of the items in the news; and some other developments that don't quite grab the headlines or make it onto the page or screen.
To search, do a 'Find' [ Ctrl + F ] i.e. hold down the Ctrl key at the same time as the F key.
This will give you a search box on your screen where you can type in a key word or date to allow you to 'jump' to a particular entry.
If you want to respond to anything or send in some of your own thoughts or news -
just drop me an e-mail.
Yours aye,
Ed.
Week ending 24 April 2010
Army withdraws Franklin Graham Pentagon prayer day invitation
The Army has disinvited Franklin Graham to speak at the Pentagon on National Prayer Day after a military advocacy group objected because Graham has reportedly described Islam as “evil” and “wicked.”
“I regret that the Army felt it was necessary to rescind their invitation to the National Day of Prayer Task Force to participate in the Pentagon’s special prayer service,” Graham said in a statement on Thursday. I want to express my strong support for the United States military and all our troops. I will continue to pray that God will give them guidance, wisdom and protection as they serve this great country.”
Graham was expected to speak at the Pentagon on May 6, drawing the ire of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a watchdog group focused on religious favoritism in the military. The group had been prepared to seek a temporary restraining order against National Prayer Day if it were “polluted by someone as hideously Islamophobic as Franklin Graham,” said Mikey Weinstein, head of the group.
In a 2001 op-ed piece, Graham wrote that he does not believe Muslims are evil, but he objects to the treatment of women in Muslim countries and Islam’s historic “persecution or elimination” of other religions.
On Thursday, Graham told Fox News that while he loves Muslims, “I speak out for people that live under Islam, that are enslaved by Islam and I want them to know they can be free through faith in Jesus Christ and Christ alone.”
Council on American Islamic Relations spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said it is “completely inappropriate” for Graham to speak in front of a military audience. Read on....
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A warning from France that the financial crisis isn't over
A few years ago, officials at Saint-Etienne tried to cut their borrowing costs by dabbling in derivatives. This has now very badly backfired.
And the damage won't be confined to the south of France. We could all feel the knock-on effects...
Saint-Etienne took a gamble - and it's gone badly wrong
Saint-Etienne's plight shows what can happen when the smart financial salesmen call.
Why on earth was a French local authority effectively punting taxpayers' money on the currency markets? Good question. But the answer is that Saint-Etienne was far from the only one. It's just one of thousands of public authorities across Europe that got mixed up in highly risky derivatives.
Read on....
Week ending 17 April 2010
Judges biased against Christians say senior church leaders
Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and other church leaders will urge senior judges to stand down from future Court of Appeal hearings because of "disturbing" and "dangerous" rulings they issued in recent religious discrimination cases.
Senior churchmen do not think they have any chance of a "fair" ruling if the latest significant hearing – due on Thursday – is heard in front of those judges who, they argue, have already shown a lack of understanding of Christian beliefs.
Critics are particularly alarmed by a ruling by Lord Neuberger, the Master of the Rolls, on behalf of the Court of Appeal, that Lillian Ladele, a registrar who refused to conduct civil partnerships ceremonies – because they were against her Christian beliefs – broke the law.
The Court of Appeal decided in December that the right to express a strong Christian faith must take second place to the rights of homosexuals under Labour's equality laws. Read on....
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Arch atheists want to arrest the Pope
Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain in September has prompted the atheist Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens to announce that they will apply for an arrest warrant over the sex abuse scandals involving priests.
Those who are serious about procuring an arrest generally do not announce their intentions months ahead but this case follows the recent trend of activists using warrants as a publicity stunt.
So what are Dawkins and Hitchens’ chances of getting their warrant ? Read on....
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Christian musician 'comes out' as being gay
Award-winning Christian music artist Jennifer Knapp has returned from a seven-year hiatus with a bang. Aside from touring with provocative singer-songwriter Derek Webb and preparing for the release of a new album, Knapp is confirming what some had for years suspected – she’s gay.
In interviews with The Advocate, Reuters, and Christianity Today – all published Tuesday – Knapp spoke openly about her sexuality while making it clear that she is not a pro-gay activist or even a self-described lesbian despite being in an eight-year relationship with a woman.
“I'm just a normal human being who's dealing with normal everyday life scenarios,” Knapp told Christianity Today.
“As a Christian, I'm doing that as best as I can,” she added. “The heartbreaking thing to me is that we're all hopelessly deceived if we don't think that there are people within our churches, within our communities, who want to hold on to the person they love, whatever sex that may be, and hold on to their faith. It's a hard notion.”
Though not the first Christian music artist to “come out” as gay, Knapp is arguably the most prominent. Read on.....
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Russia moves to regain lost territory and influence
Back-channel news suggests that the present political upheaval (revolution) in Kyrgyzstan has been 'sponsored' and supported by Russia.
Although a long way from existing Russian borders the country is in a key position regarding influence and prescence in the region.
There are a few reasons why Russia would want to re-install its prescence in Kyrgyzstan -
1. To regain some of what was lost when the USSR collapsed
2. To 'seize the moment' when the US is still embroiled in Afghanistan
3. To undermine the US prescence (read 'strategic and vital air-base') in the country
A BBC report says:
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Kyrgyzstan's location means it is firmly entrenched in the new "great game" tussle between the US, Russia and China for power, influence and access to resources in the region.
US Manas airbase, Kyrgyzstan
The Manas base is critical to US action in Afghanistan
It hosts airbases for both Russia and the US, both of whom were quick to urge restraint.
The US base at Manas is vital as a staging post for its operations in Afghanistan. When Mr Bakiyev announced he was closing the base in early 2009 - following a significant aid pledge from Moscow - President Barack Obama agreed to a massive increase in rent payments.
The US lease on the base is due to expire in July 2010.
The interim minister for constitutional affairs has suggested its days could be numbered but Ms Otunbayeva has said she will honour the current agreement.
Washington has responded cautiously, saying it has an "existing agreement" with Bishkek and that it does not believe the uprising was "anti-American" or Russian-sponsored. It is sending a delegate to meet the new administration.
See - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8608870.stm
<<<
Couple this with very similar moves (create unrest to destabilise and then seize control) over the past couple of years to regain control in the Caucusus (e.g. note on Georgia above) and the Ukraine what we are seeing is a re-emergence of the Russian bear from a period of 'wound-licking', humiliation and vulnerability.
See also: James Bond, Putin and Ezekiel
Week ending 10 April 2010
MoD apologies to Muslims
A Muslim group has demanded an apology from the British Army after it emerged that replica mosques were being used on a North Yorkshire firing range.
The chairman of the Bradford Council for Mosques (BCM) said the structures at Catterick should be taken down immediately.
The Ministry of Defence said it had "no intention" of causing offence.
The BMC said it was particularly angry as it had been assisting the army in its efforts to recruit more Muslims. Read on...
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Labour Lord slams Govt anti-Christian attitude
A veteran Labour Peer has said he is “ashamed” of the “intolerant bigotry” towards Christians that exists in his own party and others.
Labour’s “disgraceful” law forcing religious adoption agencies to consider same-sex couples as parents was an example of its hostility to traditional beliefs, said Lord Donoughue, who served as a policy adviser to two Prime Ministers in the 1970s.
Observers say this is an embarrassing blow to Gordon Brown, who just last week called churchgoers “the conscience of our country” in his Easter message. Read on..
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Christian B&B owners face possibility of lawsuit
The Christian Institute’s Mike Judge discusses Chris Grayling’s view that Christians who run B&Bs in their own homes should be allowed to exercise their conscience over who is allowed to stay.
See also Letters to the Editor(s)
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Christian nurse to fight on in order to wear her cross
Tribunal finds ‘No Discrimination’ despite ruling Christian nurse cannot wear a cross for religious reasons though a Muslim can wear a hijab for religious reasons
SHIRLEY Chaplin, the Exeter nurse at the centre of the ‘Cross Row’ with her NHS employer, has vowed to “fight on” after an Employment Tribunal found against her claim for discrimination on the grounds of her religion. The Tribunal found that there was no discrimination because all staff were treated equally. No one was permitted to wear a cross around their neck for religious reasons but if someone wanted to wear a hijab for religious reasons they could.
The Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust indicated that they would permit exemptions in their uniform policy for religious and cultural symbols that were ‘mandatory’ within the religion. It would seem that, without evidence, the Trust decided that the wearing of the hijab was a mandatory Islamic cultural manifestation despite the fact that its wearing is banned in public by some Islamic states. Meanwhile, the Cross, the single most distinctive manifestation of the Christian faith for 2000 years, pre-eminent across all catholic and protestant denominations and countries, is not given legal protection. Read on...
Week ending 3 April 2010
Zechariah 12 coming around
The Economist magazine carried a story header on its front page this last week (25/03/10) entitled:
Israel versus the world
Concerning recent strong criticism of Israel by the US administration, the magazine wrote:
'Israel’s prime minister has received a rare dressing down from the American president. But he shows no sign yet of backing down''.
The article continued:
'As if Mr Netanyahu had not been discomfited enough by his apparent dressing down from Mr Obama, he faced yet another embarrassment when Britain’s foreign secretary, David Miliband, publicly denounced Israel for forging 12 British citizens’ passports that were used in January in the assassination of a senior Hamas man in a hotel in Dubai. An Israeli diplomat in London, thought to be a member of Mossad, the external intelligence service, was asked to leave the country.
Palestinians have gleefully watched two of Israel’s main allies rebuking it. They have rejoiced, too, as the peacemaking Quartet (the United States, the European Union, Russia and the UN) roundly condemned Israel’s building plans in East Jerusalem. Earlier the EU’s Court of Justice had said that Israeli products made in West Bank settlements should not be given EU preferential trade tariffs.'
Read the full article....
It is often the case that the secular media are quicker to spot what is going on (without reference to the Bible) than the church – which has the Word of God in her hands.
However the headline is the wrong way around. It should have read: The World versus Israel.
Zechariah 12:1-3 says:
1 The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. Thus saith Jehovah, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him:
2 behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem.
3 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it.
The amazing thing is that he said it 2,500 years before the Economist wrote the piece..
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Christians are at their best when persecuted, disrespected and denied their rights
In cosy arrangements with power, or social acceptance by the Establishment, churches grow arrogant and complacent.
The former Archbishop of Canterbury -- that is, the leader of Anglicans worldwide -- George Carey, with six other senior Church of England bishops, has accused Gordon Brown's government of "persecuting" Christians in Britain.
The main case of contention centres on a "dedicated nurse", Shirley Chaplin, who is taking her local National Health Hospital trust to a tribunal for removing her from patient care. Mrs Chaplin's offence was to wear a crucifix around her neck while nursing. Carey points out that the lady has worn the said crucifix ever since her girlhood Confirmation.
He and his colleagues (the Bishops of Winchester, Chester, Hereford, Blackburn, Litchfield and the former Bishop of Rochester) have concluded that, on a range of issues, Christians in Britain are being discriminated against.
People of other faiths are permitted to wear the emblems of their religions -- the Sikh turban, the Islamic niqab, even the Jewish star of David -- causing no objections. Christians, alone, are asked to remove "offensive" religious symbols. Read on.....
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Police banned from asking ‘Christian’ names to avoid offending other faiths
Police Officers have been banned from asking for a person’s ‘Christian’ names for fear of offending people with other religious beliefs.
Police Officers taking down a suspect's particulars must now refer to their ‘personal’ or ‘family name’ as the word ‘Christian’ could offend Muslims, Sikhs and other faiths, according to new diversity guidelines.
Kent Police’s prescriptive diversity rulebook also tells Officers to refrain from using phrases such as ‘my dear’ or ‘love’, when addressing women for fear it may cause ‘embarrassment or offence’.
The 62-page guidelines ‘Faith and Culture Resource’, produced by the force's diversity support group, warn that even well-meaning gestures like handshakes or putting a comforting arm around a victim or grieving family member are also prohibited as it could be deemed ‘unprofessional’. They also state that the term ‘mixed race’ should be replaced by ‘mixed parentage’ or ‘mixed cultural heritage’.
The guidelines set out customs and practices in a number of religions and beliefs including paganism and Rastafarianism. Read on....
Week ending 27 March 2010
We're selling our hotel, say Christian couple in row with Muslim guest
The two Christian hoteliers cleared last year of insulting a Muslim guest are being forced to sell up because their business has collapsed.
Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang are putting their nine-bedroom hotel up for auction in May because they can no longer pay the mortgage.
Despite donations sent to them by Christian supporters from around the world, they still have debts of well over £400,000.
They are also considering a civil action against the police who brought the prosecution. Mrs Vogelenzang, 54, said last night it was 'devastating' that they could be left with nothing as the result of a case that should never have come to court. 'Where do we go from here?' she said. 'How do we start all over again?'
The couple saw their Liverpool business brought to its knees after an investigation into what was deemed a religiously aggravated hate crime against Ericka Tazi. The 60-year-old white British convert complained that the couple had called the prophet Mohammed a 'warlord' and told her that Muslim women were oppressed.
The case against them was thrown out after a judge at Liverpool magistrates' court said it flew in the face of their right to freedom of religious expression. Read on.....
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Controlling citizens via a Matrix of regulations
As much as U.S. President Barack Obama and Democrats in the U.S. Congress attempt to dress-up their passage of national health care legislation as another groundbreaking moment in civil rights history, in reality, the legislation will further enslave millions of Americans in a matrix of human rights governance networks. As their elected officials plug them into this matrix, compliant citizens will forfeit their freedom in exchange for a financially unsustainable and ultimately unrealizable human security utopia of government-run health care, education, housing, business, and retirement systems. Read full story....
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Coercing the clergy over Civil Partnerships
Sir, At the time of the passage of the Civil Partnerships Act 2004 we were reassured by the Government that there was a clear distinction between such partnerships and marriage. Churches were told that they would not be compelled to “marry” homosexuals. With the passage of Lord Alli’s amendment allowing civil partnerships to be conducted on church premises this distinction has been broken. Yet another example of creeping legislation that is often hasty, ill conceived and opportunistically tacked on to existing Bills without a proper chance for scrutiny.
If there is a genuine need for a change in the law this should be done properly by revisiting the Civil Partnerships Act.
Yesterday Christian Concern for Our Nation delivered a petition to the Government, signed by more than 6,000 church leaders and Christians, asking it to reject the amendment, which they believe could coerce clergy into acting against their conscience.
How long will it be before church ministers are threatened with legal proceedings if they perform marriages between a man and a woman, but not civil partnerships?
Lord Carey of Clifton
House of Lords
from The Times
Week ending 20 March 2010
US Episcopal Church to ordain second openly gay bishop
The Episcopal Church has confirmed that it will ordain its second openly gay bishop.
After receiving the required majority of consents from the wider church, the Rev Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool was informed on Wednesday by the presiding bishop's office that the consent process for her consecration was complete.
"I am profoundly grateful for the many people – in Los Angeles, in Maryland, and around the world – who have given their prayers, love, and support during this time of discernment," Glasspool said in a statement.
Glasspool, who has been with her lesbian partner since 1988, was elected in December to the office of bishop suffragan in the Diocese of Los Angeles. Wednesday's announcement confirms she received the required majority of consents from diocesan bishops and standing committees within 120 days.
Bishop of Los Angeles, the Rt Rev J Jon Bruno, welcomed the news. Read on....
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Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali speaks on the coming General Election
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Ouija boards – a dangerous toy for children (and adults)
Toys R Us is selling Ouija boards, promoting them as acceptable for children as young as eight years old. The pink edition of the Ouija board is listed for girls eight-years-old and up while the regular version is designated for all children eight and up.
Stephen Phelan, communications manager of Human Life International, checked the website and reports that the findings are disturbing.
"It is just troubling that these things are treated as casually as any other game, like Monopoly or anything else on this Toys R Us site -- and I think it's something Christians should be aware of and really not support," he states. Read on....
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Scots fertility clinic in row over foreign eggs
A Scottish fertility clinic has been branded “irresponsible” and “exploitative” for allowing Scottish women to buy human eggs abroad. British law currently bans the selling of human eggs, and requires all donors to be traceable by any future children.
But now an IVF clinic based in Glasgow is set to bypass these laws by teaming up with a fertility clinic in Spain where the fertility laws are weaker.
Dr Calum MacKellar, from the Scottish Council for Human Bioethics, said: “This clinic should not be encouraging people to bypass British law. It’s irresponsible. We consider the Spanish system exploitative.”
Many of the people who donate their eggs in Spain are impoverished students and migrant workers from Eastern Europe. Read on...
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Homosexual adoption: Judge backs church over freedom of conscience
A Leeds-based Roman Catholic adoption agency has won a legal fight to keep its Christian ethos to place children with a married mother and a father.Catholic Care, which serves the dioceses of Leeds, Middlesbrough, and Hallam, South Yorkshire, launched the legal action in an attempt to continue its work finding homes for children.
The charity, which provided adoption services to married couples only was seeking an exemption from the 2007 Sexual Orientation Regulations. The regulations made it unlawful to discriminate on the ground of sexual orientation in the provision of goods or services to the public.
The ruling, issued on 17 March 2010 by a High Court Judge, was seen as landmark victory for freedom of religious conscience over the demands of equality legislation.
Mr Justice Briggs said that because an exemption in the 2007 Sexual Orientation Regulations allowed homosexual charities to restrict their help to homosexuals, it was right that Catholic Care should also be allowed to discriminate in favour of married couples in keeping with its ethos.
He also said that, in practice, no homosexual couples would lose out, because the charity provided solely for children whom the state adoption system – which is open to same sex couples – had already tried but failed to help. Read on.....
Week ending 13 March 2010
Turkey's turning away from the West is ominous
Last year, and with no notice whatsoever, Turkey cancelled a joint military exercise with the US and Israel.
Behind all of this lies the fact that while the state is nominally secular, it is – in reality – Islamic. Additionally, and this is also very significant, there has been very slow progress and little enthusiasm regarding Turkey joining the EU. It would appear that the country is now turning its back on the West and towards the eastern states. Given that one of these is Armenia and with the history of Turkey's genocidal activities there this is quite amazing.
For a 'take' on the Biblical dimensions of all of this see article James Bond, Putin and Ezekiel
WorldNetDaily reports:
Famed PLO terrorist-turned-Christian Walid Shoebat is warning that the United States needs to be watching not Iran, Syria or even Hamas and Hezbollah as closely as it needs to follow the actions of the Islamic leaders of Turkey.
It was just a few months ago when Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin reported Turkey appeared to be seeking the restoration of the old Ottoman Empire.
The report said Turkey's increasing disinterest in the European Union combined with its efforts to re-establish its influence in Turkic countries of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and its outreaches to Russian, Syria and Iran are cause for concern. Read on....
Week ending 6 March 2010
Pupils aged five on hate register: Teachers must log playground taunts for Government database
Heads will be forced to list children as young as five on school 'hate registers' over everyday playground insults. Even minor incidents must be recorded as examples of serious bullying and details kept on a database until the pupil leaves secondary school.
Teachers are to be told that even if a primary school child uses homophobic or racist words without knowing their meaning, simply teaching them such words are hurtful and inappropriate is not enough. Instead the incident has to be recorded and his or her behaviour monitored for future signs of 'hate' bullying. The accusations will also be recorded in databases held by councils and made available to Whitehall and ministers to help them devise future anti-bullying campaigns.
The scale of the effort to stop children using homophobic or racist language was revealed after the parents of a ten-year-old primary school pupil in Somerset, Peter Drury, were told that his name would be put on a register and his behaviour monitored while he remained at school. Read on....
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Homosexual unions allowed in churches
Churches will be allowed, but not compelled, to register homosexual civil partnerships following a late night vote in the Lords yesterday. However, critics fear the change in the law could open the way for litigation against churches that refuse to register such unions.
And others oppose the move because it makes civil partnerships more like full homosexual ‘marriage’.
At 11pm last night Peers voted by 95 to 21 in favour of an amendment to the Equality Bill moved by Labour Peer Lord Alli. The Government resisted his amendment in January, saying it was “not a workable solution to this issue”.
However, last night, despite arguing against it on the same grounds, the Government unexpectedly allowed its Peers a free vote on the issue. The Conservative Party also gave its Peers a free vote, as did the Liberal Democrats. Read on.....
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Fury at plans to air condom ads before 9pm watershed
Condom adverts are set to be aired on national television before the 9pm watershed, according to press reports.However, a separate proposal to allow abortion adverts has been put on hold by the UK’s advertising watchdog.
The rules will be relaxed to allow condom adverts following a proposal by the Government’s Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV (IAG). The adverts are an attempt to reduce the nation’s teen pregnancy rate, but critics have warned that the scheme will not work.
Norman Wells, of the Family Education Trust, said: “Advertising condoms on prime-time television would do nothing to reduce teenage conceptions or sexually transmitted infections.
“Research does not support the common claim that teenage pregnancy rates in the UK are high because young people lack reliable information about contraception and are unable to access it with sufficient ease.”
His concerns were echoed by Michaela Aston, from the pregnancy charity Life, who said: “Condom advertising throughout the day is just going to encourage young people to have sex. The next thing we will see is free condoms in breakfast cereals.” Read on....
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Islamists infiltrate the Labour Party to exercise political influence and power, says Minister
A Labour minister has said his Party has been infiltrated by Islamists who want to remove democratic principles and exercise political influence and power on all levels to create an ‘Islamic social and political order’ in the United Kingdom.
Jim Fitzpatrick, Minister of State for the Environment, said the group called the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE), an Islamist organisation based in London, has placed sympathisers in elected Government offices and claims to be able to achieve ‘mass mobilisation’ of voters for the upcoming elections.
The Islamist group is dedicated, in its own words, to changing the ‘very infrastructure of society, its institutions, its culture, its political order and its creed … from ignorance to Islam’. Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Fitzpatrick said the IFE had become, in effect, a secret party within Labour and other political parties. ‘They are acting almost as an entryist organisation, placing people within the political parties, recruiting members to those political parties, trying to get individuals selected and elected so they can exercise political influence and power, whether it’s at local government level or national level,’ he said.
Mr Fitzpatrick, the MP for Poplar and Canning Town, said that the Islamists believe that the UK should develop Sharia law and behave ‘completely at odds’ with Labour’s programme. He said the IFE had infiltrated and ‘corrupted’ his party in east London in the same way that the far-Left Militant Tendency did in the 1980s. [Emphasis added.] Read on....
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Israel angry over anti-Semitic postcards sent by Spanish schoolchildren
Israel has lodged a formal complaint with Spain after the embassy in Madrid received several anti-Semitic postcards from young children.
Rafi Shotz, Israel's ambassador to Spain, received dozens of postcards from elementary school students bearing statements including "Jews kill for money," "Leave the country to the Palestinians" and "Go somewhere where they will accept you."
A Foreign Ministry official said the handwriting appears typical of children six to nine years old. "Some had very disturbing messages," an embassy spokesman said. "They asked things such as: 'Why do you kill children?' or said that 'money is not everything' and that if someone should leave, it should be the Israelis 'because it is not your land'.
"These are messages about a political situation that they do not understand. Most of these children probably do not even know where Israel or Palestine are."
The Foreign Ministry considered summoning Spain's ambassador to Israel, Alvaro Iranzo, to complain, but ultimately spoke to the envoy by telephone instead, Haaretz reported. Read on......
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James Bulger murderer Jon Venables returned to prison
One of the killers of two-year-old James Bulger is back in prison after breaching the terms of his release, the Ministry of Justice has said.
Jon Venables, now 27, and his friend, Robert Thompson, murdered James in Bootle, Merseyside, in 1993. Both killers were aged just 10 at the time. They were given life sentences, but released in 2001 with new identities and under certain licence conditions.
The ministry did not detail the nature of Venables' breach of his licence. Read on....
Ed footnote: This murder in 1993 shocked the UK to the core in terms of the brutality committed by the killers who were mere children. Read the background here.....
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Netherlands gay protest over Catholic communion snub
Hundreds of Dutch activists have walked out of a Mass in protest at a Roman Catholic policy of denying communion to practising homosexuals.On this occasion, the church, in 's-Hertogenbosch, had already decided not to serve communion, so the protesters left, shouting and singing.
The dispute began earlier this month when a priest in a nearby town refused communion to an openly gay man. The Netherlands was the first country to introduce gay marriage in 2001.
Most Dutch people support gay rights, but the Roman Catholic Church teaches that homosexual activity is sinful. This dispute began during Dutch carnival celebrations earlier in February, when the man chosen to be carnival prince in nearby Reusel was refused communion because of his open homosexuality Read on....
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Islamic scholar Tahir ul-Qadri issues anti-terrorism fatwa
An influential Muslim scholar has issued a global ruling against terrorism and suicide bombing.
Dr Tahir ul-Qadri, from Pakistan, says his 600-page judgment, known as a fatwa, completely dismantles al-Qaeda's violent ideology.
The scholar describes al-Qaeda as an "old evil with a new name" that has not been sufficiently challenged.
The scholar's movement is growing in the UK and has attracted the interest of policymakers and security chiefs.In his religious ruling, delivered in London, Dr Qadri says that Islam forbids the massacre of innocent citizens and suicide bombings.
Although many scholars have made similar rulings in the past, Dr Qadri argued that his massive document goes much further by omitting "ifs and buts" added by other thinkers.He said that it set out a point-by-point theological rebuttal of every argument used by al-Qaeda inspired recruiters.
Read on...
Week ending 26 February 2010
Dobson resigns as Focus on the Family chair
Conservative evangelical leader James Dobson has resigned as chairman of Focus on the Family but will continue to play a prominent role at the organization he founded more than three decades ago.
Dobson notified the board of his decision Wednesday, and the 950 employees of the Colorado Springs-based ministry were informed Friday morning at a monthly worship service, said Jim Daly, the group's president and chief executive officer. Read on....
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Scotland named as drug crime capital of the world
The rate of drug-related crime in Scotland was six times that of the global average in 2006, making it the drug crime capital of the world, a UN report has revealed. The nation topped the list with Iran in second place and the USA fourth. Critics have labelled Scotland’s efforts to combat its drug problem “hopeless”.
According to the UN study there were 656 drug related crimes per 100,000 people in 2006 in Scotland. That figure is more than double the rate of drug related crime in England and Wales in the same year. The Scottish Daily Mail slammed the findings. In an editorial the paper said: “Under both Labour and the SNP, Scottish drugs policy has been a disaster." Read on....
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Seik's beheaded by 'a militant group in Pakistan'
An Asian evangelical body has condemned the brutal beheading of two Sikhs by a militant group in Pakistan.
The bodies of Jaspal Singh and Mahal Singh were found in Khyber and Aurakzai regions Sunday after their relatives failed to pay a ransom allegedly demanded by Taliban. It is reportedly the first time a Sikh has been killed by militants in Pakistan.
The militants had demanded a ransom of 30 million rupees (£423,000) to be paid by February 20.
There are reports that the two Sikhs were beheaded after they refused to convert to Islam.
Last year, Islamic militants in Khyber Agency imposed ‘jizya', or religious tax on Sikhs, Hindus and Christians. Those failing to make the payment have either had to convert to Islam or leave the tribal belt. Read full report....
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Children 'over-exposed to sexual imagery'
Children are being increasingly exposed to sexual imagery and their parents have limited opportunities to stop it, a report for the Home Office warns.
The report calls for tougher regulation of sexual imagery in adverts and a ban on selling "lads' mags" to under-16s.
It also recommends selling mobile phones and games consoles with parental controls automatically switched on.
Author Dr Linda Papadopoulos said there was a clear link between sexualised imagery and violence towards females.
Her report said the material children were being exposed to included the growth of lads' mags and pornography on mobile phones, through to big-name fashion brands using sexual imagery to advertise clothes targeted at young teenagers. Read on...
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Demand for Bible outstripping supply in China
The Bible Society has reported a growing demand for copies of the Bible in China where an estimated 500,000 people converted to Christianity in 2009 alone.
Although some four million Bibles were printed and distributed across China last year, the rapid growth of the church year on year means that demand for Bibles is now outstripping supply, according to the Bible Society.
The official number of Christians in China stands at 28.6 million, but it is believed the true figure could be as high as 90 million if the estimated number of worshippers at unofficial house churches is included. Read on....
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Sir Elton John says Jesus was super-intelligent gay man
Sir Elton John has claimed Jesus was a "super-intelligent gay man" in an interview with a US magazine. The singer also told Parade Jesus was "compassionate", forgiving and "understood human problems".
A spokesman for the Church of England said: "Sir Elton's reflection that Jesus calls us all to love and forgive is one shared by all Christians."But insights into aspects of the historic person of Jesus are perhaps best left to the academics," he added.
Sir Elton said in the interview: "On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. "I don't know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East - you're as good as dead," he added.
Read on...
Week ending 20 February 2010
EIS union warns of threat to Scottish education
Education is under a "very real threat" with schools struggling to cope in the wake of "severe cuts", a teaching union has insisted.
The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) has compiled a newsletter with accounts from teachers on the impact it said the funding cuts are having. EIS General Secretary Ronnie Smith said: "There is nothing left to trim."
But Education Secretary Mike Russell said the government was giving councils a "rising share" of the total budget.
According to the union, one teacher stated that one school had no white printer paper and another said it had no glue sticks and had "hardly any" paper towels as part of "another council cost-cutting measure". The newsletter also included claims that staff at one school had to bring in heaters from home to keep warm. The same teacher also said there had been staff cutbacks and that courses at the school had been cut or reduced.
Read on.....
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Push for Islamic Courts in Kenya Alarms Christians
(and it is not just in Kenya - Ed.)
NAIROBI, Kenya) — A constitutional battle to expand the scope of Islamic courts in Kenya threatens to ignite religious tensions at a time when authorities are on high alert against Muslim extremists with ties to Somalia.
Constitutional provisions for Islamic or Kadhis' courts have existed in Kenya since 1963, with the courts serving the country's coastal Muslim population in matters of personal status, marriage, divorce, or inheritance. Kenya's secular High Court has jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters, and even a decision in the Islamic courts can be appealed at the High Court.
The Islamic courts have functioned only in Kenya's Coast Province, but in a hotly debated draft constitution, their jurisdiction would expand across the nation and their scope would increase. The proposed constitution has gathered enough momentum that 23 leaders of churches and Christian organizations released a statement on Feb. 1 asserting their opposition to any inclusion of such religious courts.
"It is clear that the Muslim community is basically carving for itself an Islamic state within a state," the Kenyan church leaders stated. "This is a state with its own sharia [Islamic law]- compliant banking system; its own sharia-compliant insurance; its own Halaal [lawful in Islam] bureau of standards; and it is now pressing for its own judicial system."
Muslim leaders are striving to expand the scope of Islamic courts to include civil and small claims cases. They also want to upgrade the Muslim tribunals to High Court status. These demands have alarmed Christians, who make up 80 percent of the population and defeated a similar proposal in a 2005 referendum. Muslims make up 10 percent of Kenya's 39 million people, 9 percent of the population follows indigenous religions and less than 1 percent are Hindu, Sikh and Baha'i.
Read on in Compass Direct.....
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Scottish politician's bid to legalise assisted suicide:
RC Archbishop speaks out..
An MSP’s attempt to legalise assisted suicide is an example of ‘hard cases making bad laws’, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow has said. Archbishop Mario Conti asserted: “Laws need to be objective in their statement of principle. “It is wrong in principle for someone to take their own life; it is wrong in principle for someone to help them to do so.”
He was referring to The End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill, proposed by Margo MacDonald MSP, which would allow the terminally ill and people who are “permanently physically incapacitated” to seek assistance in ending their lives. Archbishop Conti was speaking at a service in Cardonald, Glasgow.
Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond has said that he is “not convinced” by Mrs MacDonald’s arguments.
The Chairman of the British Medical Association in Scotland, Dr Brian Keighley, warned last month that the doctor-patient relationship could be harmed if doctors’ roles included “intentional killing”.
Dr Peter Saunders, Director of the pro-life Care Not Killing Alliance, said in January that the Bill would have a devastating effect on both the terminally ill and disabled people.
Read on in the Christian Institute...
Week ending 13 February 2010
Christian teacher 'forced out' after complaining Muslim pupils praised 9/11 hijackers 'as heroes'
A Christian teacher yesterday claimed he was forced out of his job after complaining that Muslim pupils as young as eight hailed the September 11 hijackers as heroes.
Nicholas Kafouris, 52, is suing his former school for racial discrimination.
He told a tribunal that he had to leave his £30,000-a-year post because he would not tolerate the 'racist' and 'anti-Semitic' behaviour of Year 4 pupils.
The predominantly Muslim youngsters openly praised Islamic extremists in class and described the September 11 terrorists as 'heroes and martyrs'. Read on...
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Muslim Bus driver stops bus to pray
A Muslim bus driver stunned passengers by pulling over mid-route and beginning to pray in the aisle.
The driver stopped the bus without warning before removing his shoes and, using a fluorescent jacket as a prayer mat, beginning to chant in Arabic.
Passengers said they feared the driver could be preparing for a terror attack.
No one was able to get on or off the vehicle during the five-minute prayer session.
Read on....
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Students 'outraged' over award to 'homophobic' bishop
A group of students have expressed their anger over a Scottish university’s decision to award a former north-east bishop an honorary degree.
Glasgow University announced yesterday the Elgin-born Archbishop of Glasgow, the Most Rev Mario Conti, would receive the award in recognition of his contribution to the university.
Members of the university’s students representative council said they were “outraged” by the decision after the former Bishop of Aberdeen, who started his career in Aberdeen before spending 15 years as a parish priest in Caithness, had previously been accused of making homophobic comments.
Read on...
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Hindu wins bid to allow cremation on funeral pyre
A devout Hindu has won his bid for the right to be cremated on a traditional funeral pyre.
Davender Ghai, 71, was seeking to overturn a 2006 Newcastle City Council decision forbidding him from being cremated according to his beliefs.
Last year his challenge was dismissed by the High Court, but that ruling has been overturned at the Court of Appeal.
Judges decided the pyre would be lawful after Mr Ghai said it could include walls and a roof with an opening. Read on....
This decision will open the way (if it has not been opened before) for other ethnic groups to press for acceptance within the UK legal and social systems for their own specific practices. We are already seeing certain areas of cities operating under Sharia law and we can probably expect to see more demands for the acceptance of polygamy. If this were introduced it would raise the question of a man on social security claiming benefits for more than one wife.
Week ending 06 February 2010
Honest inquiry or unproductive recrimination?
Recent news reports (in the UK at least) have been dominated by the Iraq War Inquiry during which a panel of appointees under the chairmanship of Sir John Chilcot questioned (examined) the situation and individuals – principally political – leading up to Britain’s involvement in that conflict.
In announcing that the Inquiry would be held the Prime Minister stated: “no British document and no British witness will be beyond the scope of the Inquiry.”
Irrespective of the war in Iraq (2003 and continuing) every man and his dog, if asked, is likely to express an opinion on it. In terms of how history will remember him, Tony Blair who, as Prime Minister, took the country to war, was in resolute mode when speaking to the inquiry panel. Seated before the panel he defended his actions, offering no apologies whatsoever for the decision or showing any regret over the consequences of the conflict.
However, whilst any inquiry into any situation will hopefully aim to indentify mistakes and endeavour to ensure that these will not occur again, there is the inevitable introspection regarding actions past, that brings into bear the 20/20 vision of hindsight and recrimination.
In forming any opinion at all, most of us need to remember that we are only in possession of a very limited amount of knowledge, and what we do know is mainly fed to us by a media establishment which can never be fully trusted to report in an accurate and unbiased fashion. “Don’t let the truth stand in the way of a good story” is a standard piece of advice in the journalistic trade.
However there are three issues which are quite separate but which tend to become conflated into one when making a retrospective judgement on the whole affair.
The means and the intent?
The first of these issues is whether or not Saddam Hussein had the intent of launching an attack on another country and whether or not he had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs ¬¬– biological, chemical, radiological and nuclear). Regarding the former, his warmongering tendencies were beyond question. On the WMD question, since the time of the last inspections (which gave Saddam a ‘not quilty’ verdict) unconfirmed reports have spoken of Hussein stripping out the interior of Jumbo Jets and shipping his arsenal to Syria. But these reports appeared after the event so the case for and against war was not clear at the time of decision.
An honest, legitimate and reasonable response?
The second major question relates to the manner in which Tony Blair took the action he did. Did he consult as widely as he should have done? Was he manipulative and disingenuous in taking the actions he did? Did he circumvent the normal process of government? Some might be inclined to think so; and might suggest also that it is probably an everyday part of the political arena and high office within it – with the only real differences being the gravity and of each matter in question and the outcome of the responsive action on any one occasion.
Blair is probably no more guilty on these counts than most of those who have gone before him; and in all probability was – with respect to autocratic decision-making – following the precedence Lady Margaret Thatcher when, during her term as prime minister, she launched into the Falklands War – as an extremely parlous venture. (But let’s face it, in times of real crisis a committee does not always provide the requisite form of leadership. )
What if...?
The third main component surrounding the inquiry and feeding into the minds of both the general public and those called to give evidence is the outcome of the war. Had it been a case of a short sharp casualty-free victory which installed a democratic government in Iraq overseeing a country a new-found peace and prosperity then it is unlikely that the inquiry would ever have been held and Tony Blair would have sailed into history as hero not villain. And more so, if the conflict in Afghanistan had by now achieved a similar result.
If only....
But the whole scenario illustrates the propensity, lurking within most of us, to apply a retrospective verdict on previous actions, and formulate a view based on the outcome rather than on the prevailing circumstances and the reason(s) such action was taken. In it all, Christians are not immune from this tendency.
Life, it is said, is ‘lived forward and understood backwards’, however in truth and under God, life is never fully understood at all (1 Cor 13:12). Yet we debate the question of why does a loving and all-powerful God allow bad things to happen. It is not necessarily wrong to ask the question and explore the issues, but it is surely wrong to think that we understand all the facts and can provide a definitive answer. It is also generally unproductive to become involved in self-recrimination in those points in life which present difficulties as a result of actions which were based at the time on honest-to-God reasons.
The walk of faith
In the life of faith, God often leads us in a ‘one-step-at-a-time’ and, by extension, asks us to leave the future and the consequences to Him: this is truly living the life of faith. However the dynamic does not remove the need on a daily basis to make choices. Some of these might be of minor consequence; others might be of major importance. But we are required to walk by faith and not by sight.
The question of course is the manner in which God leads us, and this is not always a simple matter or easily discerned. But if we are honest-to-God (at whatever level we might be in our walk of faith) we should not become engrossed in regressive analysis of previous actions or self-flagellation for (as we would perceive it) ‘getting it wrong’. At a human level, good parents do not chastise their children for making honest mistakes, and God is surely no less wise in than us.
We can, at a pragmatic level, learn from experience, but ‘human wisdom’ should never be the sole-determinant of our actions and reactions. Whilst sanctified common sense is a necessary part of the process it is certainly not the only way in which a loving father can and does lead his children in the paths of righteousness, for His name’s sake (cf Is 30:21; John 10;4,16,27).
Listening accurately, intelligently and obediently to the Father’s Voice is an acquired ability – enhanced and accelerated by the diligent study of His Word. Like Tony Blair and the others involved, there will come a day when we will be called before a panel to account for our actions. If we seek daily to follow God’s leading there will be no recriminations regarding our actions on the day we stand before the judgement seat of Christ and God (Rom 14:10-12; 2 Cor 5:10).
Week ending 30 January 2010
Some of the news this week – and some news behind the news -
The Financial Crisis
On the ‘money’ front I continue to receive reports from a variety of sources concerning the (reportedly) unsustainable level of American national debt. Chuck Missler of Koinonia Trust has observed that a family knows the consequences of living beyond its means, businesses know the consequences of living beyond their means, but the US government doesn’t seem to appreciate what will happen to a country that lives beyond its means.
Allied to the levels of debt in many Western nations, is the fact that there seem to be a growing gulf between the very rich and the poor. And indeed the so-called ‘middle-classes’ and the ‘baby-boomer’ generation are being badly affected.
I have included a regular update report from a balanced Christian source and – to assist in the process of getting to the heart of it – I have highlighted (in yellow) certain parts of the main report. We could be heading for very troubled times – including serious social unrest.
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The Exodus continues...
A piece which struggled for space on the page was the recent exodus of Jews from Ethopia. The remaining Jewish population which had refused to budge in earlier years are finally being forced out by Islamic aggression.
In 1991 a record which stands to this day was set for the largest numbers of passengers in a Jumbo Jet (1,087) as thousands of Jews were flown to Israel in a massive airlift in the midst of Ethiopia’s civil war. During the whole covert exercise – code-named Operation Solomon – there were more passengers on some of the planes when they landed than there were when they took off. Five babies were born during the flights. As each plane arrived at the military airport here, nurses waited at the bottom of the steps to slip sick people into ambulances or the newborn babies into portable incubators. 'And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; A great company, they shall return here' (Jer 31:8).
Then in June 1999 what was then described as ‘the Last Exodus ‘ a further airlift transported another 3,000-plus Ethiopian Jews.
However the exodus continues in fulfilment of Jeremiah’s prophecy: '"Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen," declares the Lord, "and they will fish for them; and afterwards I shall send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and from the clefts of the rocks."' (Jer 16:16). Fishermen and hunters; lures and persecution.
And although Israel said in 2008 that it planned to end the immigration scheme, another 81 new immigrants arrived in Israel in mid-January, it is reported that a futher 8,000 still in Ethiopia still want to emigrate to Israel. I wonder if any of them trace back to the man that Philip met in the chariot? Whichever way Israel and the Jews are God’s prophetic timepiece. Watch this space.
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ex-PM Tony Blair’s appearance at the Iraq War inquiry
Regarding Blair's performance, the general opinion is that though initially extremely tense with his hand shaking, he soon found his form; and – using the tactic of ‘the best defence is attack’ – effectively silenced his inquisitors by mounting a robust and fluent affirmation of why he took the country to war. Needless to say this conviction – to which he steadfastly held – did not allow him (not that he seemed inclined) to make any apology at all for the consequences and loss of life.
The BBC reports: 'Tony Blair's appearance at the Iraq inquiry is examined in detail in the papers with the Times among those to focus on his apparent lack of regret. The paper reckons he "brought trouble on himself by failing to show the contrition" his detractors wanted. But it says the inquiry "largely failed to breach his defences" and he gave a "fluent, assured performance".Sketchwriter Ann Treneman says he was intense early on but soon began to glow with "something close to righteousness".' Read on...
That last phrase sums up where Tony Blair is now. Having failed to be elected President of the EU, he is mainly involved in two spheres of activity. The first of these is making money – through speaking engagements and advisory roles with major commercial and financial enterprises.
However his other main focus is multi-faith religion via the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. And an article entitled 'Tony Blair Encourages Religious Diversity at Baptism centre in Jordan' states: 'The Baptist World Alliance's President Reverend Dr David Coffey, who is also a member of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation's Global Advisory Council, has also just delivered the Alliance's response to the Common Word letter.'
In a reflection of what has happened in America with 'evangelical' leaders (Rick Warren et al) falling over themselves to chummy up to and endorse secular politicians and power-brokers, Rev. Coffey sings the praises of TB and his Foundation. Anyone who understands their Bible will know that this syncretism between the world's systems and polluted Christianity is only heading one way. The seduction of Christianity is alive and doing very well, thank you!
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Van driver fined for blowing his nose
A piece of news that would be both unbelievable and hilarious were it not so very serious made its way in the newspapers and other media outlets all around the world.
A Scottish van driver, caught up and at a standstill in a traffic jam, was charged on the spot by the police for blowing his nose. His van was stationery and had the handbrake applied at the time. Mr. Mancini from the Glasgow area has refused to pay the fine and is prepared to take his case to court.
Sky News reported: A motorist has told Sky News of his disbelief at being fined for blowing his nose while his vehicle was at a standstill.Michael Mancini had stopped his van in traffic and wiped his nose with a handkerchief. When he moved off, he was pulled over by police who told him he had not been in control of his vehicle. Mr Mancini, from Ayrshire, was handed a £60 fixed penalty and given three points on his driving licence. Read on...
I really must have another read of Orwell and Huxley.
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Crossing of swords and the crescent across the channel
Amongst it all another drama was unfolding across the English Channel as the sauve Dominque de Villepin was cleared of an accusation of seeking to defame the incumbent French President Sarkozy. The outcome (at this point in time anyway) probably clears the way for de Villepin to contest the Presidency in 2012.
The Irish Times reported: ‘In one corner, Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin, the aloof, aristocratic poet-diplomat with a Gaullian tendency to project himself as an accidental statesman answering destiny’s call. In the other, Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarkozy de Nagy-Bocsa, the go-getting lawyer of immigrant stock who reached the Elysée by working his way through the party ranks. Newspapers report that Villepin refers to Sarkozy as “the dwarf”. The president thinks his erstwhile colleague is “mad”. The Clearstream verdict came at a bad time for Sarkozy. Opinion poll ratings have been low, and several recent controversies have caused some to ask whether he has lost his touch.’ Read on....
France has over 5 million Muslims in the country and – in similar manner to other countries in Western Europe including Scandanavia – the tensions are rising. A Parliamentary panel that wants Muslim women to stop veiling their faces has recommended a ban on such garb in public places, including hospitals and on public transport.
The panel also recommends refusing residence cards and citizenship to anyone with visible signs of a ''radical religious practice''.
The nearly 200-page report released this week, contains a range of measures intended to dissuade women from wearing all-enveloping veils in France. However, there is no call to outlaw such garments - worn by a tiny minority of Muslim women - in private areas and in the street.
The 32-member, multiparty panel heeded warnings that a full ban risked being deemed unconstitutional and could even cause trouble in a country where Islam is the second-largest religion. The language in the report was carefully chosen in an effort to avoid offending France's Muslims and accusations of discrimination. Muslim leaders have already complained that the debate over the full veil coupled with a debate on French national identity has left some Muslims feeling their religion is becoming a Government target.
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Media coverage around the world
One of the interesting developments I have observed over the past 5 - 10 years is that items of national (UK) news are increasingly being picked up by media around the world and deemed worthy of publication in many countries. In fact I am finding that UK news is being picked up across the Atlantic (and other oceans) and then travelling back to Britain. The 'van driver' report appeared in North America, Australia and India, and most likely elsewhere (if I had taken the trouble to look).
Interesting times indeed.
Week ending 16 January 2010
Well it's amazing how quickly 6 months have passed since this (occasional) blog has been updated.
Busyness (not least caused by technology problems) has been a significant part of the reason. As a result Windows 7 has entered my scene rather quicker than I would have liked.
However, on we go into this new year ...
An 'Inconvenient Truth' for Global Governance
For those living beyond Scotland and the UK, here in the Highlands we are emerging from a fairly-prolonged period of disruption caused by heavy snow. It is only since the advent of satellite images that we can see aerial pictures of the whole country but I can’t remember a time when the whole of the UK was white. I guess that it could be described for Al Gore’s Global Warming theory as ‘An Incovenient Truth’. And more and more the general populace are waking up to this myth; and some are seeing it is being a ‘manufactured problem’ which (they say) is a global problem needing ‘global governance’ to solve. Please note that the expression ‘global government’ has not yet been used, but how can global governance be effected without global government.
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General Election looming....
In the UK political realm we are facing a General Election (best guess is 6 May) and speaking to a very highly-connected Christian this week he said that the outcome is very difficult to predict. It has been, and is likely to continue to be, a ‘two-horse race’. Meanwhile the leader (Nick Clegg) of the 3rd main party (Liberal Democrats) has just announced that school children should be taught that homosexuality is normal and that gays in civil partnerships should be able to describe themselves as ‘married’. However, there are those within all the parties who would totally agree with him on the grounds of ideological or politically-expediency.
I have been contacted by a UK Christian agency to alert the churches to that agency’s efforts to resource the churches prior to the election, and also contacted by an Inverness pastor who is keen to develop (across the Christian community) a list of questions to put the candidates. This was done to very worthwhile effect at the time of local government elections a couple of years ago at a personal level by Owen Morris (another Inverness-based pastor). I will (d.v.) have an article on that in the next couple of days. Meanwhile, if you have any issues or questions that you feel we (Christians) should place before those who govern us, please be in touch.
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Equality Bill: act now!
For those of us in the UK, if there was ever a time to put pen to paper (and mouse to on-line poll) it is now. A bill is going through the parliamentary process which could/would (unless it is amended) make it effectively illegal to de-bar a gay person from holding office in the churches. Let’s make no mistake about this, the process is being driven by a gay agenda cloaked in the fine-sounding words of anti-discrimination, minority-protection and human rights. And of course the enemy is not just ‘outside the walls’ – a lesbian in America has recently been appointed as the first women gay/lesbian bishop in the Anglican Communion.
There is a time-limited opportunity for Christians to make their views known, both by writing and voting in an on-line poll. Now's the moment.
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A world in distress
Meanwhile the most distressing scenes regarding the earthquake in Haiti reminds of the need for prayer; and also the total inability of man – with all the resources that we can muster – to control what is happening to our world. Pray that our (personal and individual across the nations) need for God will be heightened by these tragic circumstances.
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A Covenant-keeping God
In response to requests for access to the document about ‘Covenants’, I have now placed it onto the web site with an unrestricted access, but ‘in the background’. It can be found by clicking on the ‘Christian Life’ menu or by typing ‘Covenant’ into the Search box.
However it remains a ‘work in progress’ and in that context could any responses be e-mailed to me so I can build these into the final document. Thank you.
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Christian works dependant on secular funding
In the last few weeks is appears that – in spite of strenuous efforts by many and united prayer – an Inverness treatment centre for people with alcohol problems is to be closed. The Beechwood Centre which was run by the Church of Scotland and which was respected for the work that it has been doing has failed to gain renewed funding from the local authority.
Following on from the closure of a hostel for the homeless run by the Salvation Army, the case illustrates yet again the dangers of relying on secular funding for the work of Christian ministry.
I don't say that we shouldn't accept secular funding but these situations do illustrate the difficulties that can arise.
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In tomorrow’s Christians Together (d.v.)
- Article about new ministry to the churches and beyond on the matter of handling personal and domestic finances and addressing problems in this area of life.
- Some writings from Rev. Alex Muir on how God has worked in revivals in the past
- An article about multi-faith alliances and joint actions which are leading the churches into compromised relationships and involvements.
23 August 2009
Scotland and the rest of the world
Well I suppose only the future will tell whether the defining moment in the last week marks a fundamental change on how the world relates to Scotland and how Scotland relates to the world.
The decision by the Nationalist-led Scottish government to release Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi who was tried and convicted over the bringing down, in December 1988, of a Pan Am 747 over the town of Lockerbie in the south-west of Scotland has sparked huge reactions in Scotland, the UK and around the world. It is tempting to say that things – however we define the term – will never be quite the same again.
Who would have dreamed that this last week would have seen the Saltire – Scotland's national flag – waved jubilantly in an Arab country and yet figuratively-speaking being burnt on the White House lawn in Washington? Yet the bombing of flight Pan Am flight 103 which killed 259 passangers and aircrew and 11 people on the ground was itself a retaliation against a US Airforce bombing attack on Tripoli in 1986.
Following provocative incidents in the Meditteranean involving Libyian forces and an American aircraft carrier, the US launched a bombing raid on the Libyian capital by US aircraft based on RAF airfields of which the United States Airforce (USAF) took up occupancy after 1945.
In this historical context it would not normally be thought that Scotland (as part of the UK) would be Colonel Gadaffi's favourite nation. But things change; and some things, though often rooted in a long history, can change very quickly and dramatically.
The collapse of the banking system last year saw European political leaders scrambling to save their national banking institutions. And as Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond jumped on the first plane to the Gulf at that time it is not inconceivable that he (and his administration) see alliances with the oil-rich countries as a safer bet for long-term financial health and stability than the mightly US dollar.
But of course he who pays the piper calls the tune, and it would be naive to think that any financial assistance comes without strings. Of course all the wheeling and dealing is done behind closed doors (or in the privacy of a bedouin tent somewhere in North Africa) but time will no doubt tell regarding who is truly running Scotland.
Mayer Amschel Rothschild said: "Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws." Of course he the mogul wasn't saying that he didn't care about legislation, but merely indicating that the power to influence it and everything else lay in controlling the economics.
And as former US President Bill Clinton put it: "It's the economy, stupid."
The sheikdoms know all of that. And in this case we are talking about Sharia law.
15 August 2009
Here in the North of Scotland the schools are preparing to re-open for the forthcoming academic year (August - June) and the berries on the Rowan Trees are well and truly red. So the summer season is drawing to a close. However, having said that, we can sometimes get an 'Indian summer' into September. There's an expression in this part of the world: "If you don't like the (prevailing) weather, then hang around for about 10 minutes and it is sure to change."
A canine metaphor
The Terriers' Race at Moy Fair
 Just to give the wider Christians Together membership an idea of summer in the north of Sotland, two weeks ago we had a couple of summer gatherings in my local area. One was an largish agricultural affair (the Black Isle Show) with fairground and the other (held on a country estate) was more centred around game sports (fishing, shooting, hunting, etc.). The latter is called Moy Highland Field Sports Fair and the two of us went along this year.
Towards the end of the day there is an highly amusing event on the programme - the Terriers Race. This is a scaled-down version of greyhound racing and the 'track' is just the length of the main arena (field). a smaller version of greyhound racing, but it a straight line and with small terrier dogs. For those who have never seen any of those, it is extremely 'random' in terms of how the terriers behave once they are set loose. Some chase the false rabbit (the latter dragged down the field attached to a piece of chord which is wound around (and up) by the rear tyre-less wheel of an up-ended bicycle. (The faster the terriers run, the faster the pedals have to be (hand-) turned in order for the 'rabbit' to maintain a lead.
It's all rather hilarious. Some of the terriers chase the rabbit some fight with each other, some run in the opposite direction, some disappear into the crowd whilst others just don’t seem to bother doing anything much at all. (If the lead terrier does manage to catch the ‘rabbit’, the job of catching the terrier and then extracting the ‘rabbit’ from the dog’s grip brings an added frisson of excitement and expectation.)
And on a much more weighty matter the diversity of responses of the little dogs at Moy is a metaphor for the variety of responses within the Church of Scotland to the current upset. (I stress that I am not, in 'weighting' terms comparing the amusing canine cavortings to that of the serious matter in the Kirk, but just making the point that there is no clear single collective response in both of these situations.)
A significant move
With the 'moratorium' on public comment which the Church of Scotland has applied to itself on the issue of human sexuality the media have nowhere to go when a piece of news breaks – as it does from time to time. Since I last posted on this blog I had both the Inverness Courier (city) newspaper and BBC Radio Highland call me for comment. (Both media outlets carried selected parts of what I said – fairly in the main.)
The context of these calls is/was a story published in the Glasgow Herald (Scottish national daily) about a number of churches (35) around Scotland (with around half of them in the Highlands and Islands) which have affirmed to their respective congregations and anyone else who would like to know that they stand with a ‘covenant’ (faith statement) written and adopted by the Fellowship of Confessing Churches.
In making a clear statement of belief the churches concerned are, as far as these congregations are concerned, bringing a clarity to a confused situation and exercising a clear biblical leadership through the process.
However, it is not altogether clear where all this will lead as the FCC document contains a very clear and strong rebuttal of un-biblical leadership. Section 9 states:
"We reject the authority of those who have denied the
orthodox faith in word or deed. We pray for them and
call on them to repent and return to the Lord."
Mere realignment won't do..
However, this crisis has been a long time coming and no mere 'presbyterian realignment' is going to cure it (as Scottish church history testifies). What the current difficulties – but not just the current sexuality debate – are producing is a manifestation of the basically un-biblical way in which our churches are structured and run.
The three main forms of church polity are congregational (democratic; one member, one vote), episcopal (hierarchical rule) and presbyterian (in theory plural leadership; in practice often something less).
'Solutions' based on personal situations rather than corporate needs
For ministers in the latter two set ups, their support base is not the local church but rather the denomination and this dependency mindset tends to produce 'solutions' which are predicated on the needs of leaders rather than (essentially) those of the Gospel, the Kingdom and the whole body of Christ. And - at a congregational level - this boils down to the responses by a single person. In presbyterian the minister figure is sometimes referred to as the 'first amongst equals' ('primus inter pares').
But the difficulty for a lone clergyperson is that he (or nowadays often 'she') can often be functioning with a very 'mixed-bag' of elders many of whom may have been appointed - for life, and perhaps for the wrong reasons - before the present minister arrived. (And some of these elders can have substantial 'power-bases' in congregations and/or the local community.
The narrow way is seldom easy
So it is not easy; but Christ never suggested it would be. However if we were to order our gatherings in a biblical fashion we (the priesthood of all believers) would not be having to face many of the issues that currently perplex us and drain the body of Christ of vitality. (One significant township/population centre in the Highlands has several churches but not a single minister/pastor. What a tremendous opportunity for the saints there to exercise the giftings that God has given them.)
The main error to avoid (in any situation) is having our responses shaped by prevailing worldly mindsets. How many church projects are schemes are developed on the basis of whether or not it is affordable, pleasing, status-enhancing, pressing, etc. rather than on a prayerful sense of it 'seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us'.
The life of faith is about discerning the will of God (under God and not by the foolishness of our own thinking) and then ordering our steps in the path(s) He sets before us. The enemy speaks fear, doubt, anxiety but these emotions are not from the good shepherd. What to fear - in any situation - is to go forward in our own strengths and wisdom thinking that God's promises will be available to us when we are walking in what is essentially our ways and not His.
Conversaly of course a life that is based on 'faith' rather than 'sight' is a life into which God can and will pour all his blessings and support. The question for every single believer is: "What is the Lord saying to me 'Spirit to spirit'; and how am I going to respond?" The choice is ever before us.
01 August 2009
As Scottish Christians return from their holidays news is coming in of forthcoming events in the Highlands and Islands.
New pastor for Beauly church
Following the recent planting of a new Christian fellowship in Beauly (15 miles north of Inverness), the now-named Beauly Baptist Church has a full time pastor; and Christian musician John Wilson is taking part in a Music Ministry Concert in Beauly this Friday.
Shelter for the Homeless
Meanwhile, the Inverness Shelter for the Homeless pilot project is hoping to run an expanded service this coming winter. However the cost of running the service will need to reduce markedly from that involved in running the pilot scheme with Bethany Trust. Vivian Roden outlines the situation.
Hebridean politics
In the Hebrides the interest in influencing local politics will probably continue following the (very significant) introduction of a Sunday ferry service and the differing but deeply-held views across the community and church/secular divide. If a candidate is to stand in future elections, he/she would probably do better as an independent; and would need strong support from across the different denominations (no small thing to accomplish).
Some recent press reports are worth a read - CalMac causes upset at Ullapool; Demand high for isles Sunday ferry; a Stornoway columnist gives a humour take on a serious issue which affects community and family relationships.
Tent-based Gospel mission
Following on from the Luis Palau 'Highland Festival', Perth-based People With a Mission Ministries are planning to run another Gospel Outreach in Inverness this year; again in conjunction with some of the local churches. Similar events were run in the Bught Park in 2007 and 2008.
The tent-based outreach is backed up by a team manning a high-tech 'Challenger' bus which is geared up as a mobile outreach facility. In July the Challenger bus visited Skye, Harris, Lewis, Ullapool and Cromarty. The coach is due to be in Inverness from Tuesday 21 to Thursday 23 August.
Church of Scotland situation
Although the summer holiday period tends to produce a 'lull' the sad situation regarding the Church of Scotland's decision to allow the appointment of an openly-gay minister to an Aberdeen church is continuing to cause dismay, hurt and great sadness. There are strong signs that the 'gagging order' on individuals (and on committtees and official bodies) within the church is being viewed with serious concern.
Meanwhile a Free Church minister has issued a 'come on over to my (our) place' call to disaffected C of S clergy. However the Free Church is itself racked over the whether to maintain its exclusive and unaccompanied psalm-singing in worship. And that is not to mention the matter of women ministers and elders which could be hugely problematic for any possible moves towards ecclesiastical joinery. So C of S clergy are asking: "Where do I go?"
It is hoped to produce a more comprehensive report in the near future (next week or two) but essentially there is no clear concensus on the way forward. One C of S minister has already left and others have declared themselves to be 'hanging on by a thread'. Basically those who are most likely to provide any lead in the current situation will be those who (a) are in mid-career (b) are respected across the C of S evangelical constituency and (c) have not just moved to a new charge i.e. who have an established relationship with their local congregation. Recently-retired ministers might also get involved in shaping the future.
I haven't heard of anyone (on either side of the situation) who thinks that the Special Commission which is due to report in 2011 will reverse the General Assembly's decision to allow the 'gay' appointment to be made (it now has taken place). The genie is out of the bottle.
One senior minister with almost four decades of service has said: "It is sadly true that, in this ‘broad church’, there have been ministers and others who have denied fundamental points of Christian doctrine - the virgin birth, the resurrection of Christ and even the deity of Christ - and, people say, nothing has been done. Well, such matters are very serious and the church ought indeed to have taken action, but this present situation is different. It’s bad enough when individual ministers step out of line - it’s infinitely worse when the church itself acts against its own foundation in the Word of God." Read the full text of Rev. David Randall's June letter.
However, like climate change, one needs to have a long view and an understanding of the histor to get a full 'take' on all of these things. So I have been spending the last 4 weeks reading up on Scottish church history. Beyond that much of the C of S troubles (but not just the C of S) go back to the Augustinian notion of the 'visible and the invisible church' which the Reformers so emphasised to the effect that our churches today (and then) are an admixture of the truly saved and those who are merely 'religious'. This, coupled with the notion that 'evangelism' means 'getting people into steeple houses' has resulted in an unholy mixture of the saved and unsaved in our gatherings and a very mixed bag in positions of leadership and influence. (The minister under whom I came to know Christ was himself unregenerate until 4 years into his pulpit ministry; and in spite of a degree in theology and having passed the selection procedures for the Church of Scotland ministry.)
More on all of this soon when I get around to further work on Drilling Down on Christian Issues.
Bible offered up for defacing
 As a 'aside' to all of this a recent 'art' exhibition in Glasgow which invited members of the public to write their comments on a copy of the Bible attracted much anti-God response; and provoked serious concern and upset.
The gallery concerned was invited to host the stunt by the (gay)Metropolitan Community Church who wanted their sympathisers to express how marginalised they felt by the hetrosexual views held by the churches. (See 'Fury as art exhibition encourages visitors to deface the Bible.") The MCC has previously held services in the chapel at the former Inverness Royal Infirmary.
Increasing violence against Christians in Pakistan
I am getting a flood of reports of serious and widespread attacks on Christians in Pakistan. I will prepare a piece on this, but meanwhile - and for prayer - see the following links -
Link 1.
Link 2.
But finally and on a lighter note -
I trust that you have enjoyed some R & R over the summer period. Apart from reading history books I have been partly engaged on redecorating a recently-departed daughter's bedroom - so her departure into marriage has now been fully consumated. And "Thanks" to all who have been in touch with your own recent news: it's great to hear from you.
14 July 2009
The North Atlantic Drift
In the last couple of days, two significant developments have taken place – one on each side of the Atlantic.
Calmac, the ferry company serving the Scottish Western Isles has announced its intention to start Sunday sailings. This might be seen as an epoch-making move in terms of the 24/7 society arriving at one of the last (UK) bastions of a weekly work/rest/worship pattern. (Ironically, the secular French are fighting to preserve their Sunday day off.)
Meanwhile to the west of Lewis, the Episcopal Church in America (ECUSA) has voted to abandon the previously-agreed moratorium on the consecration of gay bishops. (It's amazing the liberties that people take when evangelical Christians are off with their buckets and spades.) This developments makes schism in the worldwide Anglican community almost inevitable.
The ECUSA development falls hard on the heels of the launch of the biblically-orthodox Anglican Church in North America in June this year, and in sense these developments are both highly-frustrating moves for the Archbishop of Canterbury who has been doing his best to keep the worldwide Anglican communion together.
With regard to the time-line of the American troubles (brought into initial sharp focus by the consecration of gay bishop Gene Robinson in 2003), it may be that the recent formation of both the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and the (Scottish equivalent) Fellowship of Confessing Churches will follow a similar pattern with a gap of several years – in the American case, six – between the incident and the subsquent outcome; a flash followed later by the bang.
At the recent FCA launch Archbishop (of Sydney) Peter Jensen observed:
We are at a watershed, at a parting of the ways. Decisions have to be made.
In this country, the Christian foundations have been shaken. In this and the next generation there will be fought what may amount to the last battle for the soul of the nation. It will be an ideological war, a war of ideas. But great issues will hang upon the outcome: the fate of a culture and the eternal fate of souls. Many look to you for guidance and resource and inspiration. Can we do so any longer?
How can we test your resolve to evangelize your people? Unless you develop a deep confidence in the gospel of the saving work of God through Jesus Christ, a willingness to work together for Christ, and a determination to submit to the teaching of scripture, it will not be done. The culture will swallow you alive.
With persuasive power, the culture of the West has adopted and promulgated anti-Christian belief and practice.
Read the whole transcript....
Meanwhile a senior Scottish Episcopal clergyman has come out in favour of same-sex marriages. He also claimed he was aware of "numerous" gay and lesbian priests employed by his church and insisted that Scotland was "more grown up" than England in dealing with issues of sexuality.
What these developments relating to sexuality illustrate is that the typical Sunday-morning 'church' congregation consisting of both believers and non-believers is essentially an untenable and fissile (not to mention unbiblical) mix of different spirits.
And this battle is not ultimately about sexuality: it is an assault on the Truth of God.
Meanwhile, back on the west coast of Scotland, the 'Sunday sailings' issue has brought floating to the surface questions relating to -
- which (if any day) is 'special'
- the extent to which 'legalism' is endemic in sections of the church
- the manner in which Christians engage with and seek to bring influence upon our secular society
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Meanwhile -
 if you haven't seen a BBC drama episode of 'The Street' - if you pick up this message while the iPlayer episode is still available and
- you can handle strong language then -
Watch a very powerful story about principle and courage. As an allegory every Christian martyr would identify with the character played by Bob Hoskins of a pub landlord who is faced with paying a huge price for sticking to his beliefs and integrity.
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However, the holiday season is upon us and the Psalmist reminds us:
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones, and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart. (Psalm 32:11)
And have a look at how Christians in China express their praise and worship.
Trusting that you manage to snatch some R & R over the period.
23 June, 2009
Well the 2-week Highland Festival is over and as the Luis Palau Association leaves the Highlands to take the Gospel elsewhere we are left with the responsibility which is ever with us to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The last two days of the festival were held in Bught Park (Inverness) and thousands came on both days - with the final Saturday being blessed with really good weather.
You can pick up short videos of the activities in Wick/Thurso and also in Bught Park.
During the Saturday events, Christians Together (yours truly) had a chance to speak to Andrew Palau as he reflected on the fortnight in the Highlands. <Click here> for the interview.
I hope to have a picture slideshow up soon.
There are perhaps other ways in which £500,000 pounds could have been spent on outreach work, but the team gave it their best – ably assisted by the local Highand Christian communities – and only glory will reveal the outcome.
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Meanwhile, there continues much 'behind the scenes' discussions amongst leaders, members and congregations in the Church of Scotland regarding the disastrous decisions in the May General Assembly. One report suggests that the Church's HQ in Edinburgh is being inundated with requests from congregations for copies of the Title Deeds of church buildings.
Many reports suggest that both Christian individuals and also congregations are already withholding their giving to the Church as a denomination. And if this is the case the looming financial crisis could accelerate – especially given that evangelicals tend to out-give their liberal counterparts. (During the Assembly and before the decision referred to it was reported that the Church was facing bankruptcy in 2018.)
Already it seems that many ministers who are close to retiring are just 'shrugging their shoulders' and living with the situation. Others claim they wish to stay and 'fight from within'. (History does not suggest that they will win.)
Dominic Smart who is the minister of the influential Gilcomston Church in Aberdeen has written in his June newsletter to the effect that the two-year period during which the Special Commission have to research their report to the 2011 Assembly as a 'holding position'. In ruling nothing out and nothing in he has written:
'We are not making a rushed decision to leave the C of S or a fixed decision not to. We need time to draw breath, take the very considerable emotional and psychological hits of the Assembly and take stock of where the land now lies. We also need to take counsel from others and draw close to the Lord in prayer and study together to seek the Lord’s wisdom for where we all go next. This requires meetings that draw people together from different parts of Scotland and elsewhere and from different strands of the Presbyterian Church. This two year moratorium could prove to be of great advantage.'
Meanwhile, the newly-formed Fellowship of Confessing Churches will need to decide what it aims to be. Its statement outlines the embryonic groupings aspirations as follows:
(providing) meaningful unity between gospel congregations and 'United in Scotland' in -
Gospel Mission (going wherever the need)
through
Gospel Ministry (training whoever is gifted)
with
Gospel Money (giving whatever it costs)
in
Gospel Fellowship (sharing whenever we can)
However these will need to be translated into things of substance if the FOCC is have any meaningful impact.
Meanwhile a senior Church of Scotland minister reflected on the Kirk's woes and suggested that as the national church has given up on support for the Jews (2007/8 General Assemblies), that God has given up His support for the church. (But more on this later.)
In America evangelical Anglicans have broken away from the Episcopal Church USA to form the Evangelical Anglians of North America. As a result of the ordination of a gay bishop in 2003, theological conservatives announced last year their intention to form a new province that most see as a rival body to The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. The ACNA unites around breakaway 700 parishes – representing 100,000 conservative Anglicans – in North America into a single church that is meant to serve as an orthodox, Anglican, mission-minded, and biblically-centered province.
Recently Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, who will be installed as the first archbishop of the ACNA, told fellow conservatives that there is a great Reformation of the Christian Church underway.
"We North American Anglicans are very much in the midst of it," Duncan said. “While much of mainline Protestantism is finding itself adrift from its moorings (submission to the Word of God), just like Western Anglicanism, there is an ever-growing stream of North American Protestantism that has re-embraced Scripture’s authority (just as we have)."
Read on...
In England the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans is due to launch formally on 6th July 2009. This follows on from the GAFCON conference held in Israel in Summer 2008.
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In the Western Isles there is much controversy regarding the prospect of Sunday ferry sailings to Stornoway (Lewis), and local man Murdo Murray (who stood as an SCP candidate in the 2007 Scottish elections) has kindly agreed to respond online to questions put to him. Arising from one or two postings on the subject of the 4th commandment a 'Debate' thread has been opened on this subject to allow that particular topic to be addressed separately from the conversation with Murdo.
The subject of 'which day / the 'Lord's Day / Shabbat / every day' is a matter which is not as clear-cut as many suggest and (again, and d.v.) this will be given some additional input later.
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There is increasing evidence of Christians being harrassed by public bodies, employers and now the police. A recent case saw a group of Christians in Manchester being surrounded by police on horseback and others from a police van dressed in body armour when a 'hate' complaint was filed against the church group who were handing out Easter service invitations. If there are any believers unaware of the way the tide is running then they are not 'watching' as they should.
15 June, 2009
As the summer holiday season approaches there will be many Bible-believers in the Church of Scotland considering their futures.
The problem for individual church members is that with the national body in tatters, the local church structures to which they look are leadership mechanisms which are often wordly in dynamic and unbiblical in how some of these have evolved.
In theory the leadership within presbyterian churches is plural; and - if biblical forms are adhered to - male in composition. However two main problems exist.
- Although the leadership should be collegiate (It seemed good to the Holy Spriit and to us - cf Acts 15:28), in practice the 'primus inter pares'' (first amongst equals) dynamic predominates in many churches whereby the minister/pastor assumes an overarching role. In fairness it is he/she who is held accountable by the local presbytery (but that is another part of the problem and doesn't negate problem at local church level).
- Because the Church of Scotland is a 'broad church' many Kirk Sessions include elders who appear to have been appointed for reasons unrelated to spiritual maturity.
Because of this there can frequently arise situations whereby -
- godly ministers are opposed by unspiritual elders on the kirk session
- spiritual kirk sessions are over-ruled by dominant clergy
I have recently spoken to two evangelical Church of Scotland ministers, and their situations illustrate a big part of the challenges now faced.
The conversation with Rev. A took place prior to the General Assembly's disasterous decisions. He was in his mid-50s and due to retire early from the pastoral ministry for valid personal reasons. And he reminisced regarding the time - 30 years earlier - when, along with his peers, he had embarked on his 'career' as a Church of Scotland minister. He remembered how he and his colleagues were full of the enthusiasm, vigour and optimism of young men; convinced as they were that they were going to 'change the Church' (for the biblical better). Now 30 years later,and in spite of all that he and his friends brought to the task, the Church which he has served over that period is in worse shape than it was when he joined it.
There is an expression which says: 'If it's a contest between you and t he system - back the system'.
The second conversation was with Rev. B. He too is about to retire as he has reached that age. As we got to the end of our chat he remarked: 'Colin the next time you visit my manse you could meet a gay male or a lesbian woman minister.' How sorry we both were. But pragmatically and in the pastoral sense he felt it would be better not to de-stabalise the congregation just before he is due to depart.
A third conversation was with an elder. A godly man in an evangelical church. But his minister had decided (and the kirk session had presumably acquiesced) that it would adopt a policy of 'wait and see' what the Special Commission's 2-year study on sexuality would produce. What?
As a mature Christian in yet another church pointed out: 'What are the chances of the Commission coming out with a view which will refute the decision of last month's Assembly (which endorsed the appointment of a gay minister)?'
So the 'wait and see' minister - and evangelical by repute - is hedging his bets, failing to lead in any real way and placing his congregation in spiritual peril in the process.
But let us not be down-hearted regarding these things. The calamity which the national Kirk has become needs to die if something more wholesome is to rise in its place. The compromise, fudge and indecision needed to be clearly seen for what it is. Jesus taught that you would know the nature of a tree by the fruit it bore (Matt 12:33); and now it is clearly apparent.
Over the last 30 years, the Kirk has lost members when social standing no longer relied on church-going. Then as sport, leisure and (now) shopping en masse came along another fall-away took place. The young are not joining and the elderly are dying off. So what is left is more likely to be meeting with other believers for the right reasons.
I don't think the refining is over (and do wonder what lies ahead) but the process is vital if the bride is to be made ready. Jesus asked: 'When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? ( Luke 18:8). Let's trust that we will not disappoint him.
1 June, 2009
There are a variety of responses to the recent General Assembly decision to refer a decision on gay ordination to a Special Commission (reporting back in 2011).
One of the problems of 'leadership' is that leaders tend to be in positions (age, influence, church buildings, national committees, pensions, etc.) whereby they have most to lose in any change to the status quo. And certainly they have most to lose by leaving their denomination; and the bigger the denomination, (generally) the more there is to lose.
Now of course we know that Christians - and leaders the more-so - should be led by the Holy Spirit rather than by any human considerations such as the above. However.....
In general terms (and for the purposes of the present situation) church leaders split down into 4 camps (largely by age):
- those who are just embarking on an ecclesiastical calling
- those in 'mid-career'
- those in their early 50s
- those in or approaching their 60s
And (very roughly and generally) the propensity to jump ship decreases in the above order. For young men, those who are just going into the ministry will have tons of enthusiasm, energy and optimism. 'We will change the system'. But humanly speaking the history shows that this in not likely. It is very difficult to see how God can bless the institution in the light of where it has been heading. So pray for those who still feel the call of God to the national church. They will be operating in a dispiriting environment which could become increasingly hostile from an institutional point of view.
Generally those in 1. are up for challenging the status quo, but they do not yet have the influence and authority. Categories 3. and 4. have little interest in change and often just opt for 'getting on the job locally' and ignore what the denomination is up to. This leaves us with group 2. Those in this group have the enough clout and energy and years ahead of them to be highly motivated and well-enough-positioned to initiate and drive through change.
However, those who work (are employed) within institutional set-ups tend to develop institutional solutions i.e. when there is an explosion in the ecclesiastical order it is a case of bolting together the fragments that fit (and pulling away from the bits that don't) to create a new entity. And those in '2' are in the position of having sufficient influence but also sufficient interest in the future to create a new machine.
However whilst some expedient 'tweaking around the edges' takes place to accommodate differences that previously separated presbyterian groupings, in essence nothing much changes in terms of the essential structures and dynamic. After all why should anyone have an interest in dismantling a system that has got them to where they are and supports them in what they are doing?
Thus has Presbyterianism (as it has evolved) become as hierarchical as episcopacy, bureaucratic as the civil service and as monolithic (within its respective denominations) and as hidebound as IBM (Who? you say) the computer giant outstripped in the late 80s by a fledgling firm called Microsoft run by a couple of youngsters working in a parent's garage.
Throwing Sheep in the Church
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There is a book going the rounds at the moment with the eye-catching title 'Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom'.
(I haven't read it, but it's about the impact on large organisations of Web 2.0 technology - Wikipedia, blogging, social networks, etc. The term 'throw a sheep' relates to grabbing someone's attention; as in a message from Facebook: 'Jim has just thrown a sheep at you'.) |
And what the C of S has failed to realise is that the world has changed. No longer can officialdom guarantee that the those at the top of the organisational pyramid have total control.
The technology of easy communication (and protest) now sits on the keyboard of every home computer in the land.
In years past a General Assembly would meet and come to decisions. These would then be communicated downwards to busy church leaders who (mostly) complied and got on with their daily jobs. Until the next General Assembly when the whole process was repeated. But now....
...electronic networking (web, e-mail, blogs, etc.) has changed all of that. And anyone – including the lowest in the corporate pecking order – can (potentially) grab as much attention as an edict from the top of the tree. Rank, status and position no longer determine influence; the power is in the impact of what someone (anyone) says and not necessarily in the position they occupy. A message has authority based on content rather than the status/position of the author. (cf Matt. 7:29)
'We say Yeah' (go on, hit the link) was the title of an old Cliff Richard song (about teenage rebellion) but the dynamic was seen recently when Joanna Lumley caught the heart of the general public and turned the Government around. The politicians said 'No!' over the matter of the ghurkas; but the rest of the nation said 'Yeah!' And the Church of Scotland - in departing from biblical truth - might not receive that traditional, quiescent and subservient compliance from the ranks that the organisation has longtime taken for granted.
Something new or just another re-shuffling of the pack?
It may be that out of all of this there could develop a national (Scottish) network of churches which are essentially autonomous (financially and operationally) and loosely networked with other Bible-believing churches in their neighbourhood for fellowship, support and accountability - irrespective of denominational tags and backgrounds.(The Baptists and Brethren for instance operate in this type of fashion.)
The newly-formed Fellowship of Confessing Churches could certainly provide a framework for this to happen. (At the time of writing the Fellowship is catering solely for Church of Scotland congregations.) However, and getting back to the beginning of this piece, radical change is not always a welcome option and the tried-and-failed denominational-rearrangement patterns of behaviour might prevail. But as Churchill advised: 'However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.' Yes, let's do.
Whatever the outcome, pray that the Spirit of God will be in driving seat.
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