The Life of Muhammad

Reading a preview of last night's 'The Seeker', part 1 of BBC2's presentationThe Life of Muhammad, I was surprised to read, "Perhaps owing to the sensitivity of the subject matter, the BBC were unable to provide preview tapes of this new three-part series presented by Rageh Omaar (above) which charts the life of Muhammad, messenger and final prophet of God worshipped by a billion-and-a-half Muslims across the globe. (My emphasis).

Messenger and final prophet of God? That bald statement implies a credibility not shared by Christians but how will others interpret it? What was actually said in the programme was that "for one-and-a-half billion Muslims, he is the last and greatest of that long line of prophets who have brought the word of God to humanity." Claimed to be "in the top three of world leaders" who "began a mission to give light to the world", one suicide bomber in the programme was able to claim that his martyrdom was "obedience to the one true god, Allah, following in the footsteps of the final prophet and messenger." It will be interesting to see in the remaining episodes how the prophet Muhammad is presented as "the ultimate role model".

As a Christian I find the implication offensive that Muhammad was the last in a line of Jewish prophets of which Jesus was just another. It was Jesus who said, "I am the light of the world" and "beware of false prophets". But there will be no outcry. No people on the streets. No book burning. That is in line with 'love your enemy' but what is the Anglican Church doing to address these issues? Not a lot. Not for the first time a Jewpoints the way!

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Is Jesus Christ God incarnate or not?

Why are there so many religions?  Are they all the same?

These questions were asked by an 'ex-biologist' after a discussion at Canterbury Cathedral on 16th September when the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, met comedian, writer and broadcaster Frank Skinner for an "in-depth exchange of views on the state of Christianity today". Not being the greatest fan of Frank Skinner with his football fanaticism and laddish humour, when I was sent the broadcast link I was inclined to ignore it but fortunately I had much more respect for my correspondent and listened - in stages. I was in for a surprise. I found that I had far more in common with Mr Skinner than I ever could have imagined. He, a lapsed Catholic who had 'returned from the wilderness', reminded me of forgotten days in my youth when, as an Anglican, I lapsed and experienced the same sensation of returning from the wilderness. Some of our views were also remarkably similar although I winced at some of his 'Catholic' comments about Anglicans and Anglicanism. But that is not what inspired this blog entry, it was the answers given to the questions above, particularly the supplementary question, Are they [religions] all the same?

I wanted to hear an unequivocal 'No' but I was to be disappointed. Readers may have observed that I am a great admirer of Archbishop Rowan. He cares deeply, even for those with whom he disagrees as witnessed by his efforts to keep the Anglican Communion together against impossible odds but struggling to cause offence to no-one, there was no clear message that there is only one way to the Father and that is through Jesus Christ. Yes we can respect the beliefs of others but not in a way that could be taken by the listener to mean that it doesn't really matter what you believe. There are inherent dangers in blanket approval as evidenced by the respect demanded by Islam which will be seen by many as adding credence to their beliefs which, in Christian terms, have to be regarded as mistaken. In the widest sense provided we 'love our neighbour as ourselves' is fine but there are many who do not and failure adequately to proclaim the Gospel message of the Way the Truth and the Life perhaps as well as anything, may explain the state of Christianity today.

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'Great' Minds Think Alike!

A report in Wales Online shows Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop of the American Episcopal Church, and the Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, to be in complete agreement on how religion should be brought into the third millennium to make it more relevant to society today.

Unhappily for those trying to keep the faith, these church leaders are just big fish in small ponds, completely out of touch with the wider Christian church. Rather than adhere to scripture and tradition, the new make-it-up-as-you-go-along Anglican church twists events to suit their stance and misrepresents the facts giving rise to claims of discrimination and misogyny to crush those who disagree with them.

Thy do it their way without the humility to consider that they may be wrong, dragging their flocks down with them. The very least they could do is to allow those who disagree with them to worship according to their own beliefs, not how they, as church leaders, determine. Neither has the authority to do so other than that taken upon themselves by a flawed procedure.

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“There is no place for you in this church.”

The Very Rev Jeremy Winston

Dean Of Monmouth Sept to Nov 2011

Not as they would have intended but nevertheless they have had their way. Thepurple-obsessed, mean-spirited women who, not content with being ordained into the sacred ministry, complained bitterly about the appointment of a traditionalist, Canon Jeremy Winston, to the post of Dean of Monmouth. Another has been appointed in his place, one who, according to reports, shares theview that traditionalists can take what is offered or leave the church. Fr Jeremy was regarded as unacceptable despite his manifest talents because he did not accept the fashionable view that the priesthood can be re-defined by committee. So here was a priest who stood head and shoulders above many, including the Bench of Bishops, who had been told: “There is no place for you in this church” as if it were their church, a church that has become dominated by those who delude themselves into thinking that after 2,000 years, they know the mind of God better than Jesus Christ.

Dean Jeremy was held in such high esteem outside the church hierarchy that the Service of Thanksgiving held on Saturday (January 21) in St Mary's Priory Church, Abergavenny, witnessed a congregation in excess of 800 led by the Lord Lieutenant of Gwent representing HRH The Prince of Wales. (Prince Charles had twice visited St Mary's to open projects initiated by Fr Jeremy when Vicar.) Attendance was limited only by space with every nook and cranny of the Priory Church occupied, as was Fr Jeremy'sfuneral service in St Woolos Cathedral where the congregation overflowed into chapels and outside, with a broadcast link to St Mary's in Abergavenny.

How often have we heard that the talents of women should not be overlooked as justification for them standing at the altar in persona Christi yet Fr Jeremy's obvious talents had been ignored until it became clear to all but the blinkered and prejudiced that he was without doubt the best candidate to be appointed Dean of Monmouth following the departure to St Helena of the now Bishop Richard Fenwick. In addition to his many pastoral and personal gifts which were frequently referred to at the Service of Thanksgiving for hislife [in the link go to January 21, 2012], Fr Jeremy held many Appointments, some of which appeared in the Order of Service:

• Regional Chaplain to the Order of St John
• Chairman of the Standing Liturgical Advisory Commission
• Past Chairman of the Gwent Medical Ethics Board
• Past Chairman of the Additional Curates Society
• Governor of several schools, often acting as Chairman
• Chairman of Father Ignatius Memorial trust
• Member of the Executive Committee of the Friends of Friendless Churches,
• Long-standing member and chairman of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales

 Listening to the many moving tributes to Fr Jeremy, those on the Bench of Bishops present must have sat rather uncomfortably since they are 'of one mind' on the ordination of women, ie, their Archbishop's. Bishop David Thomas was the last and only bishop appointed to care for traditionalists. The position was dropped following his retirement with unforeseen consequences for the planned ordination of women to the episcopate. Bishop David and Lord Rowe-Beddoe referred directly to the issue. In his tribute Bishop David said, "I for one shall never forget his courage in proposing and championing the so-called ‘Kirk-Winston amendment’ to the draft legislation on women in the episcopate in 2008." Lord Rowe-Beddoe went further. He said, "As a staunch traditionalist, Jeremy was appointed to a small panel of the Governing Body which drafted a Bill for the appointment of women bishops in 2009. His amendment, which called for the reappointment of a provincial assistant bishop, was defeated. It has been widely acknowledged that the defeat of this amendment contributed greatly to the defeat of the Bill itself at that time. He was always unfailingly courteous to those who did not share his views, even when some told him that “there is no place for you in this church”.

It would be a fitting tribute to Fr Jeremy if those who think that traditionalists have no place in the church reap their reward and see Synod and the Governing Body now bury the move that will separate us from the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

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We will all be changed

A further drop in Church of England attendance has been reported.Average Sunday attendance fell from 944,400 in 2009 to 923,700 the following year, continuing the long-term downward trend. Hardly the result one might have expected after the church decided to make itself more relevant to society by becoming ever more secular.

In an unhelpful Blog article for the Guardian on the prospect of women bishops in the CofE, Andrew Brown writes: "The Church of England's fudge on female bishops is breathtaking". He concludes with the comment: "It may be possible to fudge questions about the nature of a communion wafer in this way. But I don't think it will do for a matter of employment law." So the Body of Christ can be fudged but Its administration by the sacred ministry is something that should be determined by employment law! No wonder so many churches are for sale with plenty more to come as attendance dwindles.

The theme of this year's Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is 'We will be changed'. From the Churches Together site:

"Change is at the heart of our Christian faith. Saint Paul said that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation, and we are called to live as children in the light.

The theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2012 comes to us from the churches in Poland, who have reflected upon their own experience as a nation, and in particular how, as a nation, they have been changed and transformed by the many upheavals of their history, and sustained by their faith.

Change is also at the heart of the ecumenical movement. When we pray for the unity of the church we are praying that the churches that we know and which are so familiar to us will change as they conform more closely to Christ. This is an exciting vision, but also a challenging one. Furthermore, when we pray for this transforming unity we are also praying for change in the world."

The upheavals in the Anglican church may have brought joy to some but for the church it has been a disaster with litigation and arguments about the nature of the priesthood, gay and lesbian ordination and same sex marriage which no doubt is now regarded as acceptable on the grounds that there is 'no theological objection', the Anglican justification for female ordination. These changes have had a wholly negative impact on the church when our aim should be unity with the Roman Catholic church from which we have become separated and the Orthodox Church.

If women in England and Wales are to be ordained bishops because of secular employment laws, then 'we will all be changed'. We will be changed but in the wrong direction, choosing Protestantism rather than the ancient churches of Rome and Orthodoxy, the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of our baptism, driving us further than ever from church unity. As Synod members prepare to vote, they should not be influenced by secular employment laws but follow Christ's example and listen to His prayer that we all may be one.

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The plain truth

?I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me?Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father?And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd." John 10: 14-16

Two thousand years later, 'Anglican women clergy are to rally in Westminster later at a march supporting plans to introduce women bishops' - BBC News - the culmination, they hope, of their campaign of self interest. Never mind the torment, the acrimony, the divisions; even the evidence. Nothing matters more than achieving the feminist goal of women bishops.

Writing for Ekklesia in favour of the move with customary secular feminist fervour, Savi Hensman makes an excellent case for its rejection. It is so far removed from the voice of Jesus that her plea would be laughable were in not so serious, particularly for women and men who see their church being stolen from them for political ends.

I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

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It is finished

"Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.

The Church of England has been reminded in various Synod debates this week that the timeless faith of believers has little relevance in their 21st Century church. Weighed down by complexities of their own making designed to appeal to those with imported beliefs or none at all, they cast their votes leaving the Lord's disciples to make of it what they will with no hint of thought or compassion.

'Give me the child...I'll give you the man' was the cry of old but the male role model, already whittled away in primary education, is declining in the Anglican church along with attendance while the influence of the Anglican Church wanes. Sexuality over reason has seen Christian marriage devalued to the level of a political ball game which takes all and gives nothing with the implication that there must be something seriously wrong with people who share spiritual values beyond current flights of fancy. Who cares? Those men and women of conscience who do so are characterised as misogynistic bigots. They are forced to defend themselves against false accusations of discrimination clearly designed to appeal to secularists who see no place in society for a church that shaped our history; people who are content to see mosques replace our churches in the misguided belief that Islam is, as one commentator put it, just another 'Old Testament religion' or an Arabic version of the Bible. Traditional Christian values are being destroyed. The extremists who occupy our church insist that they are being generous as they strangle the life out of all who oppose them. They show utter contempt for those who do not share their distorted values and reward those who have shown them generosity by excluding them from the church they now see as their own.

The women at the cross stood weeping under Christ's broken Body as His garments were divided. In today's Anglican Church they simply divide His garments among themselves.

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Another covenant?

The Anglican Communion is taking desperate measures to stitch together something that might be passed off as a silk purse rather than the sow?S ear it has become. When the General Synod meets later this month to discuss the proposed Anglican Covenant, designed to hold together its disparate members with their ?Constitutional autonomy [in] the Anglican Communion?, they will find that lines have already have been drawn and campaigns organised against it.

As the major churches of East and West strive for unity with signs of [gender neutral] brotherly love, the Anglican Communion persists in pushing itself further and further away pretending that God is for their liberal agenda, necessitating rules for dealing with strife. Gone is the mystery, the tolerance, the ?Love thy neighbour? Of the New Covenant which swept away the hypocrisy of old. In its place we have a secularised, do as you please organisation where faith has given way to political correctness, often self-centred rather than Christ-centred.

An example of how badly things have gone wrong is demonstrated by the Episcopal Church of the United States illustrated in the Anglican Curmudgeon Blog and, closer to the context of the Church of England, by the St Barnabas Blog.

Seeing how Anglicanism is falling apart clearly shows that re-interpreting the Gospel to suit today's lifestyle does not work. This is exemplified by the web site of the CofE's neighbouring Church in Wales, the introductory halaman of which has much more to do with politics than with religion. ?His Darkness? The Archbishop of Wales, a disciple of Mrs Jefferts Schori, frequently claims that he is making the church relevant to society today, blind to the fact that the unchanging mysteries of Orthodoxy and Catholicism have far more relevance outside his little domain. Even unchanging Islam growing in their own backyards fails to convince liberals that they may be mistaken.

Compare these examples of modern day Anglicanism with the timeless teachings of the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Compare traditional faith with the modern difficulties caused of choosing another way. I do not ever remember the Archbishop of Canterbury looking so uncomfortable as he does when he seeks to explain the Anglican Covenant. And with good reason as its main purpose is stated to be how to sort out divisions that have arisen [of their own making Ed]. Archbishop Rowan ends by saying that he hopes the covenant will be a “truly effective tool for witness and mission in our world”.

I wish him success in his endeavour but it must be blindingly obvious that if the Anglican Church had continued to follow the New Covenant in Jesus Christ, there should be no need of another.

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Christian persecution - old and new

Thankfully Christian persecution is no longer the Roman ‘sport’ which inspired box-office spectaculars such as Quo Vadis but the persecution of Christians continues today on a much bigger scale and is just as evil. From Konrad Szymanski in New Europe :

?According to the statistics at least 75% of religious persecution is directed against people of Christian faith and each year about 170,000 Christians suffer because of their beliefs. The total number of faithful who are discriminated amounts already to 100 million. It's also a known fact that more Christians have been martyred in the 20th century than in all the prior 1,900 years. All in all it makes Christians the most persecuted religious class.?

Many of the worst atrocities are too distressing to illustrate here but burning, beating, beheading and all manner of brutality are documented on the web, including the use of rape as a weapon. The beating of Christians in Egypt (above) for opening their cafe during Ramadan is a minor punishment by comparison. In Iraq, killings and persecution have resulted in the Christian population being halved to 400,000 since 2003. Meanwhile in Pakistan ?Blasphemy? Is used as a weapon of persecution. Not only does much of the persucution go un-reported but Islamic states have attempted to get the United Nations to legitimise it. Meanwhile many delude themselves by making excuses.

Here in Great Britain, in addition to the Islamic atrocities perpetrated on British citizens we have subtler methods of oppression, often by do-gooders who are so immersed in political correctness it has almost become a religion. Even church-goers are not exempt. Orthodox Anglicans in the Church of England are oppressed by those who have abandoned the traditional faith of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church because they refuse to adapt their religion to suit terbaru life styles. In the forefront of this movement are the feminist organisation Women and the Church (WATCH) which battles ceaselessly to exclude Christians who don?T agree with their political agenda of parity for women in the church as though they were working for Local Government Social Services or the Co-op.

Those whose agenda is to make the church relevant to society fail to see that they have made faith irrelevant to many with the consequent decline of the church. If we are not careful the remaining vacuum will be filled by others leaving the oppressors themselves as victims.

Postscript

On his Blog Archbishop Cranmer has published a long but interesting US Report on Religious Freedom in the UK.

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Women, Discrimination and The Church

I am indebted to an alert follower for this link to a broadcast on Christmas Day describing how one women battled against discrimination. A remarkable woman; God bless her.

"Priscilla, Queen of iPM listeners. Doctor, lawyer and theologian, Priscilla Noble-Mathews talks about her life, death and the hereafter. A homesick wartime evacuee, she's faced down sexism and ageism to work her way from the Bar, through the civil service to medicine. In what many would regard as her retirement, Priscilla has found new challenges working with a helicopter rescue team, risking her own life for others."

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A new dawn

Just a small item listed among other 'News' items on Google but a momentous event despite the fact that the major interest in the Ordinariate would appear to be from abroad. Listed among the overseas commentators was theBBC although 'auntie' chose to highlight the opinion of Prebendary David Houlding who "belongs to the Catholic Group on the Church of England Synod, and regards the ordination with sadness and anger."

Whatever 'sadness and anger' there may be, nothing should detract from this momentous  occasion in which the Ordinariate brings together Catholics, Roman and Anglican, in the spirit Christ prayed for on the night of His betrayal, that we all may be one.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI is clearly a man of vision. Full marks are also due to the Archbishop of Westminster who reflected Pope Benedict's vision in his homily at the ordination of three former Anglican bishops today and to Archbishop Rowan for his prayers and understanding.

Postscript

Less understanding (or deliberate misrepresentation in the  style of WATCH) is shown by Peter Stanford whose article now heads the Google news item. He writes "It is the Vatican's negative attitude to women's ministry that formed the backdrop to the whole affair. The three recruits oppose the Church of England's plans to appoint female bishops and regard the Catholic priesthood as a safe, female-free haven." His article in today's Observer (16 Jan 2011) is beautifully unpicked here.

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Ass Bishop

What a shame we no longer have the Llandaffchester Chronicles to comment on the state of the Church in Wales, ruled as it is with the rusty iron hand of Bazzer, the boy from Neath. Unable to find anyone worthy in the Principality, His Darkness appointed David Wilbourne as Ass Bishop in his campaign to reduce the church to complete irrelevance to society.  Browsing through Church matters as she does, my wife happened upon a Church in Walesreport of the address given by the Ass Bishop at a recent induction. Still incandescent after reading it I asked her to give her reaction which follows.

"So now we have the Gospel according to David Wilbourne. The ordination of women will rid the world of homophobia, misogyny, brutalisation of women in all situations including those in war zones.

Those of us who cannot in all conscience succumb to this terbaru day form of feminism and political correctness are therefore responsible for all the horrors inflicted on women in the world.

What a complete and utter fool this man is!

Pope Benedict has put all in perspective with his customary thoughtfulness, prayerfulness and indeed holiness - all far removed from the Ass Bishop of Llandaff. The Church cannot change what Our Lord started. Read Light of the World David Wilbourne and learn true religion."

For years those who have remained faithful to Christ's example have been belittled and abused, not only by people who have invaded the Anglican church bending it to their will, but by the general population which has been infected by frequent false claims of misogyny and discrimination but this silly Ass has taken criticism of the faithful to an janggal level.

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Fight the Good Fight

There are those who have given up the fight, there are many who are weary of the fight, but there are others who will continue to fight the good fight to save the Church they love.

It is now clear that Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals in the Church of England have been betrayed. In good faith they believed the promise of an honoured place in their church if the measure to allow women to be ordained went through. Since then every glimmer of hope of living together from the prospect of a 'Third Province' to a statutory 'Code of Practice' has been dashed. It has been made abundantly clear that we are not wanted in the new Anglican church. All that remains is a vague promise; this time the promise of a voluntary Code of Practice which ultimately will be unworkable because anyone not in favour of the ordination of women will be gradually weeded out. This final compromise is summed up in an offer of 'Respect' but what value can be placed on respect after years of false accusations of bigotry, misogyny and everything else the women's movement has chosen to hurl at us in pursuit of their cause while their opponents turned the other cheek. The brazen campaign by WATCH and their like to exclude opponents from the church as though they are cleansing the Temple has been over-egged to such an extent that many of their supporters have become uncomfortable at the lack of love and respect shown to their neighbours, many of whom have worshipped in Anglican churches long before the Church of England was infiltrated by these feminists in pursuit of their secular cause.

The hoped for live and let live stance has become so one-sided that if women are ordained bishops there will no longer be a place in the church for dissenters. Their objective is based on lies. This cannot be right in any circumstances let alone a religious environment. The last ditch face-saving campaign to encourage opponents to abstain rather than vote against the measure is offensive to those whose sole objective has been to act in a way they believe to be the mind of Christ. Since WATCH and their fellow travellers are the authors of their own misfortune it is now time for their supporters to turn the other cheek. If the women's movement had shown any sign of respect or understanding for their fellow worshippers whom they seek to crush through the legislative process they would have been guaranteed success. Now it is too late, their thirst for power has served no-one but themselves. They deserve defeat.

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Florence Nightingale

It was odd that the bishop of Llandaff in her first interview for Wales Online should choose Florence Nightingale as a fellow victim of her alleged prejudice and discrimination.

June Osborne:“But isn’t it inspiring that social history is changing in front of us? If you think back to Florence Nightingale, she would probably have been a bishop had she been allowed.

?She was a very devout Christian but the church wouldn?T welcome her.

"I think of women who haven?T had the kind of chance we have watched come in my lifetime. It?S inspiring."

Nothing could be further from the truth. Florence Nightingale'supbringing was one of great wealth and luxury. She was brought up by governesses but she was determined to serve, not to be served.

She felt called by God to serve others, unlike women motivated by Women and the Church (WATCH) who serve only themselves. Not content with admission to the episcopate they campaign for self advancement with spurious claims of injustice, inequality and exclusion, ignoring or belittling the views of anyone taking a contrary view. Ideology has replaced theology.

Florence Nightingale reflected on Mary's service to mankind when shesaid, "'Behold the handmaid of the Lord and so have I said in my youth.' (Luke 1:38) To a night nurse in 1886 Nightingale prayed: May we all answer the angel as Mary did: Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it unto me according to Thy word."

She was an Anglican with a Unitarian background. From Caring & the Christian Story:  "Her theology was far from orthodox - she dismissed the incarnation, the Trinity and the atonement as abortions of a comprehension of God's plan. However, she considered herself a Christian and her work a "call from God."

Baptised in the Anglican Church, Florence Nightingale was "highly critical of the Church of England, dismissing both its male centred power structure as unjust and the Apostles' Creed as unbelievable. She regarded the theology of the Book of Common Prayer as childish and was particularly aggrieved by the sort of prayer which she believed was insulting to God's majesty and grandeur." (Florence Nightingale, radical theologian).

In that sense Florence Nightingale would have made a typical Anglican woman bishop but in stark contrast to the desolation caused by those holding the 'victim' views expounded by the bishop of Llandaff, Florence Nightingale dedicated her life to saving others.

As the founder or 'mother' of modern nursing Florence Nightingale improved lives. WATCH shatters them.

The movement for the ordination of women was built on deception. The deception continues with references to what Jesus would have said or done. We know from the Bible what He said and what He did. Feminists choose to ignore it or twist scripture to mean what they want it to mean.

Florence Nightingale a bishop? Rubbish. She was far superior.

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Conform not to the world!

Here we go again. From Christian Today 'Bishop and senior clergyman join calls for Church of England to lose equalities exemptions':

"The Church of England should lose its protections under the Equalities Act that allow it to discriminate against people on the basis of their sexuality, a bishop and senior clergyman have said today. Paul Bayes, the bishop of Liverpool, and David Ison, the dean of St Paul's Cathedral, both backed Jeremy Pemberton, a gay priest who was blocked from being a hospital chaplain after marrying his partner. They are supporting the Ozanne Foundation, a charity launched on Monday campaigning against discrimination within religious institutions."

The episcopal rot which is leading to the demise of the US Episcopal Church spread rapidly to our shores as liberal clerics and laypersons saw an opportunity to use the church to legitimise their behaviour.

It has been reported that the 'Episcopal Church Prepares to Tighten Screws on Traditional Marriage Proponents', quoting Fr. Richard John Neuhaus’ law: “Where orthodoxy is optional, orthodoxy will sooner or later be proscribed.”

In supporting the Ozanne Foundation senior clergymen are simply conforming to the world without discernment. The Foundation jargon is 'We Believe in Just Love For All!' as if others do not. Failure to conform results in accusations of homophobia and more.

What people do in private is between them and God. It is not for others to judge but we have a right to stand firm in defence of holy matrimony which is between a man and a woman, to the exclusion of all others and for life.

Ozanne herself came out as gay to her friends and family. She then entered into a long term relationship with another woman, although they separated after five years together. Fidelity, it appears, is not included in 'Just Love For All'.

Who cares? Business manager bishops and senior clergy don't, leading others astray when they should be transformed.

David Ison, dean of St Paul's Cathedral told Christian Today: 'We've got to come to terms with the reality of the world we're in and we're not doing that. That is why we're becoming disconnected from society. The church is becoming disconnected from society because it has nothing different to offer.

Bishop Bayes told Christian Today, "I hope for a future whereby people like Jeremy [Pemberton] can feel that their ministry can be exercised and that they can love the person they love freely".  Pemberton is a divorced father of five.

The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church has decided to permit same-sex marriage. The Church in Wales bench of bishops can hardly contain their eagerness despite the absence of a mandate.

Gone are the days when Anglican bishops acted like bishops.

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Homily on John 17

Where the Gospel and the World Collide. Feminism v the Kingdom of Heaven.

Gavin Ashenden.

Reproduced from the blog: Gavin Ashenden - Restoring Orthodox Christianity as an Anglican.

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April Fool

Bishop Michael Curry preached at the Royal wedding                     Source: Reuters/Christian Today

Presiding bishop Michael Curry thought his invitation to preach at the Royal wedding was an April Fool joke according to a report in Christian Today.

That is not surprising. Anglican leaders have barred the US Episcopal Church (TEC) from decision-making for allowing same-sex marriage.

No wonder Curry thought the invitation a joke. He was being offered a platform to preach his confused message of 'luuuuv' to hundreds of millions of people around the world.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, came up with the idea despite TEC having been sanctioned. "It was fantasticdanquot;, he said, "This was raw God". Raw it might have been but it wasn't God. It was Michael Curry, liberal activist.

Welby claimed that people were caught up in it and excited by it. Those senior members of the Royal family he had spoken to were really excited by it and the people spoken to at the reception were gripped by it.

That is hardly surprising given the record of some of the senior members of the Royal family and many of the celebrities present. The Holy sacrament of marriage was combined with a message that legitimises just about anything in the name of love, interpreting selfish eros as selfless agape.

Wrapping all forms of love into one parcel is very convenient but it it is not biblical. So successful was Curry in getting across his liberal message that Labour peer Peter Mandelson said he was considering popping the question to his same-sex partner of 20 years. People across the UK will be 'inspired' by the moving display of love they witnessed between Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, he said.

It wasn't April but there was a fool. Welby hammering yet another nail in the Anglican coffin.

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Nonpcopinionophobia

Left: Hundreds of people protested against the veil ban on Wednesday Source: BBC/AFP Right: Mary McAleese at Dublin Pride with husband Martin (right), son Justin (second left) and his husband Fionan Source: BBC/PA

"Denmark has got it wrong. Yes, the burka is oppressive and ridiculous – but that's still no reason to ban it." -Boris Johnson. The Telegraph (£)

Boris Johnson wrote his article in the Telegraph after the first woman was charged in Denmark for wearing niqab after theDenmark veil ban was introduced.

The law does not mention burkas and niqabs by name but says "anyone who wears a garment that hides the face in public will be punished with a fine".

Nevertheless, the Guardian headlined the event:Boris Johnson's burqa remarks 'fan flames of Islamophobia', says MP.

In the article Boris Johnson is accused of “dog whistle” Islamophobia by a former Conservative chair, Lady Sayeeda Warsi, who said the lack of action by the party over Johnson’s comments showed it was “business as usual.”

Sayeeda Warsi had previously called on the Conservative party to launch a “full independent inquiry” into Islamophobia in the party and warned the Tories were "pursuing a politically damaging policy of denial about the problem in its own ranks".

Back in 2010 she spoke out about what she sees as the rise of Islamaphobia in Britain. By coincidence in 2010 Sayeeda Warsi was "named one of the world's '500 Most Influential Muslims' by Middle East think tank the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre. She also topped the UK's Muslim women power list."

Also getting in on the controversy, "Labour demanded that the Conservative chair, Brandon Lewis, refer the former foreign secretary for mandatory equalities training, amid renewed calls for the party to open an independent investigation into Islamophobia in the party.

"In a letter to Lewis, the shadow equalities minister, Naz Shah, said Johnson’s comments were “ugly and naked Islamophobia” and said Lewis should abide by his word to give Tory members diversity training to combat Islamophobia."

While many people will agree that the Denmark veil ban is reasonable, Boris Johnson did not but he is accused of making Islamophopbic remarks.

Honest opinions are no longer acceptable unless they conform to the latest politically correct dictums so people at large are deterred from saying what they feel for fear of being condemned as Islamophobic regardless of the facts.

In 2011 I blogged under the heading Islamophobia:

"phobia /pho·bia/ (fo´be-ah) a persistent, irrational, intense fear of a specific object, activity, or situation (the phobic stimulus), fear that is recognized as being excessive or unreasonable by the individual himself. There is nothing irrational, excessive or unreasonable about the fear of Islam. In her University of Leicester speech today the Tory Party Chairman, Baroness Warsi, raises the now familiar cry of Islamophobia, warning that describing Muslims as either “moderate” or “extremist” fosters growing prejudice. If it is a question of either we would have to choose "extremist" because at the root of the Islamic ideology is a belief that Islam is supreme and that any means, including lying (taqiyya), are legitimate weapons to achieve world domination."

Constant claims of 'Islamophobia' regardless of the context is a device used to raise a political ideology to a level beyond criticism while religions such as Christianity are under constant threat. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this phenomenon is its contradiction with feminist ideals of 'equality'.

Feminists have used similar tactics in the Anglican Church with their constant cries of misogyny and homophobia. After attacking Western Anglicanism their attention has turned to the Roman Catholic Church which is threatened from within as well as from outside.

Irish Church must confront issues to avoid 'decline into irrelevance' shouts the Tablet headline. "The Church needs to confront its teachings on issues like celibacy, female ordination, its theology on sexuality and its hierarchical structure, otherwise it will continue to decline into irrelevance, Fr Kevin Hegarty has warned."

In an obvious nod towards secularism he said, “People began to lose confidence in an institution whose teaching on this subject was so out of sync with their lived experience.”

Mary McAleese who was the Irish President of from 1997 to 2011 has condemned the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality as "evil" and was "hopeful the Pope would change the church's position on the issue".

No doubt the former President was influenced by that fact that she was the first recipient of the Vanguard Award at the Gaze LGBT film festival in Dublin. In June she became the first former Irish president to take part in the Dublin Pride parade when she marched with her son Justin and his husband Fionan.

If the Roman Catholic Church follows the example of Western Anglicanism, what hope is there for Christianity in the West?

Free speech must be maintained. If people disagree they must defend their position. Fair comment must not be silenced by unwarranted charges of phobias.

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Another tent...

An attentive bishop of Bangor modelling interfaith relations           Source: Twitter@ChurchinWales

Another tent, this time at the Welsh National Eisteddfod, where there has been 'great discussion' on how Wales is modelling interfaith relations.

The Church in Wales is obsessed with interfaith relations, almost as much as it is obsessed with same-sex relations. The Archbishop of Wales, John Davies, has been awarded an honorary doctorate in recognition of his services to the Church in Wales and of his 'leadership across faith communities' - that is, excluding orthodox Anglicans in their own ranks who continue to be ignored as if they no longer existed.

Islam denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died on the cross for the sins of mankind. The sort of faith that the Church in Wales is moving towards, ignoring biblical teaching as it promotes same sex relations giving the impression that such relationships are to  be welcomed as a blessing, a favoured minority to be honoured while orthodox Anglicans are treated with contempt.

Same sex relations should put the Church at odds with their Muslim brothers and sisters, not that the opinions of women count for much in Islam unlike the Church in Wales in which they are becoming dominant. The emphasis is on good relations regardless of theological differences. Getting along.

How jolly to be getting along in Wales while Christians and others abroad are being massacred for their faith. Just last week it was reported that at least 65 people lost their lives after suspected Boko Haram militants opened fire on a funeral in Nigeria's north-eastern state of Borno.

Did anyone in the tent even notice let alone condemn the atrocity.

There is much more.

From a recentBarnabas Fund report:

"An unprecedented humanitarian emergency is looming in the Sahel region of Africa following a surge in armed violence, warned UN aid agencies and NGOs in a report on 27 June. Around one million people fled their homes in the past year, bringing the total number of people displaced across the Sahel to 4.2 million, the report said. Displacement has increased five-fold in Burkina Faso and Niger, which have also recently seen a sharp rise in Islamist attacks against Christians."

Perhaps the scale of such reports is too daunting to comprehend and they happen far away.

They could, instead, have considered a single but not isolated incident. A ten-year-old Christian Pakistani boy who was working at a factory to care for his mother and two brothers. He was raped and tortured by his Muslim employers before he finally died on 10 July, 2019. His sin? He asked to be paid for the work he had done.

Many atrocities go unreported in the media but they can easily be found by Googling. Some links are provided in the right hand column of this blog.

I have not read of any condemnation of the highlighted atrocities from the world leaders who rushed  to support New Zealand’s Prime Minister when she condemned the reported Christchurch mosque shootings.

That is not to endorse the killing of Muslims but to deplore the double standards that allow the murder of Christians to go unreported while getting along with Muslims who, when they are the majority, expect all to conform under Sharia: convert, pay the jizya or die.

Getting along in Wales does nothing for the oppressed abroad while strengthening the hand in this country of a religious ideology that seeks to dominate others using deceit and jihad to advance their supremacist ideology.

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Stephen Cottrell: A bit of an oik from Essex?

The Archbishop of Canterbury with Archbishop of York Designate Stephen Cottrell,  Source: CofE

A bit of an 'oik from Essex' has been nominated as the new Archbishop of York in succession to Dr John Sentamu. Not my description but Stephen Cottrell's description of himself in a Sheffield Diocesan Development Day lecture in 2011.

A gifted communicator, his appointment is understandable given the liberal direction of the Church of England. He had been widely tipped to succeed Richard Chartres as Bishop of London but lost out to former head nurse Dame Sarah Mullally.

A critic of the church for its 'shortcomings' in promoting BAME clergy into senior positions and a supporter of the ordination of women who looks forward to seeing a female archbishop of Canterbury, he can count himself lucky that he has not found himself sidelined like other men, a victim of his own political correctness.

Asked by the Guardian about the issue of same-sex relationships which has "divided the church for more than 20 yearsdanquot;, he said there was ?Absolutely no place for homophobia in our church, and absolutely everyone, regardless of their sexuality, is welcome in our church?.

Christian Concern tweeted differently: "@CottrellStephen has previously shown he has no respect for Biblical truth on human sexuality and marriage."

Cottrell's appointment has caused some controversy, so much so that a spokesperson for the Church of England has issued aStatement on the Archbishop of York designate, the Right Reverend Stephen Cottrell denying accusations made against him by "a pressure group". He was said to have told clergy that 'if they disagree with the approach the Diocese is taking on matters of human sexuality' they should follow their consciences and leave.

The implication in the statement is that 30 clergy are lying or mistaken.

In June 2019 gafcon uk issued a statement by representatives of conservative evangelical clergy from the Diocese of Chelmsford confirming that ?We are used to being told that we don?T belong?.

Christian Today reports the same issues with claims and counter claims in an article "Stephen Cottrell's appointment as Archbishop of York exposes divisions in the Church of England":  One thing is sure Stephen Cottrell's liberal views offend many orthodox Anglicans who have been left out in the cold by a self-styled inclusive church.

Liberal Bishop Becomes Archbishop of York, No. 2 in Church of England was the headline in the New York Times: "Cottrell has been outspoken in his support for women clergy and has said everyone is welcome in the Church regardless of their sexuality."

Commenting on Bishop Stephen Cottrell's Presidential Address to Diocesan Synod on Saturday 11 March 2017,Andrew Symes of Anglican Mainstream wrote that Cotterell has given "one of the clearest indications yet of the next stage of major change in the Church of England’s approach to sexual ethics" after he called for “prayers of thanksgiving” for same sex relationships.

Ironically Stephen Cottrell replaced the openly gay priest Jeffrey John as bishop of Reading in 2004 after John was pressured to step down by the then Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

One can only speculate on the trajectory of Cottrell's career had Jeffrey John not been persuaded to step down as bishop of Reading but Jeffrey John must have been feeling particularly sick on reading of Cottrell's elevation. More able than many Dr John has played by the rules while lesser clergy have flaunted them. Had he defended the Church's traditional teaching on marriage he would have gained wider support.

By teaming a new, liberal Archbishop of York with an ineffectual Archbishop of Canterbury the Church of England looks destined to stray even further from biblical truth with a further exodus of disaffected Anglicans.

In conclusion, a quote from The Spectator in an articleThe slow, strange race to be the next Bishop of London by Ysenda Maxtone Graham, author of The Church Hesitant:

"But my money (and other people?S, too) would be on Stephen Cottrell, the Bishop of Chelmsford. He was state-educated in Leigh-on-Sea, so can be ?A bit cor-blimey?, as some have said to me. It?S true that his recent talk in the cathedral to his clergy included the phrases ?Who gives a toss??, ?Flush down the toilet? And ?What the bloody hell?? But he grows on you. He?S a scintillating public communicator, straddles both the Evangelical and the Anglo-Catholic traditions, is self-deprecating, funny, articulate and imaginative. If he?S chosen, we?Ll just have to blot out the Chartres voice from our memory: no point in comparing them."

Also mentioned in Ysenda's article is 'the once-tipped June Osborne' who seemed to have been 'shunted into sidings as cathedral dean and may well go no further'.

She did. Swept up by the Church in Wales, again at Jeffrey John's expense.

At least, in Cottrell terms, Dr John is "welcome in our church" which is more than many Anglicans can say.

Postscript [23.12.2019]

From Church Times:

"Bishop Cottrell had 'spoken out — when many others have been silent — about the need for the Church to respect and honour the LGBT+ community'." - Jayne Ozanne, a member of the General Synod and a prominent LGBT campaigner.

"He’s a great teacher and communicator of the faith, he’s rooted in Catholic spirituality, he speaks his mind, and he’s a voice for LGBT inclusion." - Revd Dr Johanna Kershaw, Associate Priest of Outwood, Stanley, and Wrenthorpe, in Wakefield.

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