As theTelegraphcorrectlypredicted, yesterday the Health Secretary admitted at the dispatch box that his personal crusade to change the Health Service was having the brakes applied by the Prime Minister. While most questioners on the government benches did their valiant best to support Mr Lansley, the most interesting intervention came from Stephen Dorrell, tory Chairman of the all-party Health Select Committee with counter proposals reported here.
The Government came badly unstuck when a BMA survey showed that doctors are "uncertain whether the benefits of the government's plans to reform the NHS in England outweigh the risks". When Liberal Democrats rebelled big changes were indicated. Others have now taken-up the fight including the campaigning group 38 Degrees encouraged by their success in the forestry sell-off campaign.
Why Mr Lansley thinks that GPs are best placed to spend £80 billion of tax payers money because 'they know their patients' is a mystery after many have spent years getting as remote from patients as possible with nurse-led clinics and 'out-of-hours' care handed to God knows who. As for patient choice, if Mr Lansley wants to base the case for change on his personal experience, his is unlikely to be mirrored by others. How many patients have sufficient independent advice to be able to make a judgement and if they do, would they want to upset their GP by claiming to know better? Personal experience suggests not.
There are problems in the NHS but there is no mandate from the electorate for the major changes being proposed. For most people the NHS, despite its failings, is amongst the best of what is left of Great Britain. If not signalled in party manifestos major changes should be made only with all party agreement not driven through as part of a personal crusade.
In Great Britain, media stories of religious persecution are usually confined to cases of petty discrimination and to false propaganda. Few have the courage ofShabbaz Bhatti who refused to be a bystander.
Some organisations are crying in the wilderness hoping their voices will be heard while according to WikiIslam, more than 29 people are killed in religiously motivated attacks every single day at the hands of Muslims. While hypocrites protest, the Barnabasfund provides hope and aid for the persecuted church.
'Great' Britain? - Alas, no longer according to the Lonely Planet company.Overpriced and lacking in quality. No surprise there for the seasoned traveller!
Arriving back in Britain from the delights of foreign venues, many travellers have a reality check when returning to their congested, litter-strewn country where inhospitable people frequently lack any consideration but for themselves. While high prices for inadequate services have been highlighted by Lonely Planet, the shock of driving again on Britain's roads has been highlighted by government proposals to give motorists who, eg, tailgate, undertake or cut up other drivers, on-the-spot fines but it is difficult to see how that is going to be effective when the police are more noticeable for their absence.
Arriving at Heathrow without ongoing transport can be a thoroughly depressing experience especially waiting for a coach on a cold winter's night in the wind-tunnel designated as the waiting room while arriving by ferry in Dover is akin to being classified as cargo. Although motorway services have shown improvements above other facilities, generally using public toilets is often a thoroughly unpleasant experience especially on older railway stations and better avoided if at all possible.
After travelling abroad, often in pristine conditions, it is back to the filth. Many regard Britain's roads as their dustbin while town centres taken over at night by drunken revellers are an experience to be avoided.
If we carry on like this, who will want to come to modern Britain apart from economic migrants?
The extraordinarily violent events on British streets and resultant court cases have largely eclipsed the dreadful plight of the people of Somalia who been suffering on a far greater scale than we can ever imagine in Great Britain. 'The will of Allah' oddly links these tragic stories. The Somali Islamist insurgents see it as their duty to purge, what they see as their land, of non-Muslims while Tariq Johan exhibits a dignified acceptance of Allah's will after the loss of his son in the riots. A N Wilson gives a movingaccount in hisMail Online article,Legacy of a society that believes in nothing.
In his grief Tariq Johan echoes the 'pale blue dot' sentiments of Carl Sagan while in Somalia the Islamist militants Al-Shabab are content to see millions of people suffer for the Islamic cause using taqiyya to spread lies in the process. With the situation worsening, the BBC has now picked up the story again in thisreport showing the continuing dire need for aid.
Back in in Britain a moving call for unitytribute has appeared on YouTube. Speaking of his son's death and the faith that sustains him, Mr Jahan said, "I’m a Muslim. I believe in divine fate and destiny, and it was his destiny and his fate, and now he’s gone may Allah forgive him and bless him."
If only Muslims the world over shared the same vision there would be less need for non-Muslims to fear 'the will of Allah'.
It was reported in the New York Times yesterday that 'Fearing Change, Many Christians in Syria Back Assad'. It is a sad irony for Christians there that even Iran has called for an end to the Syrian crackdown despiteoppression being the norm in that country.
While the Anglican church herecontents itself with becoming a social club for non-dissenters, fellow Christians elsewhere are prepared to die for their faith subjecting themselves to endlessharassment. [Caution: the harassment link shows distressing images.]
The unintendedconsequences of the Arab Spring have provided a stark reminder that Christians in Iraq werebetter off under Saddam Hussein leaving Christians in Syria impaled on the horns of a dilemma.
Zulfar Hussain, 48, was due to be sent back to Pakistan on his release from prison where he is serving a jail term for giving vulnerable girls drugs and alcohol before having sex with them." - The Times On Line
"A Pakistani man who abducted and had sex with underage girls is to be allowed to stay in the UK because deporting him would breach his human rights.
I found the ‘Two faces’ in my previous post amusing but being ‘two faced’ is quite a different matter particularly when people describe themselves as Christians. The majority of people in Great Britain think of themselves as Anglicans especially at times of baptism, marriage and burial but few attend church regularly and many of those who do have forgotten the basis of their faith as expressed in the creed of the one Holy Catholic Apostolic Church.
Disingenuous from the start, supporters of the ordination of women have used stealth to achieve their aims. With the majority of people in the church happy to support women?S ministry there seemed little objection to women being made Deacons rather than Deaconesses especially in an age of political correctness. Not content with that, there soon developed a movement to ordain women to the priesthood using spurious claims of sexism and prejudice which pricked the consciences of the uninformed but fair minded. Hence they gathered support not only from those who, as nominal Christians, had never thought deeply about their faith, but more importantly from agnostics and atheists adding secular, political pressure to the soft under belly of the broad Anglican Church which had traditionally tolerated many kinds of churchmanship.
It wasn?T long before women Deacons were complaining that the only difference between them and Priests was that priests uttered a few words in the Prayer of Consecration and were allowed to administer the blessing. They insisted that their demands for ordination to the priesthood didn?T mean that they wanted to be bishops! Sufficient numbers believed them to gain a slender majority in a body not regarded in the wider church as competent to make such a decision but they entered the sacred ministry. The task of ?Converting? Parishes then followed encouraging those who couldn?T care less about theology and tradition to sing their chorus of ?Oh what a lovely person, she?S doing a splendid job? As though that were all there were to it. One could say the same of Albert Pierrepoint but it has no relevance.
Despite previous assertions they again raised their cries of discrimination because they were excluded from the Episcopate, notwithstanding the doubt about their admission to the priesthood in the first place. Now it seems they are to have what they always aimed for if the Church of England Synod accepts the recommendations of the Revision Committee set up to consider the necessary legislation. Those who oppose the measure on grounds of conscience are to be left with nothing despite being assured of an honoured place in their Church. A worthless ?Hobson?S choice? Code of practice is offered with expressions of hope and desire that orthodox opponents will not leave.
This is duplicity in the extreme. They show themselves to be two-faced ?Christians? Who read from the gospel according to WATCH. For Christ?S sake, Synod must reject the Revision Committee?S proposals and return to His teaching.
You can have almost anything you want in Great Britain today other than traditional orthodox Anglicanism. Since WATCH squatted in the church everything has gone down the pan.
I watched the election of the new Pope as an interested Anglican but when Pope Benedict appeared on the balcony I had an overwhelming but inexplicable feeling that we were witnessing something truly holy. This is now clear. During Pope Benedict’s official visit to Great Britain the public were treated to the spectacle of a genuinely holy man humbly proclaiming the Christian message and warning of the dangers of putting Man before God.
In Britain we are used to spectacular events with all the pomp and ceremony that the State can muster. That was evidenced by the service of Evening Prayer at Westminster Abbey after the Pope’s historic address to Parliament in Westminster Hall. Yet none of this could match the grandeur of the Mass in Westminster Cathedral and the beautiful simplicity of the open-air Mass in Birmingham where Cardinal John Henry Newman was beatified, combined with the evident enthusiasm of their devout young people.
Those who have come into contact with Archbishop Rowan have often fallen under his spell. His natural authority is reinforced by his commanding voice which contrasts dramatically with Pope Benedict’s quiet, but assured conviction. Here is the puzzle. Both men are extraordinarily clever, learned and holy, yet they see things differently. The most sort-after prize is Christian unity but the synodical decision of the Anglican Church to go-it-alone and ordain women has seen probably the best opportunity in generations lost. For Anglicans, the evident joy of the celebrations was tinged with sadness. If only we could have been celebrating unity too! Instead there was the same, sorry spectacle of fellow Christians divided at the altar.
Dialogue will continue but many face an immediate dilemma. The Anglican Church has long provided a haven for those who, like Rowan Williams, have difficulties of conscience about crossing the Tiber. There are those in the Church of England who have ignored their Archbishops’ wishes arguing that making acceptable provision for ‘traditionalists’ would be creating a church within a church, blind to the fact that they are already a church within the Church. If Archbishop Rowan can persuade Synod to match Pope Benedict’s ordinariate offer, something of Anglicanism’s rich heritage can be preserved within the Church of England. If not, it is game, set and match to Pope Benedict.
POSTSCRIPT
I was able to add an interesting postscript to my previous post. Now from The Anglo-Catholic blog there is a helpful piece for those struggling with their consciences about crossing the Tiber here.
Islamic extremists are not typical of the Muslim presence in Britian (yet) so the dilema is swept under the carpet but how much evidence of a masalah in our midst do dhim-wits need? In Great Britain we have become so accustomed to the type of demonstrations illustrated above that the participants are simply dismissed as cranks. When British troops return from duty and are heckled by Islamic demonstrators they are dismissed as minorities entitled to protest in a democracy.
Their placards are not idle threats. In Islamic countries Christians, Jews and other non-Muslims are being massacred and driven out of their homelands, proof that jihadists are deadly serious. The double-standards employed by dhim-wits here reinforce the view that they regard only Islam as sacred with no understanding of what that means for our survival as a Christian nation. To question their stance is regarded as bigotry.
Thankfully there are many more peaceful Muslims than extremists, the excuse regularly used for inaction but there is no excuse for ignoring threats to our liberty. It takes only a few, four in fact in the last major outrage when the 7/7 bombers killed fifty-two civilians and injured 700. The Inquest into that atrocity has revealed that the backbone of Britain has been replaced by a paralysis of self interest. From The Guardian today it is even more apparent that the full force of the law is reserved for relatively peaceful protest.
The aim of Islam is a world under Sharia law in which the democracy Islamist protesters use to further their cause would not be permitted. Evidence from most Islamic countries clearly demonstrates that minority religions are not tolerated. In the process of Islamisation, the beheading demanded on the placard is no idle threat. Meanwhile, when it comes to Panorama warning us of serious problems facing this country, the Prime Minister is more vocal about football than our freedom.
Punishment, 50 lashes or two years in prison. The authorities in Sudan have apologised, not for the punishment but the manner in which it was carried out. If this woman were a dog or other unfortunate animal there would be widespread protests - but hear the silence!
Could it happen here? The French are generally regarded as less tolerant than the British but in Paris a blind eye has already been turned to streets closed-off for prayers. Dhim-wits say that Islam excesses couldn't take place here. They already have. Sharia law is being used in Islamic areas in Great Britain now. Who knows how the 'guilty' are punished. In Sudan only the manner in which the punishment was carried out was thought wrong. God help anyone punished in private. Sharia law must not be above British justice.
From the Telegraph: A two-year commission, chaired by the former senior judge Baroness Butler-Sloss and involving leading religious leaders from all faiths, calls for public life in Britain to be systematically de-Christianised.
It has been suggested that because Britain has seen a "general decline" in its Christian affiliation the time has come for public life to take on a more "pluralist character". Major state occasions such as a coronation should be changed to be more inclusive while the number of bishops in the House of Lords should be cut to make way for leaders of other religions.
The composition of the Lords Spiritual is currently being diluted under the cloak of equality to accommodate Anglican feminism so male bishops are likely to get the elbow to be replaced by male Imams sitting alongside women Bishops! To wreck Anglicanism in favour of feminism and then replace the Christian faith with an alien ideology which treats women and Christians as inferior not only abroad but in Britain is madness.
Ten years after Muhammad entered the list of the top 20 most popular boy?S names, Muhammad with its variant spellings has become the most popular boy's name in Britain indicating the extent of immigration and post immigration expansion. While Christianity is reported as in decline, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in England and Wales. Clearly it needs no encouragement from those deemed to know better.
The atheist Director of religious programming at the BBC, James Purnell, has indicated that Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Jewish holy days will be marked on popular programmes including The One Show and Chris Evans on Radio 2.
Earlier this year it was reported that the BBC had replaced one Muslim with another, Fatima Salaria, in charge of religious television shows making her responsible for all the BBC?S religious content including Songs of Praise, now a pale reflection of what it used to be. Ms Salaria has previously commissioned Muslims Like Us, a reality style show and produced Britain?S Jihadi Brides.
It is right that we all should seek to understand faith in the widest context and the practices of others but it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the portrayal of Islam as the religion of peace is at variance with experience.
Most Muslims believe it is their religious duty to try to convert others to the Islamic faith. According to the Pew Research Center, in every country where the question was asked, a large majority of Muslims say all or most of their close friends share their faith. The survey found that even in countries with substantial non-Muslim populations, a large majority of Muslims say most, if not all, of their close friends share their faith.
Multiculturalism in Great Britain has resulted in the creation of Islamic areas. Some have been described as no-go areas for non-Muslims. Relatively few Muslims find the idea of inter-marriage acceptable but in Egypt, Muslims abduct Egyptian Christians, forcing them into marriages and conversions to Islam – "a fourfold atrocity" that is reaching "epic proportions". In some countriesapostasy is met with a death sentence
This dark side is rarely reported. When it is, it is reported as the actions of people who are mentally disturbed or the acts of extremists who do not represent true Islam. But "Islamists" take their authority from the same Muslim texts that are used to protest that Islam is a religion of peace despite all the evidence to the contrary for 1400 years with Jewish holy sites and Christian churches converted to mosques as witnessed in Jerusalem, Istanbul and elsewhere.
It has been suggested that Parish churches could host multi-faith worship in their battle to stay open, using them as "social hubs for people of all ages, spaces to offer hospitality and penting services to the vulnerable". Churches are already being used to provide accommodation for the homeless over Christmas and many more are involved providing food banks for the needy but using churches to provide Muslims with more space to pray is a serious error of judgement as explained here. Once a place has been used for Muslim worship it is ipso facto a mosque.
Some Christian leaders are so keen to outdo each other in demonstrating brotherly love that they have effectively proclaimed to the world that Mohammed is greater than Jesus. Prince Charles declared his wish many years ago to be Defender of Faith to reflect Britain's multicultural society. It is a one way traffic. As Christian symbols are removed to avoid upsetting Muslims, non-Muslims are expected to observe Muslim customs by removing shoes while women are expected cover their heads in deference implying that only Islam is worthy of respect.
In my previous entry I referred to the Christmas message from the Archbishop of Wales and his use of the word 'love' which has become a password for progressives. In an interview for Christian Today he was asked "You were a key speaker recently at a Muslim Council of Wales event: how important is inter-faith dialogue?"
The Archbishop replied: "Very important. Again if you look at the caricatures, what a lot of people appear to believe about Islam is profoundly misguided. If you look at Islam, Christianity, Judaism, here you have religions and creeds that seek at the most fundamental level human flourishing and the good of mankind. It is very easy to interpret tiny bits of scriptures as wishing harm on others, when that is not representative."
Churchill was not so misguided. He warned of appeasement. He also warned of the perils of the Mahommedan religion:
"Indeed it is evident that Christianity, however degraded and distorted by cruelty and intolerance, must always exert a modifying influence on men?S passions, and protect them from the more violent forms of fanatical fever, as we are protected from smallpox by vaccination. But the Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness."
Postscript [23.12.2017]
Church can remove pews to attract local Muslims, court rules
St Thomas Werneth in Oldham has been allowed to remove its pews in order to cater for local Muslims. It has been given permission to remove the pews to allow it to hold more events with the wider community which is 88 per cent non-white British and "broadly Muslim". St Thomas C of E Primary School in Werneth was earlier this year reported to have only Muslim pupils.
