Lords debate: Situation of Christians in the Middle East

An interesting debate took place in the House of Lords yesterday. Opened by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, he drew this tribute from Lord Mackay of Clashfern: "My Lords, I would like very warmly to thank the most reverend Primate for the opportunity of having this debate in your Lordships' House, and for the scholarly and profound speech with which the debate has been opened." Well deserved praise echoed by subsequent speakers, often in short supply outside the House.

Speaking in the debate (at 12.23) Lord Sacks' contribution was also praised by many speakers. He felt as a Jew in Christian Britain that he could not be silent. He quoted Martin Luther King saying, "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends". Lord Touhig quoted his late old friend Leo Abse who, on his retirement as an MP, gave only one piece of advice to his successor. He said, "Tolerate everyone, tolerate everything but never tolerate the intolerant".

Replying, Lord Howell of Guildford said, "This has been a hugely enlightening debate, unlocking the vast stores of wisdom that are to be found in your Lordships' House on the issues that we are addressing, on the history behind them-the hinterland of knowledge-and on the prospects for the present and the future in a very turbulent world. We have had some excellent speeches." The speeches clear up many misunderstandings about Christians in the Middle East and are well worth the time reading or listening to them. I particularly liked this aside from the Archbishop of Canterbury: "A Palestinian Christian friend of mine was wont to say when asked by westerners, 'When did your family become Christians?'  'About 2,000 years ago' was the reply."

In his contribution to the debate, Lord Ahmed of Wimbledon quoted his mother saying: "The Abrahamic faiths are that Judaism lays the foundations, Christianity builds the walls and Islam is the roof. We all have the same origin and the same destination. Together we build a single house of worship". The reality is different. Mosques are demanded while other places of worship are destroyed. The plight of Coptic Christians is well documented. One of their priests gives a clear insight into their problemshere. Translating their situation to Great Britain, the "silence of our friends" is contributing to the demise of Christianity while Islam is in the ascendency. The suggestion that Islam is the roof is used toclaim that Muhammad was the last in a line of Jewish prophets of which Jesus was just another, raising the prophet above the Son of God. That is unacceptable to Christians. Leo Abse's advice "never tolerate the intolerant" is particularly apt.

There is a video link to the debatehere. Highly recommended.

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Wind of change

Interview with a Witch                                                                                     Source: Church in Wales

The diocese of Swansea and Brecon, the current Archiepiscopal see of the Church in Wales, has a web page devoted toInterfaith. On it can be found information about Witchcraft, Atheism, Peace Mala, Hare Krishna, Sufi, Islam, Yungdrung Bön, Judaism and Druids.

Adherents of those faiths are happy to push their own particular message, unlike the  Bishop’s Officer for Interfaith Dialogue who writes, "Interfaith dialogue is not about telling everyone how great our angle on faith is and trying to convert them to it. It is about respect and openness."

Does the Church in Wales believe that there is onlyone way to the Father or not?

Respect and openness includes the usual message of how the 'religion of peace' gets a bad press as if all the Islamic attacks on the innocent over the last 1400 years were fake news.

There is an interview with Brother Titus, a Cistercian Trappist monk living with another nine monks. They have taken themselves out of the world to live a reclusive life on Caldy Island. What of those of us who are in the world and not of other faiths? There is no dialogue with traditional, orthodox Anglicans. Anyone who conscientiously follows scripture and tradition is excluded.

The central message has been lost. Each diocese does its own thing. St Asaph has been busy promoting the gospel according to LGBT while Bangor is mired in tales of impropriety according to commentators.

In the South of the Province the long-running battle continues to rage in Llandaff between those who think everything is hunky-dory in their cathedral while others insist that the cathedral is mired in discontent as illustrated by the manycomments under previous entries about alleged irregularities.

Those who expected the appointment to Llandaff of the second woman bishop in the Church in Wales to cause a whirlwind will be disappointed. The wind has blown one way, in the same direction emitting from the bishop of St Davids.

In St Davids the first woman bishop in the Church in Wales has lost no time in appointing as many women as she can. The first woman Dean arrives in May, months after her appointment. In the meantime the deanery has been gutted and completely refurbished. At what cost whenparishes ministry areas are struggling to make ends meet?

That leaves Monmouth. Many clergy have. The CEO's solution there is to appoint a third archdeacon to prop up a failing re-organisation into ministry areas.

There has been a flurry of senior appointments and bishops' advisers. There is no shortage of money for those at the top while the begging bowl is out lower down the chain.

When the new archbishop took office hepromised there would be 'more of the same - but faster'. It is a pity he didn't see which way the wind was blowing - or perhaps he did!

Postscript [03.05.2018]

As if to emphasis that there is no shortage of money at the top in the Church in Wales, the bishop of St Davids has announced an addition to her senior management team, a new 'Archdeaconry for New Christian Communities'.

There were Christian communities throughout the diocese and throughout the Province before Barry supported by his bench sitters hatched his innovative plan to copy the disastrous policies of the US Episcopal Church (TEC).

They were called Parishes.

More from St Davids [03.05.2018]

One wonders how any 'new Christian communities' will be properly cared for given: "the strain imposed on stipendiary, NSM and NSM(L) clergy and Readers when service rotas within LMAs include services that, even when all the licensed clergy and Readers were working, need retired clergy to take them.

"Retired clergy could of course be asked to take any service within the designated number but not be used to extend the rota to something that the licensed ministry team couldn?T cover healthily alone.

"The willingness of retired clergy to give their time, effort and energy, should not be used to prolong a way of being church that is no longer sustainable."

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