Head in the sand

Unfortunately it has taken theatrocities in Paris to concentrate the mind on the nature of Islam. In my entry last Saturday I posed the question 'Something to hide?' after the House of Lords rejected the idea of encouraging a national debate about the nature of Islam.

In September it was claimed that 1 in 50 Syrian refugees in Europe could be an Isis jihadist. Now it has beenreported that a Syrian passport was found on attacker who sought asylum in Greece as a refugee.

Not all Muslims are terrorists but too many Muslims have a warped idea of salvation believing that they will be rewarded in paradise for killing Kafirs.

It matters little that most Muslims are 'nice people' if their ideology permits a handful of Muslims to create the carnage witnessed in Paris. There must be a debate.

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Sense and nonsense

John Sentamu, Archbishop of York

The Archbishop of York and the Archbishop of Wales have both been in the news recently speaking about immigration. John Sentamu fled Idi Amin’s regime in Uganda for the UK in 1973 so unlike the Archbishop of Wales he has some experience in the matter. Dr Sentamu has taken the biblical view inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan. Dr Morgan's view is typically academic emphasising the popular political but partial view that EU migrants help sustain our economy and health service.

Of course immigration has benefited the UK but in a controlled manner. Evidence from Europe, particularly in Germany where opinion has changed sharply, shows that a huge influx of mainly young Muslim men has not been as rosy as Dr Morgan suggests. Had we not voted to leave the EU hundreds of thousands of migrants would have been eligible to move to the UK from Europe.

Dr Morgan is quoted as saying that "the Christian faith compels us to affirm the dignity of every human being and to offer help to anyone in need. Britain has always in the past shown generosity, kindness, solidarity and decency to those facing persecution, even at times of greater deprivation and difficulty than the present time" but unfortunately Muslims are not reading from the same book.

The Archbishop's words also sound very hollow to members of his own church who continue to believe in the authority of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. They have been left in a spiritual vacuum without sacramental assurance and pastoral support since Dr Morgan refused to appoint a replacement after Bishop David Thomas retired as Provincial Assistant Bishop eight years ago.

Politics were in evidence when Dr Morgan was thanked at the last meeting of the Governing Body for his "extraordinary" service to the Church. The Chair of the Governing Body’s Standing Committee praised the Archbishop for his Presidential Addresses and the sermons on "church governance matters, women bishops, the Anglican Covenant, etc. You have explored devolution, climate change, Gaza, gender and sexuality, parenting, assisted dying, organ donation and much more, he said as if Dr Morgan were retiring from the Welsh Assembly. He went on, you use public media so effectively that on all these issues the imperatives of the gospel are heard. They are always carefully constructed, based on extensive reading and scholarship, and learning lightly worn. They are listened to with respect even by those expert in their own field." Not a view taken by others when Dr Morgan's 'scholarship' was queried following his last Presidential Address entitled ‘Biblical stories can reveal a new understanding of same-sex relationships’. It was widelyridiculed.

The praise heaped on the Archbishop made no mention of the steep decline in church attendance or of the divisions caused in the Church in Wales under Dr Morgan's leadership. He must have had his tongue in his cheek when the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon praised Dr Morgan for his "leadership" of the Church in Wales "at a time when significant changes in society have caused us to examine some of our own disciplines, some of our own opinions and practices". Bishop John said that Dr Morgan's approach to walking those paths, to examining possible changes, has been to "remind us of scripture, tradition and reason" and has done that "cogently, consistently and compassionately". A more accurate description would have been in the absence of scripture, tradition and reason as Dr Morgan pursued his political agenda thus secularising a diminished Church.

It is clear that the bench of bishops live in their own little bubble. Although they claim membership of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church they go their own way having ignored pleas of the Orthodox and Catholic churches and forged closer bonds with local Free (or non-conformist) Churches under the guise of Ecumenism.

The bench of bishops appear to have their heads in the sand unless it is their ultimate desire simply to be a tiny segment in theUniting Church in Wales. In a tribute to the Bishop of St Davids as he prepares for retirement, Dr Morgan described Bishop Wyn as a "quintessential Dean and a rather reluctant bishop". That is true. Bishop Wyn is greatly admired for his extraordinary work as Dean of St Davids but in a video interview marking his retirement he sadly illustrates how the bishops of the Church in Wales all appear to become infected by 'Bazzeritis'.

Referring [@29 mins] to people who 'tend to slag the church off in terms of decline' Bishop Wyn highlights a small but stable congregation of 8, ignoring the massive decline in church attendance under Dr Morgan's leadership. If that had been his vision as Dean, his Cathedral would not be the jewel in the Church in Wales' crown that it is today, especially when compared with the sorry state of Dr Morgan's Llandaff Cathedral.

Is it any wonder that so many of us feel like refugees in our own Church?

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Limited view!

David Davies (centre) has challenged Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan (left) and Archbishop

 of Canterbury Justin Welby (right) over their stance on refugees and people entering the UK

Wales Online today carries a report: 'This MP says the Archbishops of Canterbury and Wales are wrong about how to approach the refugee crisis'.

Monmouth MP David Davies said the Government is following the example of the Good Samaritan by caring for people in the 'nearest place of safety' and that if the archbishops listened to their “rapidly diminishing flocks” they would learn that people “want to help genuine refugees” but are “deeply concerned” about the implications of an “open door immigration policy”.

Mr Davies added, “Thousands of the most vulnerable will be rehoused in the UK. Yet nothing will be enough for campaigning clerics who contrast our policy unfavourably with that of the good Samaritan.

He suggested that they “should re-read the parable: When the Samaritan came across the Jew on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho he didn’t take him on to Samaria, instead, he paid for him to be looked after in the inn – the nearest place of safety just as we are doing today throughout the Middle East in our refugee shelters.”

A Church in Wales spokeswoman said: “We warmly welcome Mr Davies, and anyone else with a limited view of the scope of the ministry and concerns of the Church in Wales and the faith on which it is based, to join us and find out more. Our clergy serve every community in Wales.”

"Limited view"! As ever the Church in Wales exhibits no sense of proportion.

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Christian today but what of tomorrow?

"Christianity is being quietly erased from public life. What are we going to do about it?" Good question but very little where it matters, if anything. The question was posed in Christian Today:

"A strange and troubling paradox is now glaringly evident in society today. On the one hand the UK Government is praising and giving funding to Christian initiatives in communities and recognising the rich contribution the church makes to national life. On the other it is proposing measures to tackle extremism that could privatise Christianity. As we enter this New Year, it is clear 2016 will be a critical year for Christian freedoms. This week former Whitehall mandarin William Nye talked of the "secularising spiritdanquot; now permeating the machinery of government. After 20 years of working at the highest level he sees the gradual "squeezing out of Christianity" from our national life despite the public expressions of support from ministers. The chilling effect has been that more and more Christians are afraid to speak out and feel disenfranchised."

If we value our heritage we must do something about it. While Christianity is being marginalised, Islam continues to gain ground. From Patheos:

"Christians may be the most persecuted class in the world, and their persecution is on the rise. As Islamic extremism takes hold and repressive governments step up their campaigns against Christianity, the Pope has been moved to warn of ?A form of genocide?, and for campaigners to speak out over ?Religio-ethnic cleansing.? Organisations that monitor religious persecution have rung alarm bells worldwide, from South America to sub-Saharan Africa and from Asia to the Middle East, warning of a rapid increase in attacks and repressiondanquot;.

Despite the welldocumented evidence of how Muslims oppress others in Islamic countries, do-gooders with no apparent comprehension of the threat of an IslamicSupremacist ideology press for more and more concessions for Islam. The latest from the Mail Online: "Sit exams early to fit in with Ramadan: Pupils taking GCSEs and A-levels face timetable shake-up to accommodate fasting Muslims". Quite a contrast with the option offered to Christians in many Muslim countries - convert, pay the tax or die.

In Belfast, "Following yesterday’s ruling which found Pastor James McConnell not guilty of a “hate crime” for referring to Islam as “heathen” and “satanic”, the Belfast Islamic Centre, which reported the pastor to the police, has said that they “disagree with the verdict”. The Islamic Centre is calling for a blasphemy law in Northern Ireland, by demanding that “insulting” a faith be punishable under Irish law. However, shortly after the ‘Satanic Islam’ sermon, Dr. Raied al-Wazzan, the executive director of Belfast Islamic Centre, made remarks that were not only insulting to some Christians, but appeared to support a banned terrorist organisation."

In Birmingham a former teacher at two schools linked to the Trojan Horse scandal could face a lifetime ban from the classroom after he told pupils that Christians and Jews were 'ignorant' and Muslims have 'the true religion'.

This is a Christian country but for how long? Christian belief is that there is only one way to the Father. The Bible warns about false prophets but still many of our bishops and even archbishops encourage the spread of Islam instead of seeking tomake disciples of all nations. Encouraging other faiths denies them the real truth. Meanwhile, Christians in the United Kingdom are facing increasing marginalization and oppression under new laws originally intended to safeguard equality. The position abroad is worse, serving as a warning to those who condemn as Islamophobic anyone who seeks the truth about Islam.

If we do not stand up for what we believe our children and grand children will become part of the Dhimmitude as Islam expands and Christianity becomes a minority religion in the UK. Leaders who persist in regarding Islam as just another faith similar to others have had a rude awakening following the terrorist attacks in France by supposed refugees and the more recent attacks on women inGermany on New Year's Eve but bishops still persist with their deluded embrace of an alien culture which seeks our demise. They may believe that they are following the Gospel but Jesus gave short shrift to those who deserved condemnation.

'Refugees' or 'migrants', the vast majority of immigrants are Muslim. They do not leave their ideology behind. Christians in refugee camps who have not fled the persecution there continue tosuffer at the hands of Muslim refugees while others who have sought safety by sea have been thrown overboard.

There is no escape from an ideology which regards the kafir as worthless while Muslims try to buy their way to heaven doing what they believe to be the will of God, even if it means killing the innocent, something our political as well as religious leaders need to grasp.

The best Archbishop we never had, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, summed up the problem of convincing the ill-informed when heresponded to Boris Johnson's claim that "we should counter anti-Islamic scare-mongering by recalling our debt to the culture of Muslim Spain". Bishop Michael said: Boris Johnson points out the achievements of Muslim rule after their conquest of the mostly Christian and Jewish Middle East, North Africa and Spain (Comment,3 January). In fact, if they had not been stopped at Tours by Charles Martel, Mr Johnson might have had a more direct experience of such rule. [My emphasis - Ed.]. Read Bishop Michael's full responsehere and about the Battle of Tours (732 AD)here:

"Had Martel fallen at Tours the long term implications for European Christianity may have been devastating. His victory there, and in the following campaigns, may have literally saved Europe and Christianity as we know it, from conquest while the Caliphate was unified and able to mount such a conquest." - And today they are invited in to spread their supremacist ideology!

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Victims

Source: BBC/Welsh News Service

Readers who are a little longer in the tooth may recall holidays abroad when a tag was used to obtain services thus removing the need to carry cash. Indeed, in their student days they may even have experienced landlords economising on paint by using a uniform colour, green in the case ofJesus College, Cambridge.

Red has become the symbol of oppression for asylum seekers, something picked up by David Davies MP. No matter that many people in this country would be glad to have a roof over their head and be assured of meals without having to rely on food banks, as increasing numbers of people do in Great Britain today, wristbands it seems have become a sign of oppression despite being fashionable in some quarters and generally obscured from view unless revealed as in the illustration above.

Baroness Cox knows only too well how difficult it has become to retain a sense of proportion regarding British values without someone complaining that they are being victimised as a consequence. The Baroness's Bill which seeks to protect women and challenge the application of sharia law in the UK has been approved by the House of Lords but it needs an MP to sponsor it and steer it through the House of Commons. Baroness Cox has already been accused of being Islamophbic so with parties fighting for votes from minorities the chances of success are not looking good.

So the strategy continues:

• Exploit the “victim” status;
• Use the sympathetic media;
• Confuse and neutralize the churches;
• Slander and stereotype [traditionalist] Christians;
• Bait and switch (hide their true nature); and
• Intimidation.

People are falling over themselves to say what they perceive to be the 'right' thing regardless of the circumstances, seemingly oblivious to what else is going on in the world so here is victim, reminiscent of Rochdale, Cologne, Denmark, etc, reported by the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA).

This poor 17-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan was killed by a group of Muslim men because she spurned their sexual advances after they shouted "How dare you run away from us! Christian girls are only meant for one thing – the pleasure of Muslim men."

Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the BPCA said the world is ignoring the treatment of Christian women in Pakistan, where an average of two women a day disappear and are raped, sold into sexual slavery, or forced to marry Muslim men.

Not only in Pakistan. Christian Refugees Live in Fear.

It should be clear who the real victims are. What is being done about them?

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Monochrome Morgan's misplaced message

Original source: Church in Wales

Speaking from the sidelines at the Lord Mayor’s National Civic service at St John the Baptist Church in Cardiff's city centre on St David’s Day the Archbishop of Wales observed that "Wales is a country of migrants" and should be proud of its record in welcoming refugees.

All of us are migrants of one kind or another he said, even we Celts the original inhabitants of this island came from Northern Europe. "Not one of us is ethnically monochrome".

A predictably charitable sounding message which may appeal to many but it is far too simplistic. A more balanced view comes from US Air Force General Philip Breedlove, a top NATO commander in Europe with first hand knowledge of the problem:

Terrorists who pose a threat to Europe are arriving on the continent every day among waves of "legitimate" refugees fleeing war in Syria and Iraq. Islamic State militants are among those who are "taking advantage of paths of least resistance" to reach Europe alongside desperate refugees.

The extremist group is "spreading like cancer" and "threatening European nations" by joining the vast movement of refugees escaping conflict in the Middle East. Fears about IS fighters infiltrating Europe and the US have fuelled legislation to crack down on Syrian and Iraqi refugees seeking to enter the US.

Whether terrorists or refugees these migrants are not leaving their supremacist ideology behind them. Most are reading from the same book with many prepared to follow it to the letter. Even fellow refugees who have been identified as being Christian have been attacked and murdered by Muslim 'refugees'.

Countless men and women have not sacrificed their lives to defend these islands against aggressive ideologies for later generations to welcome a brutal alien culture with open arms. Had the fallen been pacifists instead of warriors for freedom, the Archbishop would not be free to preach as he does.

If monochrome Morgan possesses a filter to spot the difference between refugees and warriors for Islam he should let us and NATO into his secret.

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Yesterday's clerics' errors

Lord Harries of Pentregarth, former Bishop of Oxford                                Picture credit: Endeavour Public Affairs

The former Bishop of Oxford, Lord Harries of Pentregarth, features in the Oxford Times "weighing in on EU vote". He is among 37 "faith leaders" who in an open letter to the public have called on Britain to stay in the EU. Lord Harries is a formercollaborator of the Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan who together with Dr Morgan's predecessor and former Archbishop of Canterbury, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, signed the open letter. Considering this trio's judgement on the ordination of women and their liberal agenda resulting in the parlous state of Anglicanism, particularly in Wales, it is difficult to afford much credibility to their opinions on the European Referendum.

As for the former Bishop of Oxford, an ardentpromoter of same sex marriage, his opinions would be better left in the ivory towers of Oxford. This is the cleric who suggested that the Coronation of Prince Charles should be opened with a reading from the Koran, as a ?Creative act of accommodation? To make Muslims feel ?Embraced? By the nation.

There will be plenty to 'embrace' based on report from Migration Watch, "The Refugee and Migrant Crisis in the EU – The Potential Implications for the UK". It claims that up to "half a million refugees and their relatives" could move to Britain after 2020 in a "secondary flow of refugees" because of EU rules on the free movement of people. While Germany, Greece and Italy had borne the brunt of Europe's refugee crisis, those granted asylum could settle in the UK in the coming years once they had acquired EU citizenship.

Based on his 2015 Christmasplea the Archbishop of Wales will be thrilled to read that Cardiff, Swansea and Newport have been named as three out of 10 places in the UK with the highest number of asylum seekers per head of population.

The 2011 census recorded 45,950 Muslims in Wales, far more than the 30,468 average Sunday attendances in 2014reported by the Church in Wales. Most of the Muslims in Wales are spread between Cardiff (23,656), Newport (6,859) and Swansea (5,415) with smaller communities in the valleys and across rural and North Wales.

In their appeal to the electorate the faith leaders claim that "faith is about integration and building bridges, not about isolation and erecting barriers. As leaders and senior figures of faith communities, we urge our co-religionists and others to think about the implications of a Leave vote for the things about which we are most passionate."

TOSH! As the former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks rightly pointed out on the BBC Newsnight programme last night, "multiculturalism has been a failure". He referred to thewarning by Trevor Phillips, the former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, that "British Muslims are becoming a nation within a nation". Trevor Phillips said we are "in danger of sacrificing a generation of young British people to values that are antithetical to the beliefs of most of us, including many Muslims".

The Remain campaign has lost much credibility by basing their claims on scare stories, foggy forecasts and guesstimates. There may or may not be problems if we leave but these pale into insignificance compared with the ramifications of uncontrolled immigration which have not been properly addressed.

Still in denial of the genocide of Armenian and other Christian minorities in the years 1915 and 1916, Turkey hopes to join the EU. That would result in 78 million mainly Muslim people, and rising, eligible to go where they please in Europe compared with Turkey's population of less than 30 million in 1960.

As Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan says, "Family planning not for Muslims". In Great Britain Census figures reveal a ‘startling’ shift in Britain’s demographic trend with almost a tenth of babies and toddlers born in England and Wales being Muslim'. Combining immigration figures with the higher birth rate it is understandable that some forecasters predict that Christianity is set to be a minority religion in Britain by 2050 as Islam and atheism rise.

The Justice Secretary Michael Gove has claimed that he has been forced to allow terror suspects to enter Britain because European Union rules left him powerless to intervene. During his time in the Cabinet Mr Gove "experienced frustrationdanquot; at Britain?S "inability to refuse entry to those with a criminal record and even some who are suspected of terrorist links".

The only way to bring order to our borders is to "quit the EUdanquot;, says former Tory leader Ian Duncan Smith.

Postscript [06.06.2016]

From the Rev Dr Peter Mullen:Bishops are no laughing matter

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No Christians allowed

Welcome - but not if you are a Christian                                Source: CBNNews

From CBN News:

No Christians Allowed: Muslim UN Officials Block Syrian Christian Refugees from Getting Help

"Christian Syrian refugees have told CBN News that they have been blocked from getting help from the United Nations Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, by Muslim UN officials in Jordan.

"One of the refugees, Hasan, a Syrian convert to Christianity, told us in a phone call that Muslim UN camp officials 'knew that we were Muslims and became Christians and they dealt with us with persecution and mockery. They didn't let us into the office. They ignored our request.'

"Hasan and his family are now in hiding, afraid that they will be arrested by Jordanian police, or even killed. Converting to Christianity is a serious crime in Jordan.

"A clear pattern of discrimination by the United Nations refugee agency in Jordan against Christians. And it appears to be one reason that while tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim war refugees have been settled in the United States and Britain, only a small number have been Christian."

And the two governments that could stop this persecution of Christian refugees – the US and Britain – have done little to nothing about it."

Full CBN News report HERE.

I doubt that this problem will be mentioned in cosy inter-faith gatherings far away from suffering Christians.

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