Lies, damned lies and statistics

The Church Times today (23 July 2010) is carrying an article showing that “a poll by YouGov, which was not commissioned by any external organisation, found that 63 per cent of those questioned agreed that the Church of England should appoint women bishops, while ten per cent objected to the move. Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) said they had no opinion either way, and three per cent did not know what they thought.”

In response to their own ‘survey’ the Church Times found that Synod did the right thing for traditionalists in the women bishops' votes. These figures will now be bandied around by the supporters of women’s ordination as justification for their stand, ignoring the fact that the historic faith shared by the vast majority of Christians throughout the world cannot be changed by committee simply to satisfy feminist whims.

Accepting that the YouGov survey was a representative sample, what did the sample really represent? It represents the views of people with scant, if any, knowledge of the real issues. The organisation Women and the Church (WATCH) have skillfully manipulated public opinion, including many church-goers, into believing that it is simply a matter of women?S rights. Having achieved their aim in principle, they sought to put the measure into practice while claiming that adequate provision will be made for those worshippers who, in common with most of Christendom, believe the innovation to be illegal, breaking our bond with the wider Catholic and Orthodox churches.

The proposed voluntary code of practice is another skillful device which, to those looking at the issue from the women's rights perspective, obscures the real issue that it cannot be acceptable to those who, in conscience, believe that what is being done is not the will of God but of man, or, in this case, of woman with the support of many men who have been hoodwinked into supporting the measure under false pretences.

In another YouGov poll, 67 per cent of people agreed that the burqa should be banned in Britain. Along with the Immigration Minister, many oppose such a ban on the grounds that we are a tolerant society and Muslims should be allowed freedom of expression. It has been admitted that for security reasons there are circumstances where the face would have to be uncovered leaving one to wonder if the only time it would be permitted in public would be on the public highway where it could conceal anyone or anything. As witnessed on Question Time last night, strong passions are aroused in such discussions, similar to those aroused over the possible restoration of the death penalty in 1998. In that debate, 99 per cent of those questioned said that the death penalty should be re-introduced according to “a staggering 99 per cent of the 95,000 [Sun] readers who responded to our You The Jury poll”. You can get almost any answer you want if you ask the ‘right’ question of the ‘right’ people.

So what of our so called ?Tolerant? Society when the very thing we pride ourselves on is used against us? Our cherished values are being undermined under the banner of political correctness but we deceive ourselves at our peril. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York failed in their attempt to provide a crumb of comfort for traditional orthodox Anglicans in their battle for survival. As one female activist shouted from the gallery on an earlier occasion, ?We asked you for bread but you gave us a stone!? Short memories!

The intolerance of Islam towards Christians in Islamic countries is being echoed by intolerance of ?Christians? Towards traditional Anglicans. So much so that Dr John Sentamu the Archbishop of York had to remind Synod members to behave like Christians. Tolerant Britain?

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Bounty of $60M for the most wanted infidel

If Islam is a Religion of Peace, why is there a bounty of $60M on the head of a Coptic priest who explains the plight of minority Christians in Egypt which was one of the early centres of Christianity prior to herconquest by Muslims?

The proportion of Copts living in Egypt is roughly the same as the proportion of Muslims in France but there the similarity ends. Muslims in France have freedom of worship. In Egypt churches are destroyed, Christians killed for being Christians and their daughters converted to Islam by forced marriage with Muslims. Read about The Plight Of Egypt’s Coptic Christians here.

Egypt is far from unique. "Events in Iraq form part of a broader pattern of increasing persecution of Christians and other religious minorities. In many countries, including Syria, Iran, Nigeria, Mali, CAR, Sudan, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Somalia and Afghanistan, well-armed Islamist extremists are not only persecuting Christians severely, but are also violating the rights of all who do not share their restrictive dogma." The facts here.

Today's 1.5 billion Muslims make up 22% of the world's population. But their birth rates dwarf the birth rates of Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and all other believers. Muslims will exceed 50% of the world's population by the end of this century. Details here.

From the New York Times: 'After Week of Terror, French Muslims Ask: What Now?'

Reprisals against innocent Muslims are to be deplored but so is dissimulation and prevarication. Whether attacks are termed euphemistically as Islamist, Islamism or plain Islamic, the root is the same and the problem is the same. Jihad, armed or cultural, has to be addressed honestly and openly without hiding behind claims that aspects of the Muslim faith are too sacred to be held up to scrutiny by non-believers.

In 2011 the motion "Islam is a religion of peace" was debated on US television. A vote taken before the debate showed: For 41%, Against 25%, Undecided 34%. In another vote after the debate in which both sides were allowed free expression the vote was For 36%, Against 55%, Undecided 9%.

Opponents of free expression should be aware that on current trends, by the year 2050 Britain will be a majority Muslim nation leaving our descendants to suffer the persecution of minorities currently endured in Middle Eastern countries unless there is a change in attitudes.

But for now the civilised world is united with France in shock and sorrow at the events in Paris. 'Je Suis Charlie' must be a watershed moment ending denial.

Pour la France et le Peuple de France.

Vive la République!

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I'm a much much better person than you are...

The illustration may have an American slant but the sentiments are the same in Great Britain where the Anglican Church has becomefractured along the lines of the US Episcopal Church while most of the 77 million people worldwide belonging to the Anglican Communion remain faithful to the reformed Catholic faith that is Anglicanism.

Views based on scripture, tradition and reason are regarded by liberals as old fashioned, even offensive to some, so janggal accusations are flung at those who disagree with the liberal line implying that they lack compassion and are less worthy for not keeping pace with fashionable trends.

Well illustrated by the 'women priests' and 'women bishops' debates, 'No' is not an acceptable answer for liberals. So the war of attrition continues with attention now focused on same sex marriage (SSM). The media have played into liberal hands by taking the line that a majority in the Church in Wales are for SSM but the vote was not a vote of the membership. It was a vote of representatives of the membership, some of whom voted according to personal preference showing the extent of militant gay influence in the Church in Wales when many gay members are known to be against SSM.

For liberals the question has already been settled and it is only a question of time before they succeed in their latest campaign. Take this article for Wales Online, 'Why the church needs to move with the times when it comes to gay marriage':

"So, no Church in Wales gay weddings yet. But the debate goes on, promised Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan.

Indeed it will, for all Christian faiths, as they persist to swim against the tide of social change, especially among the young people leaving their pews in droves."

There are insufficient young people in the pews "to leave in droves" or to sustain the Church in the longer term even if the few (less than 1% of the under 18 population of Wales) remain. The pews are largely occupied by elderly worshipers who have no desire to join a different denomination because traditional Anglicanism is their expression of faith. Clearly the article was written from a position of ignorance by a person who has yet to learn that Christians are justified through faith not by rigging votes in denominational ruling bodies.

There are younger people in the pews, including gay worshipers which gives the lie to the claim that gay people are not welcome, clergy included. But the gay rencana has moved beyond acceptance through affirmation to becoming the required 'Norm'. Their campaign is not as obvious as in Women in the Church (WATCH) campaigning but runs as an undercurrent which seeks to move opinion towards "a more inclusive churchdanquot;, thus gaining the stamp of ecclesiastical approval for a well established minority, regardless of the effect on the Anglican Communion.

Postscript

See also "Warning to Synod voters: some ‘evangelicals’ are not as they seem" (here) for deception in the Church of England.

Postscript [27.09.2015]

Gay clergy who defied bishops by marrying their male partners run for Synod:

"They are among several openly gay clergy and lay people standing for the Synod in the run-up to a contentious debate as early as next year over whether the Church should drop its ban on same-sex marriage and the formal blessing of civil partnerships." Full articlehere.

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Illiberal liberals

Christian Tim Farron pushed to resign leadership of the LibDem Party. Source BBC

It has been widelyreported that Tim Farron resigned as the leader of the Liberal Democrat party because he could not continue in the face of continuing questions over his faith. He said that he had been torn between his Christian faith and serving as a political leader.

Earlier it was reported that former gay bobby, now Liberal peer Lord Paddick had quit as Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson following the "furoredanquot; over leader Tim Farron's views on gay sex. Intentionally or otherwise Paddick's action put enormous pressure on an "honourable and decent" man - the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

During the General Election campaign journalists continually baited the Lib Dem leader over his Christian faith implying that the lifestyle of 1.7% of the population was far more important than the faith which not only underpins British society but on which our system of government is based. Tolerance and fair play has no place in the politically correct world of people who have nothing to offer but political correctness and their constant cries of '....Phobia' to curtail any rational discussion.

Since the election government talks with the DUP have been dogged by complaints that the DUP is against same sex marriage as if it were the Holy Grail. As an example the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, among others was quick to distance himself from the DUP policies on last Sunday's Andrew Marr TV show.

This has prompted the Coalition for Marriage (C4M) to protest that there has been a sustained attack on DUP MPs simply because they are socially conservative. "Two issues are always quoted – their opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion":

The BBC in particular has seemed far more interested in pursuing this than asking about the DUP?S policy on Brexit or the economy. Even if, like C4M, you are not party political, I expect you are outraged by the media?S actions.

John Humphrys laughed on Monday morning when a former DUP assembly member explained they are a compassionate party. Humphrys immediately claimed that ?Most people? Think their stance is ?Intolerant?, citing opposition to same-sex marriage as an example. And yesterday, the BBC reproduced a long series of satirists? Cartoons lampooning the DUP.

In response to the whole controversy, Roman Catholic commentator Dr Tim Stanley (who does not support the DUP in general) defended the DUP?S right to hold religious beliefs and argued ?It has become politically toxic to be a Christian?.

So dominant has the issue become that the Scottish Conservative leader who plans to marry her same sex partner soon has been told by the Prime Minister that any Conservative deal with the Democratic Unionist Party will not affect LGBTI rights as though there is something intrinsically wrong in the traditional belief that marriage is the union of one man with one woman.

We are supposed to be a Christian country but Christian values based on biblical teaching are ridiculed. Christians are mocked for their faith. Lord Paddick's sexual preference is his own affair but as a liberal one would have thought that he would regard Tim Farron's faith as his affair. Instead he chose to advance the LGBT rencana at the expense of the leader of his Party. How very illiberal.

"There are no atheists in foxholesdanquot; still holds true when tragedy strikes. Whether the merciless attacks on innocent people or events such as the tragic London tower block blaze, in times of need people expect the church to be there. But how much longer? Christianity in this country is under threat. Where will people turn when it has been extinguished by illiberal liberals and their like?

Postscript

Former Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Yeovil, David Laws, claims that Tim Farron was right to resign because "he held prejudiced viewsdanquot;. He said, " As a gay man, I do not wish to be 'tolerated'. I wish to be respected for who I am. And I want a party leader whose respect for human equality comes before outdated and frankly offensive religious views."

Mr Laws would earn more respect if he did not misrepresent the meaning of human equality and the views of opponents of same sex marriage. Many of us welcomed civil partnerships but gay marriage is a red line. Frankly, it is Mr Laws' prejudiced views as a gay man which are offensive but opponents of same sex marriage are no longer expected to hold a contrary view.

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Tolerance - Acceptance - Oppression

From Christian Concern : "83 UK evangelical leaders from a variety of backgrounds, churches and organisations have signed a letter to the College of Bishops, regarding The Church of England’s current discussions on the issue of human sexuality. They urge the Church of England 'not to depart from the apostolic inheritance with which they have been entrusted', while affirming one-man, one-woman marriage as 'the only context in which physical expression is to be given to our sexuality'.

The letter follows two previous letters to bishops from members of the Church of England?S General Synod, which urged the Church to uphold biblical teaching on this issuedanquot;. Full text here.

It beggars belief that the College of Bishops needs to be urged to uphold biblical teaching but that is where Western Anglicanism finds itself today after years of liberalisation. Constant chipping away at the faith has left many so bewildered that they have left the church altogether, starkly illustrated by recent figures which show that less than 1% of the population of Wales regularly attend Church in Wales services on a Sunday with a similar decline recorded by the Church of England.

The Church of England is now considering moves to abandon* the sah requirement to hold regular services of morning and evening prayer in parish churches because of declining congregations. In Wales, parishes are being replaced by 'Ministry Areas'. Mystery has been been replaced by management. Churches have become an extension of the workplace ignoring scripture and tradition to substitute spurious claims of equality of opportunity in the workplace for theology.

Anglican women clergy have become firmly established at all levels leading tocalls to refer to God as a woman. Women And The Church (WATCH) leads the charge after their successful campaign for female bishops, claiming that the shift away from the traditional patriarchal language of the Book of Common Prayer is at an "advanced' stage". To cater for this new found 'faith', one church went so far as to request that the Holy Table could be used to serve tea, biscuits and orange squash!

Receiving bread and wine in a Holy space is, or should be, far removed from socialising over tea and biscuits. When mystery is subsumed by worldly understanding there is no otherness which enables campaigning organisations to spring up seeking to make human frailties acceptable, even respectable.

This has culminated in the campaign for same sex marriage leading to the loss of livelihood for some devout Christians. A small family bakery has been forced to close down in the US after the owners refused to make a cake for a lesbian wedding. They were fined $135,000.

Last year a judge in Northern Ireland ruled that a Christian-run bakery discriminated against a gay customer by refusing to make a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan. The firm was found to have discriminated on the grounds of sexual orientation and political beliefs. Florists are not exempt.

Christian beliefs are becoming marginalised, largely due to the efforts of those who were shown tolerance and understanding but accepting minority behaviour as 'normal' is not reciprocated. It turns into oppression.

* Update [18.10.2016]

See alsoChurch of England considers abandoning requirement for Sunday services from The Telegraph followed by "Why is the Anglican Church in crisis?"

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He doesn't get it

Culture Secretary Sajid Javid has accepted what Dame Louise Casey said in her Report about some sections of society not accepting British values such as tolerance.

Javid said that people could not play a "positive role" in British public life unless they accepted basic values which include democracy, equality and freedom of speech. That is true.

That these three basic values are contrary to the ideology of those claiming to be suffering most because they are not allowed to do as they please in their host country appears to have escaped him. Sharia is preferred to democracy, equality is an alien concept and free speech is a one-way vehicle.

There are diverse views within groups as illustrated by the Muslim housemates in the previous entry. Many public servants may be sufficiently relaxed or ill-informed about their faith allowing them to accept the idea of a British values oath. They are not the problem. It is those who are prepared to follow their supremacist ideology to the letter with the promise of salvation if they die in the process.

The idea is well intentioned. It is based an typical British values which requires a sacred Oath to be sworn or an affirmation to be made. If the values expressed in the sacred book of choice are alien to British values the idea is dead before it starts.

What is needed is a proper evaluation of an ideology which expects others to accept that it is a religion of peace but regards any questioning or perceived criticism as Islamophobia.

Better understanding is the key. A comparison with traditional Christian values on which our culture is based is paramount but politicians and religious leaders shrink from the challenge as they ignore the Great Commission and validate other faiths to the detriment of Christianity.

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Decline and fall

Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion Photo: OLI SCARFF

More bad news for the Church of England. "Attendance plunges to record low: Sunday attendance slumps by 22,000 to 765,000 as older worshippers die and Archbishop of Canterbury warns of struggle in ‘anti-Christian culture’".

Ironically much of the anti-Christian culture will be seen by the majority of the world's 80 million Anglicans as of the church's own making in liberal leaning provinces.

But there is another twist in a story which continues to dominate the media.Yesterday half the BBC's 10 o'clock news bulletin and the whole of Newsnight (I presume as I switched it off) was devoted to the death of David Bowie,"the creative force who changed Britain" as the BBC's Home Editor, Mark Easton, put it.

He wrote: "My parents' generation are puzzled by Bowie-mania, and there is another group of thirtysomethings who remain rather baffled by the attention devoted to his passing". That includes me, not as one of the 'thirtysomethings' but of his parents' generation who will have noted his death rather than his passing which is more reminiscent of driving tests.

Easton continued: " Britain has become far more tolerant of difference. And David Bowie helped us reach that place.....Would gay rights, gender equality legislation or same-sex marriage have enjoyed the broad support they do today without Bowie's androgynous challenge all those years ago? I suspect not. He gave space to oddity… and made it cool".

Gay rights and gender equality have become so skewed that what was tolerance has become intolerance and anyone retaining a sense of balance is condemned as being out of touch. It is not cool. It is a disaster.

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The real victims of political correctness.

In this 2010 CBN News video "What Will Happen When Islam Takes Over Britain WAKE UP!" a clear warning was given on the perils of not addressing political correctness.

The Prime Minister's claim in 2011 that multiculturalism had failed was met with a wave of indignant protests and denial. In 2016 the real victims of political correctness, mainly vulnerable children, are being identified on a regular basis.

This is the reality. From anExpress report: The authorities spent years letting gangs of Pakistani and British-Pakistani men get away with horrendous crimes against white girls. Evidence suggests that such groups have been operating in Rotherham, Oxford, Keighley, Bradford and Rochdale. The dangerously misguided desire to appear tolerant and politically correct allowed these gangs to operate unchecked for so long.

Nobody in authority has been prepared to stand against the tide. While political parties spend their time harvesting votes from minorities, the Established church continues her obsession with politically correct quotas, advancing the cause of minorities over suitability and validating Islam.

Tolerance of the intolerant rules. "WAKE UP" indeed!

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I wasn't expecting this

Addressing 'The Challenge of Secularism' at the 2018 meeting of GAFCON in Jerusalem the Rt Rev Dr Gavin Ashenden spoke about The Challenge of Cultural Marxism to the Church.

Explaining how the deception works,  Dr Ashenden explains how "a 3rd wave feminism extended parity into the area of social and sexual engineering. It involved the re-imagining of gender. Making gender flexible and fluid according to the preferences of the imagination.

"The strategy was first feminism and the introduction of the virus of equality , then gay marriage , based on the same artificial notion of equality, then the eradication of gender in the mind with transgenderism. And then paedophilia."

Referring to the latest Canadian propaganda videos "which show the increasing sexualisation of children as they are educated to become ?Allies? Of the LGBTQI , the bishop provided a reference to this sample video

"Give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the man"!

This goes way beyond tolerance and understanding. How did we allow ourselves to get here?

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