Into Lent

For many Christians Lent begins with the sign of the cross, in ashes, generally on the forehead. Less fortunate Christians around the world from Ethiopia to the Philippines have ashes all around them, their churches burned to the ground often with mosques built on the hallowed ground. There is a good review of the situation here.


I reflected on the horrors being inflicted on fellow Christians after the penitential rite when the celebrant read the commandment:

I am the Lord your God:

You shall have no other gods but me.

You shall love the Lord your God

With all you heart,

With all your soul,

With all your mind,

And with all your strength.

How can the perpetrators of these crimes believe in one God, the God of Abraham? There is a useful explanation in this analysis. So why are we forced to support the implied legitimacy of another god by being surreptitiously sold halal food, even to Church of England schools? The barnabasfund is taking up this fight through its Operation Nehemiah. 

Christians can make their mark to assert that there is no other god by signing this petition. 

Keep the faith, spread the Word and have a good Lent.