Christian leaders endorse Islam

Religious and civic leaders, interfaith Itfa, St John's Wood Synagogue, 2018    Source: Church Times 

Acting LibDem Leader Sir Ed Davey appeared on Twitter a few days ago announcing that he was preparing for his first ever fast in the holy month of Ramadan prompting Adrian Hilton (AKA Archbishop Cranmer) to respond:

"Forgive me, I'm curious. Did you fast during #Lent? I'll understand if you did but didn't signal it. But did you tweet about fasting or #HolyWeek? Did you express empathy with Christians in isolation over Easter, the holiest time in the liturgical year?

Along with other religious leaders the Archbishop of Canterbury has made a habit of identifying with Ramadan, eg, here and here. In this year's excruciating contribution here Archbishop Justin Welby implies that all religions are the same with some differences in theology but the god of Islam who demands submission could not be more different to the Christian God who sent His Son into the world for our salvation.

For years the BBC have been squeezing Christianity. This year they have been broadcasting the Islamic call to prayer, the adhan, prayed in Arabic:

Allah is greater (Allahu akbar); intoned four times.
I testify that there is no God but Allah (Ashhadu anna la ila ill Allah); intoned twice.
I testify that Mohammed is Allah’s Prophet (Ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasul Allah); intoned twice.
Come to prayer (Hayya alas salah); intoned twice.
Come to security/salvation (Hayya alal falah); intoned twice.
Allah is greater (Allahu akbar); intoned twice.
There is no God but Allah (La ilah ill Allah); intoned once.

Dr. Gavin Ashenden, a former Chaplain to the HM the Queen, resigned his position in protest against a Qur’an reading in a Scottish church. In response to the BBC's decision he observed in Frontpage Mag, “the Muslim call to prayer is a dramatic piece of Islamic triumphalism. It proclaims Islam’s superiority over all other religions, and in so doing casts Jesus in the role of a charlatan and a liar. The Muslim god, Allah, is unknowable and has no son. Jesus was, therefore, a fraud in claiming He and the Father are one.

"Is the BBC, the government-funded broadcasting agency of an ostensibly Christian land, really wise to broadcast a declaration of the superiority of another faith, one that directs its adherents to make war against Christians and subjugate them as inferiors under the hegemony of believers (cf. Qur’an 9:29)? Is the BBC wise to broadcast the cry “Allahu akbar,” beloved of jihad terrorists the world over?"

Nobody is suggesting that all Muslims are evil but people quickly forget the victims of a political ideology that seeks to subjugate others.

In Germany the trial has begun of a 27-year-old Iraqi national, charged with membership in a foreign terrorist organization, crimes against humanity, human trafficking, and war crimes, including the murder of a five-year-old Yazidi girl.

According to the indictment, in the summer of 2015, Taha A. J. “purchased” and enslaved a five-year-old Yazidi girl and her mother, and he and his wife held them captive at their residence in Fallujah, Iraq, where they forcibly converted them to Islam. Taha A. J. beat the captives and one day chained the child outdoors, leaving her to die of thirst in scorching temperatures."

There is hope. In another story of "God at work around the world", this time from a man who grew up Muslim having memorized the majority of the Qur’an. He was warned by his grandmother to “Watch out for the infidels, and don’t befriend or associate with them; they are a disease on society.”

He started reading the New Testament and fell in love with the character of Jesus. Within months he had read the Bible in its entirety. When his Muslim family found out that he had become a Christian his uncle called him with a warning: “Gather your family, pack your bags, and move out of the house because your grandfather is going to terrorist groups, and if they find you, they will kill every single person in the house.”

Today, he works for a ministry that "shares God’s love with Muslims, presenting Christ in a way that connects with their cultural background and speaks to their interest in themes of shame and honor."

Our Christian leaders would do well to remember that "No-one comes to the Father except through me". (John 14:6)

Postscripts

[03.05.2020]

VATICAN URGES CATHOLICS TO SHARE RAMADAN

Throwing in the towel!

[06.05.202]

Food aid in exchange for converting to Islam: violence against the poor, in times of pandemic

Much Ado About Nothing

Wales' First Minister's traffic lights                                                                   Original image: BBC

What did we learn from the First Minister's 'Traffic light' system to lift the Coronavirus lock down in Wales? - Nothing of any consequence.

Moving from red through amber to green is a familiar traffic light pattern in the UK. That is more or less the substance of Mark Drakeford's revelation.

A waste of time and money.

It's not cricket!

Six Nations: Final round fixtures postponed until October                                Image: Express Sports

It came as little surprise that games in the final round of the Six Nations were to be suspended until October following the coronavirus outbreak.

If only that were all. It is going to get worse for loyal rugby fans.

The Six Nations tournament is likely to go behind a Sky paywall from 2022. It's just not cricket!

The government is reported to have rejected the chance to ensure the Six Nations fixtures remain only on free-to-air TV by turning down a call to include the tournament as a category A-listed sporting event which include the rugby union World Cup final, the football World Cup, Wimbledon, the Grand National and the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

It is sad but realistically Rugby Union is not what it was. Today, money talks. Winning is all.

Before their game with France, England coach Eddie Jones warned France to "expect violence in England’s Six Nations opener, doubling down on his pledge to unleash 'absolute brutality' on Fabien Galthié’s 'bright young things' in Paris."

One would have thought that England Rugby would be embarrassed by such comments. Instead Jones' contract was extended to continue his role until the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The highest paid coach in world rugby, Jones is on a salary of £750,000 per year although he has agreed a 25% pay cut as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

Sadly for the game and the enjoyment of fans, winning often follows dull games bogged down by tedious scrums. As former international hooker Brian Moore put it in one of his less biased comments: "Instead of being a means of restarting the game it has become a way of winning penalties."

The extent of the change can be seen when watching highlights of the 1990 Calcutta Cup recently broadcast  by the BBC in their Live rewind series with commentary by the late, great Bill McLaren. There is no hint of favour or partiality, unlike many of today's games when commentators appear to regard themselves as extra players for their favoured team.

In the 1990 game there was none of the excessive hugging, ritual tapping and patting celebrations which greet scrum penalties; just enjoyable, running rugby flavoured with some rye comments on play rather than on commentators' National teams.

Another aspect of the game needing urgent attention is the ritual spitting picked up from over paid professional soccer players. Hopefully players will become more aware of the health risks of such behaviour after the coronavirus pandemic and exercise more self control.

There are few fixtures that draw the nations together like the Six Nations. The government should think again.

Orthodox Easter Jerusalem 2020

Via Dolorosa during Good Friday in Jerusalem in April 2019 and April 2020. Ammar Awad / Reuters                                                              Source: INSIDER

The lead up to Easter in Jerusalem is often chaotic as thousands of pilgrims and visitors throng the Old City. In 2020, in common with towns and cities around the world, Jerusalem is in lockdown.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is closed, the first time the doors have remained shut during Easter since the Black Death in 1349 according to doorkeeper and traditional key holder Adeeb Jawad Joudeh al-Husseini whose Muslim family have held the keys of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for centuries.

He told Al Jazeera that he considered the Holy Sepulchre as his second home and it was "very hard to see it closed, especially during this blessed time."

Retracing the steps Jesus is believed to have taken ahead of his crucifixion, "a handful of friars were allowed to walk the traditional route through the rain-soaked Old City".

The Jerusalem Post reports that Israeli authorities will allow "usual Easter-related ceremonies" in Jerusalem to proceed but with "the restrictions put in place to combat the coronavirus pandemic".

The Holy Fire ceremony will proceed. There will likely be "10-15 people in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher representing the different Eastern Orthodox churches" instead of the mass of witnesses seen in 2019 and for centuries before.

Some of the fire is put into special containers and taken to planes waiting at Ben-Gurion Airport to  distributed it to Eastern Christendom via churches in Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania and other countries.

The exact mechanics of the ceremony have not been worked out yet a Foreign Ministry source told The jerusalem Post because "the Health Ministry may put more restrictions in place, but flights to bring the fire to Russia, Ukraine and Greece have already been arranged."

The report also states that the entire Holy Fire ceremony will be live-streamed online. No link is given but at the time of writing this entry RUPTLY is live-streaming.

Postscript

Holy Fire lit in near-empty Jerusalem

Happy Easter to our Orthodox brothers and sisters!

Church weddings decline along with regular church attendance

Church wedding                                                                                          Source: Church of England

While Anglican clergy, and Church in Wales bishops in particular, pursue their goal of same sex marriage in church, the latest figures indicate that fewer people are opting to make their relationship official with a traditional church wedding.

Figures published in Christian Today show that just 54,000 people chose a church wedding in 2017 - the lowest number on record - marking a steep drop from 184,000 in 1987. Religious ceremonies overall accounted for less than a quarter (23%) of marriages between opposite-sex couples in 2017.

"The statistics reflect a general drop in the number of people tying the knot, with a total of 242,842 marriages in England and Wales, down 2.8 per cent on the previous year and the lowest since records began in 1862. Of these marriages, some 6,932 were between same-sex couples.

"The figures continue to show a long-term decline in heterosexual couples choosing to wed, with numbers falling by 45% since 1972."

Ironically the bishops' desire to extend marriage in church to same sex couples occurs while traditional marriage ceremonies are in steep decline, as is church attendance in general.

Instead of following official teaching on Weddings, Anglican bishops in Wales along with the House of Bishops in the Church of England pander to secular trends in a mistaken attempt to appear more relevant to society.

From the Church in Wales Order for Holy Matrimony:
"Marriage is a gift of God through which husband and wife may grow together in the knowledge, love and service of God. It is given that, united with one another in heart, in mind and in body, they may increase in love and trust. God joins husband and wife in life-long union as the foundation of family life (in which children are born and nurtured and) in which each member of the family, in good times and in bad, may find strength, companionship and comfort, and grow to maturity in love. Marriage enriches society and strengthens community."

Mistaken ideas of equality, misrepresenting biblical meanings of love and substituting constructions of gender in place of traditional sexual identification have not enriched society or strengthened the community. More often they have led to confusion, bitterness and resentment.

The so called 'inclusive' churches have excluded far more Anglicans than thay have recruited as illustrated by the overall decline in attendance.

Those now complaining about being locked out of their churches under Covid-19 distancing rules are experiencing what they have previously forced on others who, along with the majority of Christians, including Anglicans, did no more than try to adhere to the traditional catholic and apostolic faith handed down through generations. 

A salutary lesson indeed. 

Easter 2020

The Resurrection                                                                                                     Caravaggio

A Happy and Blessed Easter

to all my readers

"I am with you till the end of time"

Bishop of London undermines Archbishop's authority

The Bishop of London has written to her clergy telling them they can ignore guidelines banning them from conducting services in their own churches thus contradicting advice from the Archbishop of Canterbury. 

By her actions the former Chief Nurse gives support to those people who think they know better than the government and the Church, ignoring Covid-19 guidelines designed to protect our NHS and save lives. 

Shame on her.

The selfless and the selfish

Source: BBC

Source: Express

Source: Independent

While NHS employees, numerous carers and many public servants are putting their lives on the line to care for the sick in the coronavirus pandemic, the selfish lie on their backs in the sun or chat idly, ignoring pleas to stay home.

These are the very people who are spreading the virus. They may even find themselves on their backs in hospital beds - if there are any left for them - having infected countless others.

Either they are deaf to the message or just couldn't care less - until it hits them.

Centenary

Original source: ITV

The Church in Wales celebrates 100 years since disestablishment.