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| Hand washing in the Repair Shop Source: BBC TV |
As a long term admirer of the skills demonstrated in the BBC TV series, the Repair Shop, I was taken aback by the first item in last night's episode when a requested repair was made conditional upon the handlers first washing their hands and working in a clean space.
The challenge was for the team to 'fix a 100-year-old handwritten Qur’an passed down four generations of women'.
A woman of Kashmir descent living in Newport, South Wales, made the handwashing stipulation before leaving the book for repair with those regarded in Islam as infidels.
It is understandable that the book can be regarded as sacred by the family but for others the content of the book however beautifully crafted results in persecution and misery for others.
Aid to the Church in Need is reporting that a mass exodus threatens Christianity in Syria and Lebanon while concerns grow over rising attacks against Christian sites in Israel .
The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (1948) guarantees freedom of religion for all yet The Jerusalem Post reports that 'Dozens of incidents, ranging from spitting to vandalism to assault, have been committed by extremist Jews against Christians and their sites this year.'
According to Aid to the Church in Need "Christianity is facing an 'existential threat' in parts of the Middle East, where communities have dwindled to mere shadows of their former selves... Nearly 75 years on from the creation of the state of Israel, Christians in the West Bank have declined from 18 per cent to less than one per cent; and, in Syria, the number of Christians has plummeted from ten per cent in 2011 — before the war began — to less than two per cent."
Meanwhile others, including the Church of England and the Church in Wales, affirm Islam as if it were another religion of love and forgiveness.
There is handwashing and there is handwashing.
Postscripts
Archbishop of Canterbury hosts hardline Islamists for tea and cake:
Interfaith event included Iran ayatollah’s former UK envoy and mosque chief who exalted terrorist as a ‘holy warrior’
[23.09.2023] ‘Destruction’ of ethnic Armenians is imminent, experts warn:
"The 'destruction' of an enclave of 120,000 Armenian Christians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region is imminent, warns Siobhan Nash-Marshall, a U.S.-based human rights advocate..."
I watched the Repair Shop on Wednesday too. I didn't take offence at the request for the presenters to wash their hands, and the presenters showed such respect for the lady and her book. In reality, the Repair Shop isn't a programme based on debate, which is probably why it is so popular. It is about showing the skill of the craftspeople.
ReplyDeleteIf anything, I can admire the lady for having such respect for her 'scriptures' that she made handwashing a requirement. It shows just how far we have fallen in the West that the Bible is treated with such little respect even among Christians. When it comes to the plank of hirelings and their treatment of the Bible, I won't bother going there.
Seymour
Craftspeople?
Delete🤦♂️
Somewhat surprisingly (!) I find myself in agreement with Seymour. I did check back on iPlayer and I don't think the lady actually asked the team to wash their hands. Rather, they said they would do so after she'd said that the book should be handled with clean hands and put in a clean place.
ReplyDeleteI just shudder to think where our non-celibate 'Anglican' homosexual priests hands and fingers have been - and whether they wash them in Bleach and undiluted Dettol - after getting out of bed to present the Wafer at the 8.am communion service. Maybe best not to ask.
ReplyDeleteSafest not to take Communion from them.
DeleteThis particular entry is just atrocious and blasphemous. Another example of privation - taking something quite beautiful and perverting it and twisting it to misrepresent the charm and simplicity of what actually took place. As for the commentator who then sees an opportunity for homophobia - shame on you. Disgraceful.
ReplyDeleteXavier
Not a particular admirer of Rishi, but his recent actions concerning net zero and the switch to electric cars show he has the right instincts.
DeleteHere's another vote winner for him - act against LGBT and all its accoutrements, go where the cowards in the subverted Anglican church are too afraid to venture.
LW
Precisely what homosexuals and Trans lunatics do when they try to redesign God's creation and purpose.
DeleteBut you won't accept that, will you LG?
Go forth and be offended elsewhere.
You’re quite simply a homophobe. Your sense of importance comes from you thinking yourself better on account of those you can scapegoat. A trope as old as humanity.
DeleteXavier
Yawn, yet again.
DeleteYou're just quite simple.
And apparently schizophrenic LG, you can drop the pretence for those of us who have identified your chicanery.
A phobia is an IRRATIONAL fear. Which part of that fact is beyond your grasp?
Nobody fears you blossom, despite your professional victim status.
You're pitied, not reviled and your insistence on damning your eternal soul for all eternity is a great sorrow.
Bravo Sharon Davies and hurrah for common sense, plain speaking and democracy.
Deletehttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/23/mps-believe-women-penis-named-trans-election-sharron-davies/
We deserve to know which of our elected politicians believe that women can have a penis and which ones are sane!
Can somebody also carry out the same exercise for all Bishops and Bishopettes in the UK please?
Bewildered
From the prat that lives in his own personal walled city.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66900525
If the Pope is that bothered by the huge influx of immigrants why doesn't he get the Catholic Church to spend its own hoards of lucre on helping the poor?
When St Paul approached a strange town which did not have a synagogue he went to the nearest river bank where pious jews would wash their hands before praying. In the Middle Ages jewish communities suffered less from plague because they followed this custom. Surely hand washing is to be encouraged, even without the prayer.
ReplyDeleteActually Enoch, there is a community based in Rome, with branches scattered throughout Europe called the St Egidio Community. The Pope's Almoner, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, with the Pope's blessing, is heavily involved with this Community's work. Much of the money sent to the Vatican each year, known as Peter's Pence, finds its way to funding this community's work with immigrants, the lonely, homeless people, terminally ill and HIV/AIDS patients, children at risk of deviance and marginalization, the physically and mentally handicapped, drug addicts, victims of war, and prisoners. In fairness, the Pope isn't just sounding off and sounding righteously indignant, he puts Catholic money where his mouth is too; unlike the plankers here in Wales, who spend money merely on their pet vanity projects.
ReplyDeleteSeymour
Remind us friend, what's the current bank balance of the RC Church?
DeleteI believe the Church of England has about £12 billion but I'm pretty certain the Vatican has multiples of that.
I forgot to include that I agree with you entirely about the wunch of plonkers here in Wales. Cretins all.
DeleteI do not know what the current bank balance of the Vatican is. However, you cannot compare the Church of England to the Vatican. The Vatican is a state in its own right, and has to pay for the running of that state. The C of E is not a state and it doesn't have the financial overheads of a state.
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan of the current Pope, but he has brought the Vatican finances within internationally recognized banking controls. Those who run the Vatican Bank now, are mainly a lay board of directors, and the Vatican accounts have for the last two years been signed off by international auditors. This is something that has not happened previously.
Pope Francis has directed Vatican money towards the migrant crisis in southern Europe, and even used Vatican property to house migrants. What more can anybody expect him to do? He is doing his bit, and he is asking others to be equally as charitable. These people are God's children after all. As Jesus said, "What you do for the least of these my brothers you do for me."
Whilst I deplore the Pope's liberal theology, I cannot condemn him for his Christian attitude towards migrants.
Seymour
How many illegal immigrants has he invited to stay in his own personal state?
DeleteRight.
DeleteDidn't think so.
Enoch, if you are so interested in this subject, why don't you write to the Vatican and ask. I am not a Roman Catholic. I do not live in Vatican City State, so I do not have the answers you are looking for. I merely observe the Roman Catholic Church from a distance.
ReplyDeleteSeymour
Well you started defending the Pope, not me.
Delete