Shhh - don't mention Islam

Shhh                                                                        Source: The Catholic Thing

The so-called 'religion of peace' looks anything but peaceful as refugees attempt to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban swept to power. They promise an 'inclusive government' that is compatible with Islamic law so the sting is in the tail particularly for women and girls based on previous experience of Taliban rule. 

Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) has claimed responsibility for the latest slaughter of innocents outside Kabul airport. The suicide bomber will not have regarded his own death as suicide but as having been slain in battle as a warrior for Islam with the promise of 72 virgins in the after life.

The killer's victims were mainly Muslims legitimised by rival interpretations of their faith.

Mass slaughter by Islamists is not an isolated event. 

In June BBC News reported that armed men killed at least 160 people in an attack on a village in northern Burkina Faso. The fight against West Africa's Islamist insurgency was reported to be at a critical stage. 

In January BBC News reported that "around 49 died and 17 were injured in the village of Tchombangou, while another 30 died in Zaroumdareye". Several violent incidents in Africa's Sahel region had been carried out by 'militant groups'.

Currently, Christians in Nigeria are living in fear of another attack according to House of Lords member Baroness Caroline Cox. "There are reports on the ground that Islamic terrorists are planning an attack on Jos, capital of the Plateau state in central Nigeria", she said.

Whether or not this attack takes place or when there other atrocities in Africa, based on previous experience it is unlikely that there will much if any media attention. Hence the scale of the problem is not as obvious as it should be.

According to Islamist terrorist attacks in the world 1979-2019 "at least 33,769 Islamist terrorist attacks took place worldwide. They caused the deaths of at least 167,096 people. We can also say that Islamist terrorist attacks account for 18.8% of all attacks worldwide, but that they are responsible for 39.1% of the lives lost due to terrorism; or that, during the years studied, there has been an intensification of this violence and that the deadliest period is the most recent: from 2013 onwards, in our opinion, Islam has become the main cause (63.4%) of deaths due to terrorism in the world. We identify and quantify operating methods and targets. The vision of the phenomenon improves, the image becomes clearer. In this way, we show that the majority of the victims of Islamist terrorism are Muslims (91.2%).

The threat of Islamist attacks greatly disrupted our lives long before the arrival of Covid-19. 

As The Catholic Thing put it in Religion and the Re-classification of Islam:

"Air travel is not what it used to be. In the 1980s and 1990s, you could accompany your relatives or friends to the terminal, sit and talk with them at the gate while waiting for boarding, give your kisses and hugs, and leisurely head back for home. Teenagers and some “20-somethings” will have no such memories. Now it’s the baleful experience of security lines, searches, removing stuff for the metal detectors, and full body pat-downs for people who – like me – have metal implants.

"Mosques are being built everywhere. Saudi Arabia has funded the building of thousands of mosques throughout the world and has supplied massive funding for the more than 2000 mosques in America. Christian churches are forbidden in Saudi Arabia – and are being destroyed in Egypt, Pakistan, Syria, Nigeria and elsewhere, where their existence was previously allowed.

"And we learn of the unusual “cultural” proclivities of Islam – execution of apostates and homosexuals, ideological and legal relegation of females to inferior status, female genital mutilation, divorce without appeal, rape without defense, honor killings, stoning for adultery, etc."

There is much to fear from a such threatening, political ideology. 

Another member of the House of Lords, Lord Pearson, was condemned as Islamophobic merely for discussing the fear of Islam.

Here is an extract from what Lord Pearson said as published in Hansard and reproduced in the Archbishop Cranmer blog:
 "So I submit that it is not phobic to fear Islam, which is responsible for by far the most violence on our planet today. However, if we so much as even try to learn and talk about Islam, we are immediately called Islamophobic by the Muslim Council of Britain, Tell MAMA and other suspect organisations, yet we can say what we like about any of the world’s other religions and nobody turns much of a hair." 

Free speech is under threat. 

Church and state leaders who embrace Islam as a religion of peace should take note.

A slave for her faith

 

Farah Shaheen (©Aid to the Church in Need).

I have regularly looked at the photo of this poor girl gazing through the camera because, stunned into inaction, the email from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has remained in my in-tray. 

What are her thoughts? What if she were my daughter, or yours?

Farah's story is appalling, best explained by this extract from the ACN email:

"The father of a 12-year-old Christian girl – kidnapped, raped, shackled hand and foot, and forced to work from dusk till dawn – has at last spoken out about her ordeal.

"When police rescued Farah Shaheen from the Faisalabad house of 45-year-old Khizar Ahmed Ali (Hayat) in December 2020, she was too traumatised to speak but, bit by bit, has revealed her harrowing five-month ordeal to her father, Asif Masih.

"In a statement to Aid to the Church in Need, Mr Masih said his daughter was attached to a chain and forced to work all day “as a slave” damaging her shackled hands and feet in the process.

"Mr Masih said: 'Farah has told me she was treated like a slave. She was forced to work all day, cleaning filth in a cattle yard. 24-7 she was attached to a chain.'

"Condemning Mr Ahmed for forcing Farah to marry him and convert to Islam, he said: “She was sexually assaulted by her abductor and raped multiple times by [his] landlords”."

Sadly this is not an isolated case. The email continues:

"Describing the mistreatment of girls from minority faith backgrounds as 'a cancer in our society', he said: “I beg you to demand that the Government stops this evil in its tracks and brings the culprits to justice.”

"Pakistan’s Movement for Solidarity and Peace estimates that up to 1,000 young Christian and Hindu females between 12 and 25 are abducted each year."

Another tragic report describes how 14-year-old Maira Shahbaz was bundled into a car at gunpoint by three men on 28th April 2020, in Medina Town, Pakistan.  She was filmed and photographed being raped, and was then forced to convert to Islam and marry one of her abductors, Mohamad Nakash Tariq, 30 years her senior.

A petition has been presented to Fiona Bruce, MP, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Religious Freedom or Belief asking Prime Minister Boris Johnson to grant asylum for Maira Shahbaz and her family. In that regard Maira is luckier than most.

In 2019 the BBC reported Christian persecution 'at near genocide levels'. In 2021 little has changed.

Persecution of Christians Exacerbated by a Year of Covid-19 According to World Watch List 2021:

• Christians in numerous African and Asian nations have been refused coronavirus aid
  
  
• Islamic militants have exploited Covid-19 restrictions, increasing violence against Christians in sub-Saharan Africa by 30 per cent.
  
  
• Covid-19 has legitimised repression through increased surveillance by authoritarian governments such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
  
  
• Women have been especially vulnerable in Covid-imposed lockdowns, with psychological violence as well as kidnapping and forced conversions.

In another email ACN gives details of slaughter in Africa. Another highlights  Religious bias faced by Christians in Pakistan. In Myanmar displaced Christians have formed a village called 'Bethel' outside Yangon.

There are regular reports of attacks on Christians but not on action to curb them. 

In my entry The naivety of Christian leaders I wrote: Christian leaders would do well to heed the warning of bishop Michael Nazir-Ali who explained back in 2011 how Christianity has become almost extinct in the Middle East, the cradle of Christianity, and Islam, the 'religion of peace', has became dominant in the Arab world.

Christianity is on the decline while Muslims are the world’s fastest-growing religious group.

It doesn't take much imagination to realise the fate of Christians when looking at counties in which they are already a minority. 

Then and now

Fighting the enemy WW1   Source: The Telegraph

Ignoring the enemy Covid-19  Source: WalesOnline

Super Saturday!

Pubs open in Soho                                                                                                    Source: BBC/EPA

Lifting Covid-19 restrictions has been the long awaited green light for citizens who are not particularly bothered about social distancing for the benefit of all.

"Good solid British common sense" gets left behind.

Having packed English beaches, roads outside pubs have become the latest places to congregate with no regard for social distancing.

Easing of the lock-down brings new perils for vulnerable people among us. 

Shielding since March, the thought of venturing out after the lock-down fills them with trepidation. 

Re-uniting families within the rules is being allowed but dangers for vulnerable people are multiplied unnecessarily by the thoughtless behaviour of mainly younger people who ignore the rules.

They make a second wave of Covid-19 infection more likely, risking the lives of others while adding to the burden of the NHS whose 72nd birthday we celebrate today.

Petertide ordinations in Wales

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby welcomed female priests at St Paul's Cathedral in 2014                                                                               Source: BBC

For the first time since women were accepted for ordination, most deacons ordained in the Church of England in 2019 were women, only 44% of whom were aged under 40.

It can be only a matter of time before Anglicanism in this country is dominated by women who feel free to do as they please.

In 2020 the Covid-19 lockdown has resulted in churches being closed, only now re-opening for private prayer but that has not prevented the Church in Wales from carrying out some ordinations.

The diocese of Monmouth has been asked by bishop Cherry openly to pray for a new female deacon who will be ordained in Newport Cathedral today.

Of more concern is the rumoured secretive ordination behind Llandaff Cathedral's closed doors today of a man reportedly in a same sex marriage.

Some observations from a concerned commentator:

The regulations forbidding clergy holding public services in their churches have been the cause of deep anxiety and concern.  Even when our churches are permitted to be open for private prayer they will not be allowed to vocalise any form of worship.  Grotesque?  Yes.  You may only go into a church if you promise not to utter aloud any praise of God or articulate intercession!

However – one rule for the lower clergy, another for the hierarchy – there is a rumour doing the rounds that Mrs Goulding (alias the bishop of Llandaff) is intent on secretly holding a ‘private’ ordination service behind the locked doors of Llandaff Cathedral in the presence of only a few members of the Chapter.  ‘A private ordination behind locked doors’ is no more possible than a ‘private marriage behind locked doors’.  Ordination is the concern and action of the whole people of God.  The service makes this clear at various points when the congregation is asked questions about the suitability of the candidates and whether it is the wish of the people that they be ordained.

Furthermore, there is apparently to be no Communion.  The 1662 Prayer Book, and Wales 1984 – and indeed all ordination services – are within the context of the Eucharist.  ‘ . . . all they that receive Orders shall take together, and remain in the same place where hands were laid upon them, until such time as they have received the Communion.”

If the bishop and the priest do not receive the Holy Communion together then one may justifiably question whether it is a legal or valid ordination.

Postscript

Social distancing being ignored:

Deaconing in Newport Cathedral 27 June 2020                         Source: YouTube

RE-OPENING CHURCHES UPDATE Monmouth news Posted: 19 June 2020

Postscripts [28.06.2020]

Episcopal double standards in evidence?

Following the report of a secretive ordination service in Llandaff Cathedral a tweet from Llandaff diocese has been posted in response to a tweet in which it was queried whether or not churches can now hold worship providing it is behind closed doors:

"Llandaff Diocese #StaySafe

@LlandaffDio

Morning Rachel. Yes, ordinations  took place in the cathedral yesterday. Doors were closed because public were unable to attend due to strict social distancing rules. No family or friends could attend. 

Unusual circumstances this but safety must come first. ✝️❤️"

There was no announcement of the service that I can find and no prayers invited for the ordinand(s) - more than one is now indicated.

In view of the serious observations contained in the main post, above, a fuller explanation should be made instead of a Covid-19 safety brush off.  

PS 2 [28.06.2020]

A further tweet shows five candidates were ordained as deacons to serve in the diocese plus another four presumably to serve in other dioceses.

Postscript [29.06.2020]

Source: CinW Twitter

The latest Petertide ordinations reported on Twitter:

"Ordinations Covid-style in St David's Church Abergwili - congratulations to Heulwen Evans, Jordan Spencer and Lorna Jones, the first of our Deacons to be ordained yesterday (Sunday 28th). All duly socially distanced..."

So should one assume there was no laying on of hands in Abergwili?

Postscript [01.07.2020]

From Twitter: Next, St Asaph

"ORDINATIONS

It should have been the ordination of priests last Saturday, and I am currently working towards the provisional date of Saturday, 3rd October, for the ordination of our seven priest candidates (Gareth Erlandson, Sally Harper, Simon Piercy, Chris Spencer, Sue Storey, Carol Thomas and James Tout), hoping that it will be possible to hold the ordination in the Cathedral as usual.  Do please hold all these individuals in your thoughts and prayers.

By agreement with the Welsh Government, however, we will be able to proceed with the ordination of our deacon candidates, and this is because the government has accepted the argument that it is a necessary step to their assuming ministry and their work as Assistant Curates.  In line with government regulations, the ordination service will be online live streamed and recorded, and socially distanced, or with PPE precautions.  Ordinations are joyful occasions when we give thanks to God for the calling of men and women to ordained service, but on this occasion, the absence of supporters and a congregation will be keenly felt.  It is my hope, therefore, that many of us can hold them in prayer at the time, and support them from a distance.  Please remember George Bearwood, Luke Bristowe, Helen Dawson, Toby Jones, Gregory Lachlann-Waddell, Ben Lines, Jo MacKriell, Jim Thompson and Gail Woodward in your prayers." - AD CLERUM - JULY 2020

If there was 'agreement with the Welsh Government' as stated it makes the secrecy surrounding the ordination, Monmouth excluded, all the more surprising

The bench should come clean and explain to the faithful how the ordinations were conducted with social distancing and whether they took part in the context of the Eucharist.

Postscript [05.07.2020]

Source: Church in Wales

St Asaph coming clean at their Petertide ordination service yesterday. Oodles of photos here. Clearly much thought of safeguarding is in evidence.

Lives matter

Source: Twitter

Of course black lives matter, all lives matter. Not that one would think so after Thousands join Black Lives Matter protests around the UK, ignoring restrictions on gatherings and warnings about social distancing to avoid spreading the Covid-19 virus. 

Demonstrations have spread like a rash, invaded by various groups regardless of the facts as articulated by this courageous lady.

On the 80th Anniversary of the evacuation of Dunkirk, Winston Churchill's statue in Parliament Square was defaced as thousands took part in a Black Lives Matter rally. Police and police horses were attacked. The Cenotaph was vandalised.

This has nothing to do with the death of George Floyd, just one of many appalling incidents throughout the world, most of which go unreported.

Protect the NHS has been a Government cry from the start of the pandemic. Their strategy avoided the NHS being overwhelmed but tragically many lives have been lost among NHS staff and carers. There has been growing concern about the disproportionate deaths among BAME people.

If the demonstrations results in another spike in Covid-19 cases, the NHS will have to pick up the pieces with many more Black, Asian, and minority ethnic people in the front line.

For the demonstrators it seems that black lives do not matter.   

Postscript

Tweet from Toby Young: "I was in Minneapolis last year. Loved it. Such a beautiful city. It now looks like Aleppo." Footage here.

From Jack Montgomery: "Lincoln's statue vandalised even worse than Churchill's at the #BlackLivesMatter protest in London. Lincoln, of course, is the President who freed the slaves – and got an assassin's bullet in the back of the head for doing it. That still wasn't enough?" Image here.

Utter madness.

Postscript [08.06.2020]

London police 'on the run' from 'peaceful' protestors here.

The ultimate disgrace, police officers having to move in with riot gear to defend the Cenotaph as rioters attempt to set fire to our flag. The day after we commemorated D-Day, when our troops, those the Cenotaph honours, liberated Europe from *actual* fascists. Scumbags. Here.

No doubt these demonstrators will be first in the queue for treatment by the NHS if they become infected with Covid-19, demanding their rights as victims.

Postscript [15.06.2020]

Channel 4 News: "It turns out that the Leader of the Independent Police Advisory Group, who we must assume has a degree, doesn't know that Winston Churchill is dead. Why interview someone without knowledge? What do universities teach?"

Get Cummings

The PM's Chief Advisor running the gauntlet of hate                                                                                                                                        Source: internewscast

Regardless of which side of the fence you find yourself in the 'Cummings must go' campaign, the treatment he and his family have had to endure as glimpsed in this tweet is not British. It is a disgrace. 

Following the example of snowflake no-platformers, get Cummings campaigners have been acting as judge and jury. A witch hunt designed to ensure the departure of the Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister, thus settling old scores after Remainers lost the vote to remain in the EU. 

Allegedly unbiased TV presenters who are paid vast amounts of money by the cash strapped BBC decided that Dominic Cummings' actions when he and his wife were required to self-isolate were reprehensible. The man was guilty regardless of circumstances, timing or his use in the fight against the common enemy, Covid-19

Possibly emboldened by the fact that BBC Breakfast's presenter Naga Munchetty was let off  after she 'breached BBC rules', presenter Emily Maitlis launched into her Newsnight introduction with: "Good evening. Dominic Cummings broke the rules. The country can see that and it is shocked the Government cannot. The longer Ministers and Prime Minister tell us he worked within them the more angry the response to the scandal is likely to be.... He made those who struggled to keep the rules feel like fools and has allowed many more to feel that they can flout them".

 Crackpot Acting LibDem Leader Sir Ed Davey described the breach as "brilliant journalism". The BBC has since said that "an introduction about Dominic Cummings on Tuesday's Newsnight did not meet the required standards of due impartiality".

'Journalists' and MPs following the pack have been lining up to demand the PM's Chief Advisor should either resign or be sacked regardless of his value in combating the Coronavirus. The Church of England's duplicitous bishops have also weighed into the Prime Minister with "lied to, patronised and treated as mugs" although one has to acknowledge their considerable expertise in that area. 

This week we have been celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the rescue of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from Dunkirk. The coverage of the BBC today is in marked contrast with the desire for victory regardless of the cost in 1940.

The get Cummings campaign has completely lost sight of the need to beat the real enemy, Covid-19.

Sir Keir Starmer has tweeted: "Boris Johnson's unwillingness or inability to do the right thing has left the Government looking untrustworthy and unprincipled. Worst of all he's undermined the public health advice that keeps us all safe, just to keep one aide in his job. Our nation’s health must come first."

Sir Keir is correct. Our nation's health must come first. For that reason MPs, the media and Anglican bishops should stop doing what they accuse Dominic Cummings of having done, putting the country at risk. 

The issue has been flogged to death. 

It is the vendetta that is more likely to undermine the Government's fight against Covid-19 with mischievous suggestions that people should perhaps make their own judgements rather than follow government guidelines.

Postscript [01.06.2020]

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Blasts Bishops over Cummings Controversy

"Controversy is ridiculously overblown, says George Carey

Hysterical, coarsened and divisive nature of debate is creating a dangerous culture war that could harm civic life, he says."

VE Day 75 years on.

VE Day 1945. Prime Minister Winston Churchill with the Royal Family on the Buckingham Palace balcony to celebrate the end of World War 2 in Europe 

Readers who recall the Royal Family and Winston Churchill acknowledging the crowds on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on VE Day in 1945 will have survived WW2 bombings only to be targeted by a more insidious enemy today, the Covid-19 virus.

Official celebrations designed to inject the spirit of joy felt in 1945 have been cancelled. Instead there will be some TV programmes to mark the 75th anniversary of the allied victory. The Queen will address her subjects at 9 pm as did her father King George VI on VE Day.

Life in Britain and around the world had become very different until lockdown imposed dramatic changes in routine in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The concept of the nuclear family has gone. Marriage has largely been replaced by partnerships, civil or informal, previously regarded as living in sin.

Feminism dominates Anglicanism, Christianity is lampooned, churches are closing while other faiths are protected. Political correctness has become an unwelcome burden, often depriving people of the humour that sustained us in times of difficulty

Notions of gender contradict what used to be regarded as patently obvious while the snowflake generation threaten free speech by no-platforming speakers whose views they disagree with.

On the 75th anniversary of VE Day we are at war again but with an unseen enemy. Older folk who experienced bombings in WW2 and the discipline of National Service find themselves at greater risk from the virus but appear better able to cope, staying indoors as told while some, mainly younger people, ignore the advice, risking the lives of others in the process

In May 1940 when Churchill first addressed the House of Commons as Prime Minister he concluded, "You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: victory; victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival." The same spirit is needed today.

I recall sitting around the radio with my mother during WW2 listening to Churchill's speeches spurring the allies to victory and strengthening resolve at home. Uplifting broadcasts provided a welcome tonic for housewives bringing up their families in difficult times when their husbands faced more immediate perils abroad.

News bulletins are once again dominated by war reports. War against the Covid-19 virus but the BBC has changed its position from blanket support of the war effort to a more critical, gloomy picture. For example, viewers are constantly told that the UK has the highest number of Corona-19 virus deaths in Europe before adding, as if barely relevant, that demographic factors paint a different picture.

Some voices are spreading discontent, encouraging popular demands to relax the restrictions that have lessened the spread of infections. Hopefully governments will remain resolute in the face of opposition and not give in to unscientific populist demands.

Matters become more complicated while devolved administrations, anxious to be seen flexing their independent muscles, arrive at their own conclusions even though based on the same central, scientific evidence. When aired by the BBC such views can make them appear to be aligned with the Opposition.

The blog A Grain of Sand poses the question 'Is Aunty Biased', suggesting the BBC, founded on Christian principles, has "swung to an institutional mindset of sceptical liberalism".

I was intrigued the other day to see a reference to the BBC's Director of Content. Googling revealed not just a content director but an army of 39 ideas people ending with the Lead on Comedy Nations and Regions.

Today there is little original comedy to provide laughs compared with WW2 radio content such as ITMA, Workers Playtime, Band Waggon and Hi, Gang!

Instead the BBC supplements its regular news and current affairs slots with frequent repeats and a constant supply of soccer matches/comments/analyses while evening dramas provide a diet mainly of murder and misery.

Nevertheless, 75 years after VE Day, we will not be glued to the wireless worrying about air raid warning sirens. Instead my wife and I will be watching Auntie focus on doom and misery with a gap celebrating Churchill's promise of victory if we were to stand firm.

We did. Pulling together we are here to celebrate victory. 'Victory at all costs'.

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. 

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.