And now the smears...

Source: Evening Standard

Many of us are used to smears if we hold an opinion contrary to the received wisdom. To misogynistic, homophobic and Islamophobic I can now add xenophobic and racist.

I was horrified when I read that the Polish and Social Cultural Association (POSK) in Hammersmith had been targeted by vandals who had sprayed yellow paint on the front of the centre saying "Go Home".

Do these idiots not understand that after Poland was overrun by the Nazis in WW2 many Poles gave their lives fighting with the Allies and many of their pilots fought in the Battle of Britain?

In Prime Minister's Question Time today David Cameron assured the House that all possible steps will be taken to tackle the problem of a few extremists exploiting the Brexit vote but it does not help the situation when Ministers and others brand people as racists simply because they take a balanced view of immigration and the inherent risks to stability of an open-door policy which will bring further chaos to our over-stretched public services.

Writing in the Guardian Miqdaad Versi, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, writes "Brexit has given voice to racism – and too many are complicit". Self proclaimed Brexit defector and former Conservative Party chair, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, cited "hate and xenophobia" as the reasons for changing her position. Tell Mama is devoted to "Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks" inviting complainants to submit reports. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has compiled "over 100 incidents reported of hate crimes following the referendum result" according to figures on their web site. For a world view click here.

As Archbishop Cranmer wrote: "Brexit may have spurred a few racists but the heartbeat of the nation is unity and tolerance". All violence is to be deplored, from whatever source. We are constantly told that Islam is a religion of peace and that extremists do not represent true Islam despite all the evidence to the contrary in Islamic states where the Dhimmi status of non-Muslims is thought acceptable.

From Archbishops down, or up depending on one's point of view, Islam is being affirmed as if it were an acceptable religion on a par with Christianity. Justin Welby hosted an iftar this week at Lambeth Palace - a breaking of the Muslim fast of Ramadan.  Addressing the Muslims there, he said: "Your faithfulness in observing Ramadan in this way has been an example of what it means to take faith seriously"!

When I first clicked on the Welby link there was a link to another page "Soldiers beheaded, churches destroyed and constant fear: Syrian Christian on life under ISIS in Raqqa". Will we ever learn?

Earlier I read a report that the WATCH 'F-word' advocate, now Rector of St James' Piccadilly "opens doors for Muslims, hosts grand Iftar". So much for the claim that "there will be no repetition of the March 2015 Muslim prayer service held at St John’s Waterloo".

While Anglican clergy are busy affirming Islam, MCB and their supporters are busy playing the victim. Again from Cranmer: "There are undoubtedly some vile people out there who are abusing Asians, Muslims, Poles and Romanians, but it seems particularly crass for Remainers (including some senior clergy) to smear all Brexiters with the whiff of racism (not to mention stupidity)."

A sense of proportion please.

Apologies

Who is a proper Christian?

My apologies to Archbishop Cranmer for thinking that this video was a spoof. 

I thought that I was made a Christian at my Baptism, "manfully to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end".

Has something changed?

How did we get here?

The General Synod of the Church of Ireland has passed a motion upholding marriage as a union between one man and one woman but for upholding tradition, the Church of Ireland Synod [is] blasted for 'homophobia'.

How did we get ourselves into the ridiculous position that those upholding tradition are pilloried as extremists? What was previously considered normal is now considered outrageous. In another example, Cranmer is being persecuted by the Advertising Standards Authority following "a number of complaints about an advertisement carried on behalf of the Coalition for Marriage". Same sex marriage is the latest trend in a movement, often in search of votes, that has brought the church to its knees, not to pray but by pressing fashionable minority, secular values on the church with no regard for tradition and scripture. In research carried out for the Coalition for Marriage, the majority of the 150 MPs who have declared themselves support equal marriage, a decision also taken by President Obama, perhaps sensing some electoral advantage in the decision. 

While there is no excuse for unchristian religious extremism, the homosexual campaign for so called equality is in danger of turning away supporters of equal rights. Same sex couples deservedly have equal rights through civil partnerships but it is not homophobic to reject the notion of same sex marriage. Equality does not mean sameness especially when it dilutes the faith of the church. Unsurprisingly the champion of minorities (other than those who keep the faith), the Archbishop of Wales has already expressed his support for same sex marriage along with so called senior bishops of the Church in England. In a recent hard hitting article for Virtueonline the question was posed: What future for the Church of England: Is it too late to save her?  The Church of England is now a very short step from following precisely the same agenda as The Episcopal Church. Here a few paragraphs to give the flavour of the article:

 "The tragic facts are these: in order to maintain the illusion of a universal Church of England, inseparable from the state and its people, the Church's leaders have spent more than 150 years in trimming Christian doctrine so as not to "offend" anyone. Or to be "inclusive". Or to make the scriptures and Christian doctrine conform to the prevailing scientific fad of the day. Or, perhaps worst of all, in the truly misguided belief that by watering down the gospel they might be more successful in persuading unbelievers to come to Christ. They have compromised, with relative impunity, down the years, writing from the security of senior positions within the Church's establishment and protected by the national courts from any complaints which have come from concerned church members - but rarely, if ever, from the bishops who are supposed to be the guardians of Christian teaching. ... The Church of England has no effective mechanisms, either for guaranteeing orthodoxy of public teaching by its leaders, or for dealing with those who lead the way in subverting its witness to the gospel. Many of the leading revisionists have actually commenced their careers as teachers at the Church's seminaries. The outcome for the Church is constant drift in the direction of unbelief. Every novelty which is proposed has to be met halfway, with a compromise. The direction of movement each time is a step away from a recognisable faith in the gospel as the Church has received it, and the further alienation and exclusion of those within the Church who seek simply to be faithful to that gospel.

The catastrophic abandonment by the Church of England's bishops of their intrinsic role as guardians of Christian teaching concerning the Scriptures and the Creeds has been accompanied by a progressive relinquishment of their teaching authority in favour of voting on doctrinal and moral issues by the Church Assembly and latterly by the General Synod, whose members are not required to possess any qualification for judging such matters and who increasingly take their lead from media and politicians who want to see the Church redesigned in their own image. If it is possible for leading Anglicans to declare that there is no Hell, that there was no Incarnation and no Resurrection, and that there is no need for repentance and conversion in the universalist institution which the Church of England has become, then any appeal to the Scriptures for guidance as to God's will, or definition of morality, is met with blank looks and bafflement by many lay and clerical leaders for whom such an intellectual and spiritual universe is largely unknown." 

So what hope is there for the Church of England? It was not encouraging to read that the Apostle of Faith by Fad has been elected to serve on the Crown Nominations Commission, the body that will nominate the next Archbishop of Canterbury, an honour he will no doubt regard as an endorsement of his secular creed. 


The writing is on the wall.

Are we already an Islamic country?

"Christian Britain is dead" said The Rt Rev Paul Richardson, a bishop of our established church, the Church of England. But the Queen is still Defender of the Faith, a faith based on love which shaped our nation, a love that now dare not speak its name.

The latest incident of alleged religious discrimination highlights the case of a Christian worker who lost her job after being 'targeted' by Islamic extremists at Heathrow Airport. In his Blog, Cranmer raises some important issues here. Whatever the facts of this new case, there is a perception that only Islam is beyond question with legitimate questions about the treatment of Christians being met with cries of 'Islamophobia'. 

Endless excuses are made but if we look abroad,for example, in Egypt,  the home of our Christian Desert Fathers, there are regular authentic accounts of the persecution of Christians and the destruction of Coptic churches but where is the condemnation from the 'Religion of Peace'? The answer is neatly summed-up by the Coptic priest Fr Zakaria Botros here. Those involved in inter-faith talks please take note. 


Postscript
Pakistan to review list of obscene words that includes 'Jesus Christ'.

Beggars belief...

Hot on the heels of Cranmer's post, "Tis Pity She's a Whore - the Virgin Mary", I watched a video report in the Independent which gives details of  "a controversial book to be published on Good Friday [which] has caused outrage for its portrayal of Jesus as a bisexual drug addict." Christians are expected to tolerate such religious 'stone-throwing', turning the other cheek rather than going on the rampage killing innocent people in fits of righteous indignation with no regard for the rights of individuals in their own land.

On Monday (11 April) the BBC's 'Panorama' broadcast "Living with the Ayatollah" highlighted human rights abuses in Iran. Ironically Iran's Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini has been urging European countries to avoid encouraging 'Islamophobia'. The Guardian has taken up a similar cry with "Islamophobia on the rise as austerity bites". 

What utter tosh. The maxim 'attack is the best method of defence' cannot hide the fact that claims of "Islamophobia" are used simply as devices to deflect well earned concern and criticism of double standards.

Postscript
The University of Exeter's European Muslim Research Centre was forced to issue an apology for serious errors of fact in their academic report Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate Crime: UK Case Studies referred to here which "may lead a reader to misconstrue the conduct, actions and the intentions of Councillors". Conservative MP Robert Halfon  has demanded an explanation from Exeter University over a donation from the Middle East broadcaster Al-Jazeera. I know universities are short of funds but what next?

Thomas Cranmer 1489 - 1556

My thanks to the Cranmer Blog for this beautiful video link on the anniversary of Thomas Cranmer's martyrdom. 

Muslim martyrs feel the pinch

This story appeared in the Comments section of the 'Cranmer' Blog yesterday and is reproduced despite some obvious inaccuracies regarding virginity outside England:

"BBC World Service Flash

Muslim suicide bombers in Britain are set to begin a three-day strike on Monday in a dispute over the number of virgins they are entitled to in the afterlife. Emergency talks with Al Qaeda have so far failed to produce an agreement

The unrest began last Tuesday when Al Qaeda announced that the number of virgins a suicide bomber would receive after his death will be cut by 25% this February from 72 to only 54. The rationale for the cut was the increase in recent years of the number of suicide bombings and a subsequent shortage of virgins in the afterlife.

The suicide bombers' union, the British Organization of Occupational Martyrs ( or B.O.O.M. ) responded with a statement that this was unacceptable to its members and immediately balloted for strike action.

General Secretary Abdullah Amir told the press, "Our members are literally working themselves to death in the cause of Jihad. We don't ask for much in return but to be treated like this is like a kick in the teeth".

Speaking from his shed in Tipton in the West Midlands in which he currently resides, Al Qaeda chief executive Osama bin Laden explained, "We sympathize with our workers concerns but Al Qaeda is simply not in a position to meet their demands. They are simply not accepting the realities of modern-day Jihad in a competitive marketplace. Thanks to Western depravity, there is now a chronic shortage of virgins in the afterlife. It's a straight choice between reducing expenditure and laying people off. I don't like cutting wages but I'd hate to have to tell 3000 of my staff that they won't be able to blow themselves up."

Spokespersons for the unions in the North East of England, Ireland, Wales and the entire Australian continent stated that the strike would not affect their operations as "There are no virgins in their areas anyway".

Apparently the drop in the number of suicide bombings has been put down to the emergence of that Scottish singing star, Susan Boyle - now that Muslims know what a virgin looks like that they are not so keen on going to paradise.
***
(copied this in verbatim but apologies for the last sentence and to Susan Boyle as it is a bit gratuitous)"

What the halal is going on here?

I am not a Daily Mail reader but I picked up this unsettling piece thanks to Cranmer (see Blog List). How many people in Great Britain, other than Muslims presumably, knew that we were eating meat slaughtered in the name of Allah, that is, animals having had their throats cut and left to bleed to death while ritual prayers are recited? I didn’t nor did many who have said they will vote with their feet and give New Zealand lamb a miss along with any other halal products they can identify. But the problem is identifying them. Even the apologists for political correctness must recognise that we have been victims of a subterfuge in the absence of proper labelling.

I suspect this revelation has been more of a shock to people than the frequent calls to sacrifice our Christian identity for inter-faith understanding. In our increasingly secular society the suggestion scarcely raises an eyebrow when we are told to celebrate CHRISTmas as a winter festival. That is hardly surprising when Christianity in schools has given way to all-faith teaching. That of course changes when the majority of children are Muslims. Christians who protest at the loss of our Christian identity are roundly condemned for their intolerance. It took Pope Benedict XVI during his recent visit to explain the dangers to Parliamentarians meeting in Westminster Hall that “There are those who argue that the public celebration of festivals such as Christmas should be discouraged, in the questionable belief that it might somehow offend those of other religions or none.”

Before the Pope’s visit I received a video clip Three things about Islam which confirmed my impression that inter-faith understanding was a one-way traffic so far as Islam is concerned. Christianity preaches love and forgiveness so when told that Islam is a religion of peace we accept that ‘assurance’ from a Christian perspective. Watching the video shows that view to be seriouly mistaken. Conscious of the dangers of accepting one piece of evidence as ‘gospel’, the friend who sent me the link had spoken with ex-Muslim contacts who confirmed the veracity of the views expressed in the video. Islam's idea of peace is 'peace' under Sharia law which would then dominate our lives. Freedom of expression would be what was permitted under the Koran.

Like most Christians I let the matter rest but after reading the Mail Online article and more unsettling reports of Sharia law ideas of justice, I viewed the video again. Looking for further evidence I have watched reports of children being executed, some for so called homosexuality, one at the age of nine, stoning people to death on trumped up charges and more, all in the name of religion but the most alarming video confirms what is said in Three things about Islam can be viewed it HERE. If you need more click here.

Pass this message to other Christians with the warning of the fate that befalls us if we allow others to impose their will. Spread the Word.

POSTSCRIPT

In the soup:

"As part of Campbell Canada's commitment to diversity and extraordinary, authentic nourishment for all, our selection of Halal-certified products are here to help you meet your Islamic dietary requirements." - Another small step!

But at least one step in the right direction. We must stand up for what we believe, Muslims do.

‘X’ – How to use it wisely

Today is decision day. Some will already have cast their votes while others, unless they have an unbending party allegiance, still look for inspiration. There is no point in looking to the press, since most of the newspapers serve their paymasters not the readers.

I have generally regarded the BBC as impartial but today the Mail Online runs the story: “For days the BBC has been banging the drum for the Lib Dems. But then we should never underestimate their hatred of the Tories”. ‘Hatred’; that’s a bit strong but we know where the The Mail is coming from. The BBC puts out a lot of information but not many people these days have the patience to listen/watch over an extended period which is one of the reasons I thought the CH 4 programme I blogged on previously so good.

One piece of advice I find myself out of step with is given by Cranmer in his Blog (see left) – not politically of course – who, in true blue, offers “Seven reasons for Christians to vote Conservative”. I understand where he is coming from but taking the Established Church as an example it’s a bit rich blaming politicians for being anti-Christian while Anglicans are governed by two-faced bishops with their clerical and lay supporters who have ratted on the orthodox in their flock for political correctness substituting feminism for faith. The church is becoming an ‘also ran’ so better to cast one’s vote for the common good free from religious prejudice.

From the discussions I have had, most are agreed that there has been too much personality and two little substance. This was borne out by one television programme I watched. It brought together twelve voters to give their opinions. For my money only one was worth listening to. Most simply spouted the lines picked up from TV with all the conviction of ventriloquist dummies while one had never even heard of Nick Clegg. Obviously saw no point in keeping herself informed.

In practice my vote will count for little having an MP with a healthy majority and an excellent record in the constituency so how I cast my vote is unlikely to make a huge difference. More generally I think it important that people vote for the system they believe in. That gets my vote, I think!

Question Time

For me, regular viewing on Thursdays was Question Time with its audience populated by posturing people proffering party political propaganda and populist piffle in the guise of enlightened debate. Alas no longer. Like many others I find the same old clap trap too much of a bore and bed time in a rage isn’t the best aid to sleep. However, nodding off as one does during the football item at the end of the 10 o’clock News I was aroused from my slumbers last Thursday evening by familiar music and the sight of an intriguing looking panel.

On the Chairman’s far left was the Lord Adonis, a misnomer if ever there was one even if he is referred to in the corridors of Whitehall as “Muscles”! Next was the long time favourite with her no-nonsense hair style, Shirley Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby. She was to battle valiantly to restore some dignity to the programme but had no hope of victory.

On the right was the blond bomb-shelled Mayor of London, Boris, boosting buffoonery to new heights. One may have thought him the most disastrous representative of the Tory Party but worse was to come in the shape of their now red-headed Maths advisor, Carole Vorderman. I must admit she looked fantastic, especially for a woman pushing fifty; a real tribute to the make-up department. When she put on her scholarly spectacles she looked every inch the boyhood dream of the perfect school mistress only lacking a 12” rule in her hand.

Perhaps oddly placed on the far right was the self effacing ‘say it as it is’ Will Self who these days reminds me of Melanie Phillips. Not for looks which are a slight improvement but for her Zionist outburst on a previous show in 2001 when, if my memory serves me correctly, she described Will as a disgrace to Judaism (his mother was Jewish) for daring to disagree with her.

This time it was Carole’s performance that stole the show. I thought I may have been uncharitable, perhaps influenced by her much criticised high interest TV adverts which appeared to target the poor and needy, until yesterday when I stumbled upon an on-line article in the New Statesman (I have now added their Blog as an antidote to Cranmer for fear of being labelled) which not only mirrored my views but which attracted a large number of comments from the like minded.

When she opened her mouth the experience was a bit like an aural version of the days of the dance hall when, after tapping a girl on the shoulder she turned around and you almost exclaimed, “Oh, consonant, consonant, vowel, consonant!” But we were often surprised, reinforcing the view that beauty is after all only skin deep. But not this time.

Mr Dimbleby the Chairman never tires of telling his audience that the panel has no idea of the questions they are about to be asked but that doesn’t stop panellists preparing briefing notes, so comprehensive in Ms Vorderman’s case that on one occasion during her diatribe she appeared to have lost her place. Even the audience appeared embarrassed by her performance, no mean feat where extremist views are far from uncommon. As she snatched the pillock prize from an increasingly baffled looking Boris I concluded that, after all the furore of the parliamentary expenses row, this was to be the launching pad for a new political career. Surely something the Tory party would now be desperate to avoid. The Monster Raving Loony Party perhaps?

But the big question now is Has Question Time had its day? Despite some of the potty people who pander to popular public opinion it still provides an increasingly rare forum for public debate. So time for a change? My suggestion is that Mr Dimbleby gives up his public platform (with notes) and spends more time with his Land Rover travelling around Britain to bring us more programmes such his admirable Seven Ages of Britain. Any nominations for a replacement?

Passion with Compassion

Over lunch with my fellow mature students recently conversation turned inevitably to politics, the Tories taking their usual lead with a provocative comment about all the ‘scroungers’ hard working tax payers have to support. Clearly not everyone needing support is a scrounger and not all tax payers are honest and hard working. In fact there are many who will avoid paying tax if at all possible – “How much for cash?” etc.

It is a sad fact that where compassion is shown time obscures initial ideals while some simply take advantage of the system. Now I have no desire to become embroiled in the abortion debate but I was shocked yesterday by the passion shown in some of the comments in response to Cranmer’s Blog (see left) under the heading “I’ve never voted Labour before”. Abortion replacing contraception is abhorrent to most people but back street abortion was not something to be proud of, neither was the cynical exploitation of unmarried mothers by some religious organisations ‘caring’ for them in squalid conditions and profiting from the ‘disposal’ of their children.

Moved by compassion yet revolted particularly by late terminations the choice must be agonising for anyone having to make it but to do so surrounded by hysteria is bad enough without turning it into a political football.

It’s a pity these people can’t agree to disagree like my mature fellow students.