It's a funny old world

Christina Rees CBE (Photo: Guardian)                 Bishop Anba Angaelos OBE (Photo: Cranmer)

Ebola scarcely warrants a mention in the media these days thanks to the selfless individuals who literally put their lives on the line in their fight to halt the spread of this highly infectious and generally fatal disease. The Queens Birthday Honours 2015 included a wide variety of people with carefully scaled awards. One of those in the news was a poorly paid Ebola nurse Will Pooley. He was awarded an MBE.

Contrast Will's lowly award for risking his life for the benefit of others with the higher accolades handed out over the years to over-paid footballers for kicking an inflated bladder around a large, grass covered spittoon in front of worshiping clones who clap and gesticulate in unison with hands held aloft, cheering or jeering as the mood takes them while chanting their local mantra, all in the name of sport!

There was less publicity for the Women and the Church (WATCH) starlet Christina Rees who bizarrely was awarded a CBE for "her services to the Church of England". How involvement in the campaign for women bishops is seen as a service to the Church of England is not explained but deluded as ever, Ms Rees said she was "thrilled" by the honour which to her shows the campaign was "recognised as a service for the whole Church, not just about women".

The "whole Church" includes the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church and the majority of Anglicans who view her campaigning as a disservice to the Church which has resulted in a steep decline in Church attendance as the feminisation of the Church of England accelerates.

But do not despair says the Canon Treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral and former NHS Chief Nurse, Dame Sarah Mullally, who was recently named as Bishop of Crediton: "Empty pews are not the end of the world" (here). Perhaps not but the end of the Church of England.

Again, contrast the CBE award to Christian Rees for "her services to the Church of England" with the lesser OBE awarded to Bishop Anba Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK, honoured for services to international "religious freedom", not something that WATCH is renowned for except on their own terms.

Meanwhile in Wales there was no honour for the Archbishop of the Church in Wales who like Ms Rees has used every device to secure the admission of women to the episcopate. But he has been invited to deliver a keynote speech exploring the "ethical dilemmas faced by decision-makers when investing billions on behalf of charities". Not know for his own charitable views towards anyone who disagrees with him, he has plenty of experience of how things can go downhill. It is interesting to note that charities for the advancement of religion account for about one fifth of all registered charities. One pound in six given to charity goes to religious charities (here).

Dr Morgan said, "How and where we invest our money can say a lot about us. If we believe in values such as justice, equality and respect for others we need to reflect that as much as possible in our investments – literally putting our money where our mouth is." It is thought unlikely that the Archbishop's discretionary funds will be referred to.

As Margaret Thatcher said at her last cabinet meeting after being ousted from office, "It's a funny old world". Not words a compliant bench of bishops is likely to hear.

God bless MSF

"We are now a year into the deadliest Ebola outbreak the world

has ever seen, with at least 24,000 people infected and more than

10,000 deaths. Ebola has destroyed lives and families, left deep

scars, and ripped at the social and economic fabric of Guinea,

Liberia and Sierra Leone."

- Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

One of the ironies of this life is that when tragedy strikes, people unite to help their fellow human beings. Natural disasters bring out the best in people. In the front rank you will always find MSF. Their courageous work in fighting the Ebola virus, putting their own lives at risk for others is an example that shames many of us. Not least those poor deluded souls who believe that they will earn their place in heaven by slaughtering others. 

If you wish to show your appreciation you can thank MSF here. 

The new black death

"For Muslims, the whole focus of the life on earth must be directed at securing a place to this Islamic heaven, full of sexual indulgence. And the way of securing a ticket to Allah's whoredom is outlined in Quran 9:111, which says:

'Lo! Allah hath bought from the believers their lives and their wealth because the Garden (Paradise) will be theirs: they shall fight in the way of Allah and shall slay and be slain'

Verse 9:111 means what it means. A Muslim who is killed or who kills fulfilling teachings of 9:5, 9:29 and all the other verses of the Quran exhorting murder, rape, terror, and torture are guaranteed accession to Allah's paradise".

- From 9/11 is Enactment of Quran 9:111 here.

Death and destruction are rampant. People are beheaded, crucified and worse as a warning to others, churches are destroyed, what remains of ancient civilizations is obliterated, all in the name of Allah. If anyone questions how the 'Religion of Peace' can be responsible for such atrocities the response is the same: "Islamophobia"!

Islam is regarded as one of the great religions of the world. Numerically it is but given the perpetual carnage since its inception, people are entitled to investigate the root cause of the violence. While Islam means submission it does not mean that everyone must be kept in ignorance. On the contrary, if there is nothing to hide an open debate should be welcome.

If Islam were truly a 'Religion of Peace' we should expect Muslims be in the forefront of peacekeeping, extolling the wonders of the Quran and Hadiths.  The problem is that although there are peaceful verses in the Quran they have been abrogated by "at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule".

The UK Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPACUK) claims: Muslims are going through an identity crisis, and have been for many decades... Muslims have suffered oppression for hundreds of years... and with such rampant injustices perpetrated against the Muslims all around the world... "Because the Muslim struggle has never been explained in this manner, the Muslim reaction to oppression is often misconstrued as acts of ‘extremism’ ‘radicalisation’ and so forth. For our Ummah’s struggle to be understood, Muslims must tell the world about their story and their struggle"!

Muslims are invited to "join the struggle for justice" and complain to the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) if they have been "verbally abused, harassed, discriminated against or even violently attacked because you are Muslim" or have been "mistreated by the police or security services or a victim of anti-terror laws". Meanwhile the IHRC has named the murdered Charlie Hebdo staff 'International Islamophobe of the Year'!

Do Muslims not understand what real persecution is? "There are few places on earth where Christianity is as old as it is in Iraq. Christians there trace their history to the first century apostles. But today, their existence has been threatened by the terrorist group that calls itself Islamic State. More than 125,000 Christians -- men, women and children -- have been forced from their homes over the last 10 months". Read the heart-rending story of their plight here. That is persecution.

Often funded by Qatar and Saudi Arabia mosque building in Europe has shifted into high gear enabling Islam to spread in the West while in Saudi Arabia their Grand Mufti wants churches destroyed . The sad story of Muslim prayers being offered in an Anglican Church serves to emphasis the ignorance surrounding Islam. It is a supremacist, religious ideology which believes that everything belongs to Allah and all must submit or pay the price - as the people of Syria and Iraq know to their cost.

Not just the ignorant are manipulated. A news report claims that: "Nine British medics feared to have crossed into Syria". The contagion is spreading but the problem is not being tackled. The Ebola virus disease has claimed 10,000 lives. A United Nations report highlighting the human rights violations of the Islamic State's jihadist campaign in Iraq found that over 24,000 Iraqi civilians have been injured or killed by ISIS in the first eight months of 2014, and the extremists have taken up the practices of recruiting 12- and 13-year-old soldiers and forcing women and girls into sex slavery.

Now linked with IS, Boko Haram killed 6,347 civilians in 2014 while endless killing goes on in Pakistan (56,867 fatalities in terrorist violence 2003-2015) and elsewhere. If this were a virus huge resources would be made available to prevent it spreading but Islam is not only allowed to spread it is facilitated by politicians and church leaders who have preferred to bury their heads in the sand rather than ask themselves if the world wouldn't be far more peaceful without Islam.

Today, Theresa May has has made it clear that the UK will not tolerate extremists. Watch here. There can be no going back. The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres blamed a "global coalition of inaction" which led to "tragic consequences" with the spread of Ebola. We cannot afford to make the same mistake with Islam.

"Speak up. Of course, there is good people of the Islam people. There is not all Muslim people they are bad. I believe. But there is the good people? Where is their voice? Nothing. Few. Few."

- Archbishop Nicodemus Sharaf, Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Mosul

Ebola

This video (subtitles) was published on Aug 27, 2014. In June 2014 Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) had reported that 'The epidemic is out of control' in West Africa. The world failed to act. MSF will welcome your support.

Merciful and merciless

William Pooley, seen here, worked as a volunteer for The Shepherd's Hospice in Sierra Leone 
before he moved to serve on an Ebola treatment ward

William Pooley is a brave young man among many who has risked his own life showing mercy to help others affected by the Ebola virus outbreak in Africa, an unavoidable, hideous disease for which there is no cure, story here.

By contrast, merciless Islamists who have benefited from the hospitality of this country among others flock to the Middle East to spread an avoidable virus which slaughters others simply because they do not share the misguided belief that it is the will of Allah. In the latest skirmish according to Aljazeera hundreds have been killed as fighters storm the Tabqa base in northeast Syria, the army's last foothold in the area (here).

Syria has said that it was willing to work with the international community, including the United States, to tackle "terrorism" but that any strikes on its territory must be coordinated with Damascus (here). The Foreign Secretary has ruled out sharing intelligence with President Assad to take on Islamic State forces because 'my enemy's enemy is not my friend' (here). That too is misguided. His sentiments are understandable but regrettable.

It is clear from the lessons of Iraq, Libya and indeed from Syria that the devil you know can be better than the devil you don't. Sir Christopher Meyer, former British Ambassador to the United States, responded "Britain’s foreign policy has to reflect the world as we find it – not as we would like it to be". He is correct. 'Islamic state' must be stopped. Sir Christopher concluded his remarks by saying "This would be the mother of all U-turns. It would stick in the craw of many. But, as the great Victorian foreign secretary, Lord Palmerston, once said, we have no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests."

Postscript

 "Islamist groups work together in perfect harmony like an orchestra that sings to the tune of “Allahu Akbar.” And when Islamic terrorism and beheadings anger the world and turn public opinion against Islam, that orchestra starts playing a different tune to confuse and prevent the world from uncovering their coordinated handy work". Read here.