Where faith doesn't matter

The Spring 2019 issue of Croeso, the Llandaff diocese newsletter, has the 'Diocesan Vision' logo Where Faith Matters splashed across its front cover. 

The reality is different. 

Faith does not matter in Llandaff or in any other diocese in the Church in Wales. 

What matters is toeing the party line. Bishops busy themselves making the Church more relevant to society, principally by championing the LGBT movement and embracing other faiths while excluding orthodox Anglicans who have kept the faith.

In Llandaff the bishop has alienated many by her high-handed managerial style moulded by the marketplace. The mystery of faith is unlikely to be conveyed successfully by a few Power Point presentations. 

Doubts have been raised about her alleged consultations regarding St Teilo's in Cardiff being given over to a church plant experiment. 

Also, it has been widely reported than an elderly priest has been told that if he is not fit enough to join jolly June on her jaunt to Compostela he is not fit to run his parish so he must retire. - Echoes of the bishop of St Davids trying to ditch faithful long serving male clergy!

No wonder that the Church in Wales is sinking fast.

According to the 2011 census nearly one third of people in Wales have no religion, a higher proportion than in Wales and England as a whole. A total of 58% (1.8m) gave Christianity as their belief, a 14% drop since 2001.

Numbers regularly attending Anglican Sunday services in Wales have declined every year since. Down to 0.8% of the population in 2017.

By contrast those in Wales stating in 2011 that they were Muslim was 1.5%,  more than double the 0.7% figure in 2001. 

Helping to encouraging the growth of other faiths at the expense of Christianity, the bench continues to embrace Islam even though Christians are reduced to living under humiliating dhimmi status in Islamic states, many of which continue to allow stoning of homosexuals and adulterers under strict sharia law.

Faith matters, particularly among Anglicans who are unable in conscience to accept the sacramental ministry of women in common with the overwhelming majority of Christians but their faith has been cast aside while favouring others and none.

Peace Mala. The Archbishop of Wales with supporters @StDavidsNeath.                                                                                     Source: Twitter @WelshMuslims

Update [07.04.2019]

From Christian today: Brunei's draconian new laws don't just affect gay people, Christians are at risk too.

Protests have been held outside the Dorchester in London over Brunei's new gay stoning laws. Some Christians are wondering why there isn't more outcry about the threat of death to the country's Christian community.

Despite the focus of media attention on the threat to LGBT people, the laws also affect the Christian community, with conversion from Islam and insulting the Prophet Muhammad both carrying the death penalty.

"The newest and third phase of the law is difficult news for Christian converts who are expected to have to go into deeper hiding," said Open Doors USA. 

The first phase, which rolled out five years ago, already curtailed the freedoms of Christians and other faiths by making it a crime to "persuade, tell or encourage" Muslim children under the age of 18 "to accept the teachings of religions other than Islam".  Anyone who does so risks being fined or imprisoned.

Around two thirds of the population are Muslim and the Islamic faith is strictly enforced.  In 2015, the Sultan of Brunei cancelled Christmas celebrations.

Tomas Muller, a persecution analyst for Open Doors' World Watch Research unit, said converts stand to be particularly badly affected by the latest changes to the law, with risks including separation from spouses and children, or forced divorce.

"It is to be expected that not only society will change—depending on what exactly will be considered as 'anti-Islam' –but also that the country's Christian converts will be forced to hide their faith even more carefully," he said. 

Postscript [08.04.2019]

In a Provincial press release the Archbishop of Wales has condemned as "barbaric" the laws recently enacted in Brunei, as the result of which those who are in same-sex relationships and those who renounce Islam face severe penalties.

There is no suggestion that his Muslim friends joined the archbishop in his condemnation after the Church in Wales in common with all people of faith and goodwill  reached out in friendship and solidarity with Muslims after the attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Lamb to the slaughter

Halal lamb curry - BBC Countryfile style                                                                                                                                                        Source: BBC

I was not alone in being shocked at the BBC's Countryfile coverage of the plight of sheep farmers last Sunday.

"Roast lamb is getting rarer" it was claimed, not because of a shortage but "because there is no money in it when no-one buys it." Exports had doubled over the last 30 years. The legs go to the supermarkets but the rest goes abroad, it was stated.

Perhaps Wales Online had the answer when they reported:  "There are millions of sheep in Wales... so why is Welsh Lamb such a luxury ?" Grassland consultant Gareth Davies called for an investigation into the pricing process as the meat had come to be regarded as “a luxury” by consumers. He tweeted "In Tesco today and I didn't see any British lamb below £10 per kg. I sold lambs at £1.60. Would like to see breakdown of the other £8.40."

Rick Pendrous, editor at Food Manufacture magazine, said: “Welsh Lamb products are at a much higher premium than New Zealand lamb. From The Telegraph: "It has emerged a majority of New Zealand lamb sold in UK supermarkets comes from halal abattoirs in order to ensure it can be sold to both Muslim and non-Muslim nations. Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer have all confirmed selling the imported meat."

This had led to growing pressure on supermarkets and restaurants to inform consumers how animals in their meat products are killed after it emerged some were selling halal meat without clear labelling.

Reacting to Countryfile 'promoting halal slaughter' the Express reported anger over the BBC's coverage: "The BBC has come under fire for broadcasting a segment on Halal meat on Sunday night’s Countryfile with viewers accusing the Corporation of hitting a “new low” and “justifying vile Halal slaughter practices on our soil”. This is a video clip from the programme

Discussing the practice the Imam featured in the video said: “There are certain practices where you want to fulfil a commandment of God and you’re basically invoking God’s name upon that. You are making the sacrifice in the name of God and now it’s made Halal. Halal means permissible and it’s been made permissible by God for you.”

He is not the loving God recognised by Christians. When the Apostle Peter said “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean, "The voice spoke to him a second time: 'Do not call anything impure' that God has made clean".

But the promotion of Islam goes beyond ritual slaughter of lamb. There have been many reports of our inability to confront the most dangerous aspects of Islam. ‘Rebel Priest’, Rev Jules Gomes graphically illustrated the problem when he wrote "Our most vulnerable girls pay sorely for our surrender to the Islamists".

The criminals, he says are often referenced as “Asians” rather than as “Muslims”. Although the predators hail from many ethnicities, many happen to be Pakistani.

"Rape in Pakistan is ‘often institutionalised and has the tacit and at times the explicit approval of the state.’ A Human Rights Watch study reports a rape every two hours and a gang rape every eight hours. What is particularly significant is the high percentage of Christian, Hindu, Sikh and other women from minorities raped by Muslim men in Pakistan. The British incidents reflect a perilous import from Pakistan."

God's name is invoked by Muslims in their cry Allahu Akbar (God is greater) when they slaughter the lamb and innocent victims of their intolerant ideology. Writing under the headline Danger, discrimination and dhimmitude the Barnabas Fund recently reported:

"Pakistan’s Christians are a suffering, vulnerable minority. They face violence at the hands of Islamist terrorists, discrimination in work and at school, and live with the ever-present threat of “blasphemy” allegations, which have led to Christian communities being ransacked by Muslim mobs. Authorities often turn a blind eye and are sometimes even complicit in crimes against Christians, including the abduction and forced marriage of women and girls.

There are too many 'blind eyes' turned in Great Britain but that the BBC should use licence payers' money to promote such an ideology is truly outrageous.

Muslim Jesus common ground: What common ground?

 There was outrage among many Catholics and others when Pope John Paul II was photographed kissing the gift of a copy of the Quran, explained here. That was nothing compared with the anger, violence and protests by Muslim scholars and religious leaders who criticised Pope Benedict XVI, claiming that the Pope had criticised Islam and its concept of jihad when he quoted a 14th-century Christian Emperor who had said that the Prophet Muhammad had brought the world "evil and inhuman" things. Pope Benedict was condemned for referring to this period in history and  urged to play a positive role in bringing Islam and Christianity closer. It was as if 1400 years of jihad were a fiction when its consequences are plain to see.

Pakistan's parliament passed a resolution demanding that the Pope retract his remarks "in the interest of harmony between religions" while the "hostile" remarks drew a demand for an apology from a "top religious official" in Turkey where the Basilica of Hagia Sophia, built in 537 AD, was converted into a mosque in 1453. It was secularised in 1931 before becoming a museum in 1935. Following President Erdogan's promotion of Islam giving it a more prominent role in Turkey there are growing calls to convert the museum back into a practicing mosque.

Meanwhile remnants of ancient civilisations are being destroyed to eradicate any suggestion that Islam has been spread by conquest. Churches are regularly destroyed in Islamic countries and Christians oppressed in what were Christian countries. Simply consider the plight of the Copts in Egypt as an example of the persecution experienced by Christians in what was a Christian country in ancient times.

Often referred to derisively as the "National Catholic Distorter", the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) may not find its way to many coffee tables which is probably just as well given this headline: "The Muslim Jesus provides common ground for Christianity, Islam".

The only common ground between Christianity and Islam are the bits lifted from the Bible to support spurious Islamic claims. They may recognise Abraham, Moses, the Virgin Mary and Jesus, regarded as a minor prophet, but they deny the centrality of the Christian faith, that Jesus is the Son of God, He died on the Cross, rose again and ascended into heaven.

In an interesting juxtaposition, the video 'Jihad Exposed in America' appeared on the Facing Islam Blog. In just a few minutes Robert Spencer completely demolishes the spurious claims made in the National Catholic Reporter and goes on to explain the Dhimmi, the subjugation of non-Muslims after conquest. [Advance to position 13.40 if you cannot spare the time to watch the whole interview.]

The NCR report concludes with: "The importance of finding common ground has become particularly apparent after the events in Charlottesville this month, which laid bare real and deep divisions in our country. Reconciling Christianity and Islam based on a true understanding of each other's religions could serve as a bulwark against these divisions and provide a worldwide example to emulate."

Deception does not provide common ground any more than the absurd statement that Islamophobia is defined as "unfounded hostility towards Muslims and therefore fear or dislike of all or most Muslims". That is simply a 'PC' device to deflect any questioning of Muslim behaviour, a device which has resulted in hundreds of young girls being sexually abused by mainly Muslim men in Great Britain.

Most people will be familiar with the claim that 'Islam is a religion of peace'. Prime Minister Blair along with US Presidents Bush and Clinton said so. Experts begged to differ but the same claims are made today every time a violent Muslim follows their Prophets example as demanded in the Quran.

The latest ISIS propaganda film threatens Pope Francis. Fighters are seen "stamping on a bust of Jesus, defacing pictures of the pontiff and vowing to come to Rome". Sadly such threats and "terrorist" actions (the media have already been cowed into describing Muslim aggressors as terrorists) have become so commonplace that people simply shrug their shoulders saying that they are not afraid and will not be deterred instead of investigating the real cause of the problem. Those who do are criticised as being Islamophobic.

Outright Islamic invasion has been replaced by immigration and cultural jihad in the West. This is the reality but political correctness and charges of Islamophobia keep the truth hidden while Muslims are allowed to build mosques, practice Sharia and encourage conversion while denying Muslims the truth about the saving nature of Christianity as opposed to submission which is Islam.

It has been estimated that 80% of Muslims have not heard the Gospel message. Despite Christ's command to evangelize, 67% of all humans from AD 30 to the present day have never even heard the name of Jesus Christ and 91% of all Christian outreach/evangelism does not target non-Christians, but targets other Christians.

That anyone can suggest that Jesus links Islam to Christianity illustrates either a complete ignorance of Islam or a desire to mislead and subjugate more people into Dhimmitude by deception.

As I close this entry I have noticed this report in Christian Today:

 A five-year-old girl from a Christian family was left 'very distressed' after she was fostered to two Muslim families, encouraged to learn Arabic and had her Christian cross taken away.

After the two placements by Tower Hamlets council in east London, the girl returned home where she told her birth mother that Christmas and Easter are 'stupid' and European women are alcoholics, according to a report in The Times. And she refused to eat what had been her favourite meal spaghetti carbonara, because it contained bacon.

According to The Times, the child sobbed and begged not to have to go back to her foster home, where her present carer wears a burqa, covering her face entirely, outside the home. She told her social worker: 'They don't speak English.' Her own family had opposed the placements. Full report here.

One can imagine the outrage if the position were reversed

Christian today but what of tomorrow?

"Christianity is being quietly erased from public life. What are we going to do about it?" Good question but very little where it matters, if anything. The question was posed in Christian Today:

"A strange and troubling paradox is now glaringly evident in society today. On the one hand the UK Government is praising and giving funding to Christian initiatives in communities and recognising the rich contribution the church makes to national life. On the other it is proposing measures to tackle extremism that could privatise Christianity. As we enter this New Year, it is clear 2016 will be a critical year for Christian freedoms. This week former Whitehall mandarin William Nye talked of the "secularising spirit" now permeating the machinery of government. After 20 years of working at the highest level he sees the gradual "squeezing out of Christianity" from our national life despite the public expressions of support from ministers. The chilling effect has been that more and more Christians are afraid to speak out and feel disenfranchised."

If we value our heritage we must do something about it. While Christianity is being marginalised, Islam continues to gain ground. From Patheos:

"Christians may be the most persecuted group in the world, and their persecution is on the rise. As Islamic extremism takes hold and repressive governments step up their campaigns against Christianity, the Pope has been moved to warn of “a form of genocide”, and for campaigners to speak out over “religio-ethnic cleansing.” Organisations that monitor religious persecution have rung alarm bells worldwide, from South America to sub-Saharan Africa and from Asia to the Middle East, warning of a rapid increase in attacks and repression".

Despite the well documented evidence of how Muslims oppress others in Islamic countries, do-gooders with no apparent comprehension of the threat of an Islamic Supremacist ideology press for more and more concessions for Islam. The latest from the Mail Online: "Sit exams early to fit in with Ramadan: Pupils taking GCSEs and A-levels face timetable shake-up to accommodate fasting Muslims". Quite a contrast with the option offered to Christians in many Muslim countries - convert, pay the tax or die.

In Belfast, "Following yesterday’s ruling which found Pastor James McConnell not guilty of a “hate crime” for referring to Islam as “heathen” and “satanic”, the Belfast Islamic Centre, which reported the pastor to the police, has said that they “disagree with the verdict”. The Islamic Centre is calling for a blasphemy law in Northern Ireland, by demanding that “insulting” a faith be punishable under Irish law. However, shortly after the ‘Satanic Islam’ sermon, Dr. Raied al-Wazzan, the executive director of Belfast Islamic Centre, made remarks that were not only insulting to some Christians, but appeared to support a banned terrorist organisation."

In Birmingham a former teacher at two schools linked to the Trojan Horse scandal could face a lifetime ban from the classroom after he told pupils that Christians and Jews were 'ignorant' and Muslims have 'the true religion'.

This is a Christian country but for how long? Christian belief is that there is only one way to the Father. The Bible warns about false prophets but still many of our bishops and even archbishops encourage the spread of Islam instead of seeking to make disciples of all nations. Encouraging other faiths denies them the real truth. Meanwhile, Christians in the United Kingdom are facing increasing marginalization and oppression under new laws originally intended to safeguard equality. The position abroad is worse, serving as a warning to those who condemn as Islamophobic anyone who seeks the truth about Islam.

If we do not stand up for what we believe our children and grand children will become part of the Dhimmitude as Islam expands and Christianity becomes a minority religion in the UK. Leaders who persist in regarding Islam as just another faith similar to others have had a rude awakening following the terrorist attacks in France by supposed refugees and the more recent attacks on women in Germany on New Year's Eve but bishops still persist with their deluded embrace of an alien culture which seeks our demise. They may believe that they are following the Gospel but Jesus gave short shrift to those who deserved condemnation.

'Refugees' or 'migrants', the vast majority of immigrants are Muslim. They do not leave their ideology behind. Christians in refugee camps who have not fled the persecution there continue to suffer at the hands of Muslim refugees while others who have sought safety by sea have been thrown overboard.

There is no escape from an ideology which regards the kafir as worthless while Muslims try to buy their way to heaven doing what they believe to be the will of God, even if it means killing the innocent, something our political as well as religious leaders need to grasp.

The best Archbishop we never had, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, summed up the problem of convincing the ill-informed when he responded to Boris Johnson's claim that "we should counter anti-Islamic scare-mongering by recalling our debt to the culture of Muslim Spain". Bishop Michael said: Boris Johnson points out the achievements of Muslim rule after their conquest of the mostly Christian and Jewish Middle East, North Africa and Spain (Comment,3 January). In fact, if they had not been stopped at Tours by Charles Martel, Mr Johnson might have had a more direct experience of such rule. [My emphasis - Ed.]. Read Bishop Michael's full response here and about the Battle of Tours (732 AD) here:

"Had Martel fallen at Tours the long term implications for European Christianity may have been devastating. His victory there, and in the following campaigns, may have literally saved Europe and Christianity as we know it, from conquest while the Caliphate was unified and able to mount such a conquest." - And today they are invited in to spread their supremacist ideology!

Now even Gay Pride bows to Islamists

If I had had any respect for Peter Tatchell it would have evaporated with his decision to "respect the decision" of the organisers of Saturday's East London Pride event "not to address the gay-free zone controversy", a subject on which he has previously written passionately. A long time campaigner and no stranger to controversy and outrageous behaviour he thought nothing of invading the pulpit in Canterbury Cathedral one Easter Sunday while Archbishop Carey was preaching. So what does Islam possess that Christianity lacks? In a word 'fear'.


Apparently tomorrow's event will "celebrate LGBT life in Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Redbridge and Waltham Forest as well as oppose homophobia, transphobia, sexism and racism, including islamophobia and anti-Semitism."  [Islam is not a race - Ed.] They will: "not address the Gay-Free Zone controversy, not march through the E1 area and not stress the need for LGBT-Muslim solidarity" because they fear this would stir local division", said Tatchell. He added, “given the recent controversies, I believe it is very important that we reach out to the Muslim community in East London and unite with them against Islamophobia and homophobia [because] making local alliances and coalitions is the best way to conquer hate and division". Clearly in sucking up to make alliances with Muslims, Tatchell has swallowed the Islamophobia pill for a non-existing condition. 

Meanwhile, outside this circus yet another Christian is taking another knock, this time simply for trying to heal the sick by whatever means he thinks appropriate for his patient. Despite all the benefits of living in a free society, Islamists constantly raise false claims of bigotry, racism and Islamophobia for not bowing to their every demand. As Christianity is forced to take all the knocks while listening to Islamist constant complaints, more no-go areas are being created.   

No dhimmitude here thank you Mr Tatchell.