New Year's resolution

King Charles delivering his Christmas Day speech   Source: Christian Today

I did not have the same enthusiasm for the King's Christmas message as I did for his mother's messages. 

As head of the Church of England, HM Queen Elizabeth II could always be relied on to uphold the Christian faith.

In a 2022 entry I wrote Christianity on the wane in England and Wales commenting on Charles' wish be 'Defender of Faith', rather than 'Defender of the Faith', as though all faiths are the same when they clearly are not. 

The speech, broadcast from an ex-hospital chapel which is available to all faiths as if to emphasise the point, was watched by 6.8 million out of a UK population off around 69 million people. For comparison Gavin and Stacey: The Finale was warched by 12.32 million and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl by 9.38 million.

In his 2024 message Charles said, "But, on this Christmas Day, we cannot help but think of those for whom the devastating effects of conflict – in the Middle East, in Central Europe, in Africa and elsewhere – pose a daily threat to so many people's lives and livelihoods."

King Charles went on to say "Diversity of culture, ethnicity and faith provides strength not weakness" but as commented on in Christian Today 'That is not self-evidently true'.

There is one faith/ideology that frequently appears in the news as the main source of conflict. Less frequent is the reporting of the deaths, kidnappings and other atrocities regularly perpetrated in Africa and elsewhere around the globe. According to Open Doors, three fifths of the countries listed suffer persecution as a result of this one ideology.

While the hand of friendship is extended to its adherants in the United Kingdom, blind eyes are turned to world events. Thousands of people who do not share our values continue to enter the UK seeking to replace our culture with theirs. 

As demonstrations in the UK are becoming more devisive it has become risky to comment on such matters for fear of attracting accusations of a hate crime. Free speech in Britain is at risk.

Christianity is being diluted in the name of diversity. Recently I read a report “Woke” MoD Bosses to Strip Cross From Military Cap Badge  as part of efforts to make the British Army chaplains department more diverse and multicultural. I wonder what Queen Elizabeth would have had to say about that.

The situation is becoming dire. We have a woke government and a woke church.

For full assessment by former Queen's Chaplain Gavin Ashenden watch King Charles Christmas Speech - A Declaration of Civil War. 

 A good New Year's resolution would be to pray for our increasingly dis-United Kingdom.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Postscript 03.01.2025

PRAYER ALERT: One-year-old killed as Nigerian Christians targeted at Christmas

Governing Body Highlight

 

There was one highlight at this month's meeting of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales. That was the presentation at agendum 16 Open Doors – supporting the persecuted Church.

My readers will have been here before. There have been various entries highlighting Christian persecution around the world, for example,  What it means for others to be a Christian.

How Christians suffer for their faith can be seen in an earlier 2022 video from Open Doors.

Many Christians are prepared to die for their faith while others call on the love of Jesus to justify Diversity, Inclusion and Equity (DIE) which dilutes their faith. The contrast could not be more stark.

Postscripts [07.09.2024]

1. From The Christian Post - Five companies that are scaling back DEI, LGBT advocacy

2. From Anglican Futures - Will the Church in Wales be extinct in 15 years? "...it appears the Bishops of the Church in Wales seem determined to drive the church over the precipice."

Why?

Paris Olympic Games 2024 opening ceremony                 Source: X (Twitter)

The above image is taken from one of a number of  Twitter entries showing a parody of The Last Supper in the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic games in Paris.

A video is included an article by Must Read Alaska with the comment "The opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics is one long drag show."

It certainly was a change from the customary format designed to show off Paris but diversity bordered on deviancy.

Founded on love and forgiveness, Christianity is an easy target that has been used by feminists, Islamists and others to further their own cause. 

Why the Olympic movement allowed itself to be similarly used deserves an explanation.

Postscript [28.07.2024]

Two interventions in the House of Lords on the threat to our Christian heritage:

Lord Pearson talks about the threat of Islamic terrorism. People that do, are accused of Islamophobia. 

He says its the "the modern world's most violent religious ideology". 

Lord Green of Deddington, on the effects of mass legal and illegal migration

“It’s likely children born today to an indigenous British couple will find themselves in a minority in our country by the time they reach their late 40s, yes, my Lords, a minority in their own country”

Environment Agency drops ‘mother’ and ‘father’ from policies

Source: GOV UK

 

From Coalition for Marriage:

Dear marriage supporter,

The Environment Agency has removed the words ‘mother’ and ‘father’ from its staff policies.

The quango said it has instead started using “primary carer” in its maternity, paternity and shared parental leave policies to make them ‘gender-neutral’.

The revelations come in the agency’s 2020 application to LGBT lobby group Stonewall to be included in its list of “top 100 employers”, recently seen by the Times (£).

The agency also said it had told workers they can request “more than one passcard... in order to be able to express different identities on different days”.

A staff survey was also said to have asked employees to confirm whether their gender identity matched the “gender I was assigned at birth”.

The public sector agency added that it brought these ideas to bear on procurement, stating that for all relevant contracts, “we ask potential suppliers to submit details of their EDI [equality, diversity and inclusion] policy as part of their submission”. It is a fair bet the agency will be looking for similar transgender-friendly policies from its contractors and suppliers as it has introduced internally. If so, it is using public funds as leverage to spread contentious gender ideology among private companies.

The latest revelations add to a picture of the crucial differences between men and women being erased as gender ideology spreads unchecked through public and private institutions. What kind of twisted ideology is it that sees mother and father as problematic concepts to be expunged?

Taxpayer-funded institutions like the Environment Agency should not be wasting public money on trying to erase basic facts about human biology or spreading nonsense about people changing sex, perhaps depending on the day of the week!

Much more needs to be done to stop this absurd ideology from doing any more harm than it already has. At C4M, we continue to fight against anything which undermines real marriage.

If you would like to support us financially, you can do so using the button below.

Please Donate

Yours faithfully,

(Signed) Colin Hart

Chairman

Coalition for Marriage (C4M)

See also

 Environment Agency goes woke for Stonewall from The Christian Institute.

and 

'Stonewall still receiving £1.2m in taxpayer subsidies' {16 January 2023}

Diversity, equity and inclusion gone mad.

Wales, Wales!

First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford                                                                   Source: Guido Fawkes, order_order.com

Nation Cymru reports:  "The Welsh Government is setting itself on a potential collision course with the UK Government after deciding to allow people to self-identify their gender when standing as candidates for the Senedd - much to the chagrin of Wales-Women’s Rights Network

Little surprise there  given this earlier report from order-order.com: 

"The Welsh government is paying out £9 million in taxpayer cash annually for woke jobs. The Taxpayers’ Alliance have uncovered data revealing that in 2022, a total of 138 posts in the Welsh Government featured words ranging from “diversity” and “inclusion” to “climate“, “wellbeing“, and “race“. A whopping 25 staff are employed in roles mentioning “equality“. The total cost of these, including salary and pension contributions, was £8,879,479."

Meanwhile, in NHS Wales, the health minister has warned that there may be fewer hospital beds in Wales, after asking health boards to make a further £64m in savings.

The Welsh Government has an action plan to make Wales  'A Nation of Sanctuary for asylum seekers and refugees' in which it has a 'vision' for Wales to become "the world’s first ‘Nation of Sanctuary’, celebrating Welsh hospitality and our history of migration and safety. " 

No matter what the cost in a cash-strapped Welsh economy it appears! 

Another government minister said that vulnerable people will "inevitably" feel the impact of spending cuts as she prepared to announce how the Welsh government will fill a black hole in its budget.

Nation Cymru also reports that the Welsh government is working on a plan to introduce a Bill "to make our parliament more representative of the people it serves", which includes provisions to introduce candidate quotas for people seeking election to the Senedd: “Our proposed model for quotas is designed to maximise the chances of achieving a Senedd comprised of at least 50% women."

With plans to increase the number of Senedd Members from 60 to 96, and change the electoral system to one that is "wholly proportional" no doubt the Diversity, Inclusivity and Equality (DIE) campaigners will will be keen to ensure that the real needs of the people of Wales do not come before the wishes of the Welsh DIEhards. First they need to know what a woman is.

Postscript [12.11.2023]

Fresh challenge for Welsh Government’s gender-balanced Senedd plan - Martin Shipton writes in Nation Cymru: "The introduction of a Bill to the Scottish Parliament that will end the rights of transgender women to identify as female when applying for public appointments should prompt the Welsh Government to ditch a similar plan relating to membership of the Senedd, according to a campaign group."

Bishop of St Davids election

St Davids Cathedral (photo by Toby Pickard)                                                                                     Source: Church in Wales

This beautiful photograph of the sun setting over St Davids Cathedral in Pembrokeshire was published in a Provincial News item, Election of new Bishop of St Davids. It is also symbolic of the sun setting on Christianity in the Church in Wales.

The election of the previous bishop of St Davids was all about politics. It ended in disaster.

In another Provincial News item, New team for Panel as it widens access to ministry, the Church in Wales announces that "A senior journalist and Lay Canon is the new chair of the panel which selects people for ordained ministry."

Their aim is 'to increase the number of vocations and for new priests to reflect the wonderful diversity of our communities'.

Diversity along with inclusivity and equality have come to supersede all else in the Church in Wales.

A commentator under my previous blog entry sarcastically referred to 'eccentric congregations in Pembrokeshire' which, given the context of the comment, implied that traditional, orthodox Christianity was eccentric.

That does not augur well for the election of the next Bishop of St Davids later this month.

Postscripts 

[16.10.2023]

BBC News article St Davids chooses successor to 'never trust a Tory' bishop

[17.10.2023]

The Archdeacon of Carmarthen, The Ven Dorrien Davies, is to be the next bishop of St Davids.

https://twitter.com/ChurchinWales/status/1714294224538181736

From Divinity to Deviancy

Mary Stallard the new bishop of Llandaff follows Delyth Liddell, Methodist University Chaplain

and LGBTQI+ Gathering church leader at the Pride Cymru parade.    Source: Twitter

Celebrating diversity at Pride Cymru, the new bishop of Llandaff lost no time in identifying with her LGBTQ+ promoting sister bishops, the former bishop of Llandaff, June Osborne, the retiring bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy, and the bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, patron of Open Table. 

Diversity has become a euphemism for deviancy.

As the time approaches for appointing the next bishop of St Davids the Church in Wales needs to rethink its priorities.

From St Davids Diocese: 

"An Extraordinary Diocesan Conference is to be held on Saturday July 22nd., following the announcement that Bishop Joanna Penberthy is to retire on health grounds. The half-day conference will be chaired by the Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, and will take place at Newcastle Emlyn Rugby Club when conference representatives will have the opportunity to discuss the future of the diocese and what they would like from their new bishop when he/she is elected in October."

Much has changed in the sixty + years since Church in Wales bishops held Oxford Firsts in Theology.

A return from deviancy to divinity is essential to restore any credibility to the Church in Wales if it wants to avoid being characterised as the queer church. 

Announcing the retirement of the bishop of St Davids, the Archbishop of Wales said "I want to thank Bishop Joanna for her ministry in the diocese and province. She has contributed significantly to areas of church life in particular on environmental matters and with our Social Responsibility network." Quite! 

Environmental matters and social responsibility are important but faith and worship still matter.

The Church needs bishops who win souls in a spirit of true equality and diversity.

BBC Sounds recently broadcast on the All Things Considered series  a programme titled 'Gender and Identity'. University chaplain Delyth Liddell was joined by bishop Mary Stallard and Sarah Jones, a transgender Anglican priest and vicar of St. John's in central Cardiff.

From the programme notes:
"... Pride is not just a celebration, it's also about protest, designed to get people thinking about acceptance, equality and deeper matters about identity. Today, we turn our attention to that very matter, considering gender. What does it mean on its most fundamental level? What did God intend? How does it make us who we are to ourselves and each other? And what of the interplay between biology, psychology and faith? Big topics and ones which can stir confusion, concern, and generate challenging questions."

Personally I have never encountered non-acceptance or unequal treatment in race, colour or sexuality in decades of church life. Quite the reverse, yet comments are often received from protestors. But that is all they do, protest and abuse others. There is no supporting evidence. No engagement or acknowledgement of other commentators' desire to protect the sacrament of holy matrimony. Difference of opinion is simply dismissed as phobia to silence any opposition.  

After 2,000 years of scholarship and witness Anglicans are expected to believe that interpreting scripture to please oneself is the way to salvation. I think not.

This is the result: "I believe in a non-binary God whose pronouns are plural."

Next stop polyamory!

Postscripts 

[29.06.2023]

From the US:

The Queering of the Episcopal Church by David W. Virtue DD

Why is America tolerating indecent exposure at Pride events? by Family Policy Institute of Washington

[30.06.2023]

From C4M: PRIDE: THE ANTI-MARRIAGE PLATFORM

[11.07.2023]

Lesbian Methodist Minister and chaplain at Cardiff University, Delyth Liddell, says that "visible gay role models are key to changing attitudes about the LGBT+ community in churches".
On 'All Things Considered' the bishop of St Asaph, Gregory Cameron, is to share his thoughts with the chaplain on his vision for an "inclusive Church".

That is selective inclusion of course because the bishops have decided that there is no place in the Church in Wales for Anglicans who keep the faith.

Ageing Christians

About a quarter of the young adults who dropped out of church said they disagreed with their church’s stance on political
and social issues. Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images.  Source: The Guardian

The above image is from a Guardian article Losing their religion: why US churches are on the decline.

Where the US episcopal church (TEC) has been the Church of England has been quick to follow and the Church in Wales even quicker. Consequently the latest 2021 census figures confirm what has been apparent to all but the Church hierarchy for some time. 

Christian Today has summarised a data set from the 2021 Census which reveals that "Christians are the oldest on average among people of faith in England and Wales. The average age of a Christian is now 51. By contrast, those describing themselves as Muslim had the youngest average age of 27 years old, followed by those who reported "no religion" - 32 years old."

People of faith are lumped together as though there is little difference between them. That was the position of the newly elected bishop of Llandaff when she responded to a question put to her by the Secretary General Muslim Council of Wales Abdul-Azim Ahmed on the BBC's 'All Things Considered' on the census results and the 'growth of minority religions across Wales' in particular.

Bishop Stallard said that she had always been helped and encouraged by people of faith of diverse traditions. She had spent a lot of time as a student studying Hinduism and Buddhism and had been encouraged in her faith by a Muslim sister. A great comfort for persecuted Christians living at the sharp end around the world!

Presumably the bishop had so little time for biblical study that she skipped over "I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" and the the Great Commission: Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” 

The Bible counts for little in new Anglicanism other than to provide an opportunity to take passages out of context to provide some phoney legitimacy to the latest hot issue such as Living in Love and Faith (LLF) which many bishops are eager to endorse without any theological reasoning, probably because there isn't any. 

By contrast a small group of bishops has published a 'short theological summary of the doctrine of marriage as the Church of England has received it'. 

Hooray for them but too little too late as the census figures indicate. Without younger people replacing the aged Anglicanism will surely perish.

Thirty years on...

Dawn French playing the Rev Geraldine Granger, Vicar of Dibley, who dons a joke bishop's hat
 in a 2013 Comic Relief sketch.  Source: Mail Online

A tweet from one of the Church of England's celebrity priests indicates that thirty years on from the approval by General Synod of the final legislation for women to become priests, a third of all those who are in ordained ministry are women and 31 women have been made bishops.

The Rev Kate Bottley along with the fictional Vicar of Dibley are about as far removed from the traditional view of priesthood as we could have possibly imagined 30 years ago but they fit in perfectly with the aims of Women and the Church. Their 'charitable' objectives are purely secular -

"The promotion of gender equality and diversity with the Church of England as experienced by both lay and ordained people for the public benefit by:

1. The elimination of discrimination on grounds of gender;

2. Advancing education and raising awareness in gender equality and diversity;

3. Conducting or commissioning research on equality and diversity issues and publishing the result to  the public; and

4. Cultivating a sentiment in favour of gender equality and diversity."

The secular aims of gender justice, equality and inclusion are far removed from the 'otherness' enjoyed by churchgoers thirty years ago. They have split communities and friendships as false notions of equality have replaced theology. 

More 'diversity' has resulted in bishops and archbishops abandoning traditional understanding of biblical teaching which has been handed down over two millennia.

The Five Guiding Principles which provide guidance for candidates for ordination in the Church of England have been consistently undermined by WATCH under the mask of ‘institutionalised discrimination’, something the absent bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy, regularly complained of.

When pressed to describe the alleged discrimination the best the bishop could come up with was that some people disagreed with her. That precisely sums up the attitude of WATCH. 

The same tactics have been adopted by LGBT complainers to accuse anyone who disagrees with them of discrimination and homophobia with no evidence whatsoever, something with which readers of the blog will be very familiar.

All of which has led to blessing same sex couples with same sex marriage on the horizon, which is driving Western Anglicanism further away from the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of which they claim to be part of in such as the Five Guiding Principles.

It is predicted that the Church of England will be extinct by the 2060's and the Church in Wales well before that.  Equally dead!

Disaster looms closer

The Bishop of Bangor, Andy John, at  his Enthronement as Archbishop of Wales                                                                                      Source: Church in Wales

 This extraordinary behaviour (above) of the newly enthroned archbishop of Wales, Andy John, takes place in the sanctuary in front of the Holy Table where the holy sacrifice of the Mass takes place. 

Nothing it seems is sacred in the Church in Wales any longer. 

Little surprise then that the Church Growth Modelling blog estimates the extinction of the Church in Wales, among other denominations, in less than 30 years.

The author writes: "Sadly, the immediate future looks bleak for the Church in Wales, Church of Scotland, Episcopalians, Methodists, and older Welsh nonconformists. They need to seriously ask themselves how they have gotten themselves into a situation where extinction is less than 30 years away. What is wrong with their beliefs and practices that are stopping them from making converts? A quick about-turn is needed."

Also, "The Church in Wales contains a mixture of churchmanships, and for many years all were on the conservative side. However, in the last 25 years, it has become increasingly liberal. In common with most historic UK Christian denominations, it has steadily declined since 1960. This analysis investigates the likelihood of decline leading to denominational extinction."

By secularising the Church it has lost most of its mystery, its 'otherness'. Its bishops simply do as they please acting more like politicians than shepherds of the faithful. 

The first prediction of the bishop of Bangor after his enthronement as archbishop of Wales was 'Same-sex Church in Wales marriage hope within five years'. The Holy Grail of the renewed, diverse, and inclusive Church in Wales dominated by its bench of bishops.

Perhaps this should come as no surprise from an archbishop who is a re-married divorcee who interprets scripture to suit himself and those whose main mission is inclusion of their own to the exclusion of all others.

Richard Pain, Bishop of Monmouth, Petertide  ordinations 2018                Source: Monmouth DCO

Episcopal frivolity is nothing new to the Church in Wales. 

The former bishop of Monmouth caused offence to many by his inappropriate behaviour in Eucharistic vestments.

Perhaps the bishop was unaware, or simply did not care, that in the ninteenth century a priest, Fr Arthur Tooth, was sent to prison for defending the right to use Eucharistic vestments in the Church of England. 

Such events serve to emphasise the extent to which the Church in Wales has sunk into secularism.  

In St Davids diocese bishop Joanna unashamedly carries on after her extended sick leave as if no problem with her ministry ever existed while rumours of alleged bullying continue to circle around the bishop of Llandaff.

The archbishop brushed aside the behaviour of the bishop of St Davids and rejected calls that he should launch an inquiry into the running of the Llandaff diocese following allegations of bullying.

Birds of a feather! The Church in Wales is doomed.

'Women's rights' bishop to retire

Christine Hardman Bishop of Newcastle in the House of Lords                          Source: BBC News

BBC News reports that the Right Reverend Christine Hardman is to step down as Bishop of Newcastle on 30 November.

"The 70-year-old said great progress had been made in achieving equal rights for men and women in the church leadership. However, Mrs Hardman said there was still a lot of work to do to make the church more diverse.

"The church does feel like a different place now and it's not about women's rights, it's about men and women being equally represented in the leadership of the church she said." 

Equality, diversity and parity have far more to do with secular ambitions for so-called women's rights than for spreading the faith as received.

From The London Economic: "Feminist theologian Dr Niamh M. Middleton, author of new book Jesus and Women: Beyond Feminism, says that the Roman Catholic Church will lose all its female practitioners within two decades, and will become extinct within a generation, unless it takes urgent steps to address inherent gender-based discrimination.

"The Roman Catholic church will become ‘women-free’ in Britain and Ireland within 20 years and die out completely within a generation unless it reverses its “sexist and unbiblical” policy that only men can become priests and bishops, a leading academic and theologian has warned.

"Worshippers are already said to be turning their backs on Catholicism “in their droves” in response to its views on women’s rights, LGBT rights and contraception."

A review of Dr Middleton's book in The European put it this way:

'Challenging gender inequality in the Church' it 'dissects institutional sexism within the Church, and outlines how women must lead the way in restoring gender equality'.

The review continues: "Christianity is in crisis, with congregations continuing to fall away both within the Catholic and Protestant Churches. One of the main issues remains the institutional sexism found within Church hierarchies. This discrimination, which finds its apex in the Catholic Church’s prohibition of female ordination, alienates women, leading to them and their families abandoning the pews."

Feminists start from the presumption that institutional sexism exists in the Church but they use secular criteria to achieve their secular aims. It is that which puts Christianity in crisis

In the UK and abroad, where feminist principles have been allowed to influence the direction of the Church it has been downhill thereafter.  

Postscript [23.11.2021]

Pioneering Church of England woman bishop who campaigned for LGBT rights to retire

No change there then! The complete feminist package. They should be campaigning for Christ not using His name to advance their secular cause.

Betrayal of trust

Martin Bashir and Lord 'Tony' Hall

Inclusivity and diversity, the current watchwords of church and state were eagerly taken on board by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as is abundantly clear from their current output. 

Vacating his post as BBC Director General in 2020 Lord Hall said there had been "big, big changes" at the corporation since he took over in 2013. His tenure as director general began at a time the corporation was "in crisis".

He referred to "tense" negotiations with the government around dropping free TV licences for the over 75s, the 'n-word' controversy and gender pay equality.

Diversity of thought was needed within the BBC in addition to racial diversity, said Lord Hall.

What of integrity?  

The BBC has betrayed our trust.

The crisis referred to by Lord Hall pales in the light of the Dyson inquiry which found that the BBC fell short of "high standards of integrity and transparency" over Martin Bashir's 1995 interview with Princess Diana. Bashir was found guilty of deceit and breaching BBC editorial conduct to obtain the interview.

An internal investigation by Tony Hall before he became the BBC's director general was said to have been "woefully ineffective". There was a "covering up".  

Bashir joined ITV in 1999 but in 2016 he returned to the BBC as religious affairs correspondent, despite his apparent dishonesty and deceitful behaviour, qualities not unknown in the Church of England.

Described in the Mail as the 'pointless' Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby has been criticised for turning his back on a school chaplain who was reported to a terror unit after questioning his school's new LGBT policies

The Rev'd Dr Bernard Randall was sacked because he had delivered a sermon in which he told pupils they were allowed to disagree with the school's new LGBT policies, particularly if they felt they ran contrary to the Church's values.

The Christian Legal Centre, which has taken up Dr Randall's case, appealed for Archbishop Justin Welby, along with the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, and the Bishop of Derby, Libby Lane, to publicly support Dr Randall. All three senior figures declined to give Dr Randall their backing

So Dr Randall becomes yet another victim of a Church that has betrayed its traditional Christian beliefs for inclusivity and diversity.

Another betrayal of trust.

BBC Gravy Train

The BBC has come under fire after it published accounts showing that staff pay had soared 3.5 per cent to £1.5billion this year - while the Corporation pushes ahead with its plans to strip a million over-75s of their free TV licences. (Mail Online)

The BBC's highest paid 'stars'.  Source: Mail Online

plus executive pay:

There are 91 BBC executives who are paid MORE than the Prime Minister and 11 bosses get more
than DOUBLE his salary.  Source: Mail online

The BBC's mission is "to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain".

It is a job they do well at their best but 'Auntie' is not what she used to be. Pay and 'bias' have again been dominating the headlines. 

Their salary bill is similar to the cost of running their main TV channels: BBC One- £1.2bn, BBC Two- £481.2 million and BBC Four- £52.3 million according to the BBC's Annual Report and Accounts for 2017/18.

In 2015, the government announced that the BBC would take over the cost of providing free licences for over-75s by 2020 as part of the BBC fee settlement. 

In a staggering breach of faith the BBC later claimed that "BBC Two, BBC Four, the BBC News Channel, the BBC Scotland channel, Radio 5live, and a number of local radio stations would all have been at risk" if they honoured the commitment that guaranteed their fee settlement.

Delayed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, demands for licence fees are being received by pensioners over 75 year old at the same time as the BBC published accounts showing that staff pay had "soared 3.5 per cent to £1.5billion this year".

There is no recognition in the BBC that part of the problem in honouring their obligation to elderly pensioners is the unjustifiable amount of money paid out in salaries when they cannot afford to do so.

I suspect that I am not alone looking at the photographs of the highest paid 'stars' only to find that just two of the ten have any impact on my life and then only because they are BBC newsreaders.

Personally I prefer Reeta Chakrabarti and Ben Brown at less than half the cost.

Programme content has become dire with endless repeats. New series are built around murder and violence while frequent soccer programmes pervade the airwaves, something that could well be left to other providers given the cost to the licence payer.

New content is bogged down in the BBC's 'diversity' drive. Knee deep in political correctness and wokism BBC's mission is increasingly questionable. Not all change is for the better as the BBC should learn from their mishandling of their previously successful Strictly Come Dancing.

In the 2011 census over 86% of the population were white with 13% identifying as  BAME but often the BBC's news coverage conveys the impression that white people are the minority in the UK. 

The BBC's Breakfast time programme constantly undermines the Government's strategy to defeat Covid-19 while some of the presenters adopt the role of official opposition to the Government.

One ought to expect the highest standards from a public service broadcaster but some of the trailers are jaw dropping. 

Following on from their promotion of BBC 3's Drag Race, the BBC are currently promoting Little Mix in a series that encourages grotesquely made-up youngsters to mimic their hosts by cavorting around in clothing that could easily be mistaken for underwear.

I do not watch EastEnders but the trailers illustrate life in the East End as constant misery and angst. No wonder the programmes are accompanied by health warnings.

As a public service institution the BBC should be readily available to all, informing and educating. 

Instead we have an over-paid politically correct woke elite constantly lowering standards by foisting their own liberal views on audiences thus 'normalising' abnormal behaviour.

The announcement by Gary Lineker that Sue Barker is to be replaced on A Question Of Sport by ex-soccer player Alex Scott brought one of the best suggestions: Alex Scott should replace Lineker.

That would be diversity!

Auntie has lost her marbles

BBC Increasing diversity.  Michaela Coel stars in, wrote and co-directed I May Destroy You

The BBC has committed £100m to increasing diversity on TV. Producing "diverse and inclusive content" amounts to little more than giving air time for minorities who represent their lifestyle/activities as mainstream.

That is a phenomenal amount of money given that in 2016 the 'Auntie' BBC announced that she needed to save £800m with around £80m of that figure coming from News.

Among the casualties is the Andrew Neil Show as part of cuts to the corporation's news operation.

This tweet sums up some of the feelings expressed after the announcement:

""Andrew Neil Show cut"; the Beeb is crackers!
@afneil is one of the best journalistic interrogators they have & shows no mercy to ANY interviewee; Left or Right. He is an expert at dismantling spin and obfuscation.
We are nearing 'journalism by Twitter"!

One might have hoped that Tim Davie, Lord Hall's replacement as the £450,000 p.a. Director-General would have heralded an opportunity to return to higher standards but he has already said "We will need to accelerate change so that we serve all our audiences in this fast-moving world. Much great work has been done, but we will continue to reform, make clear choices and stay relevant."

Relevance to society and 'more of the same - but faster' was announced by the new archbishop as the plan for the Church in Wales, now heading for obscurity.

There is no future for a public funded BBC if it continues to ape its competitors.

BBC diversity 'advertising' squeezes in as many colours, races, creeds and sexual preferences as can be mustered, highlighting minorities as if they were mainstream. The results are usually the same: murder, misery and mayhem.

Having a good laugh is a no-go area for the woke generation which continually finds offence where none was intended.

'Auntie' BBC was founded on Christian principles. Its first Director-General, Lord Reith, thought of broadcasting as a way of educating the masses. Diversity is not. Diversity is a tool for pushing specific agendas.

The commissioning editor for ethics and religion is responsible for all the BBC’s religious content, including Songs of Praise. Following the appointment of a Muslim commissioner Songs of Praise has gradually faded into the background with mixed content in shorter programmes in obscure slots.

While Christianity is often lampooned the greatest respect is demanded for Islam, a minority faith in the UK raising accusations of Islamophobia if there is any whiff of criticism of Islamic excesses.

There in little evidence of diversity in sports coverage which continues to be dominated by soccer, even screening repeats when live matches were not available due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Listing their highest paid 'stars', in 2018-19, seventy five received £150,000 with many considerably more. Why the BBC paid Gary Lineker between £1,750,000 and £1,754,999 for presenting Match of the Day, Sports Personality of the Year and World Cup is a mystery when there must be many competent soccer fanatics who would welcome the chance to magnify their passion at a fraction of the cost but diversity does not extend to elite presenters.

The BBC has plenty of money to throw around when it comes to soccer having payed £204m in 2015 to keep Match of the Day hosted by the absurdly paid Garry Lineker, negotiations are under way for the BBC to show their first ever Premier League matches live. By comparison the popular Six Nations rugby tournament is likely to go behind a Sky paywall from 2022.

Far from raising standards the BBC appears determined to drive them down developing personality cults which have allowed presenters such as Naga Munchetty and Emily Maitlis to get away with expressing their personal opinions, which are not what the licence payers are paying for, while the over-exposed Fiona Bruce has turned Question Time into the Fiona Bruce show.

'Defund the BBC' is gaining ground. As Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson wrote, "We don't want to pay for leftist propaganda, the time has come to defund the BBC!

"People don't object to great work that is truly colour-blind. What drives us mad is a 'tokenistic' agenda diversity and a leftist, anti-British groupthink imposed on viewers and listeners by a privately-educated liberal elite. The BBC boss class is as far from diverse as Mayfair is from Mablethorpe." 

Exactly!

Second-class Christians

Preparations are underway to celebrate what has become one of the major festivals in the Church in Wales, Gay Pride week, 'giving a voice' to those who claim to be persecuted.

As Archbishop Barry Morgan said way back in 2008: "There are a huge number of gay clergy and gay partnered clergy" adding that "there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be bishops and they will be. We’re not arguing about if, we’re just arguing about when."

Now that the Church in Wales has appointed an openly lesbian bishop, claiming to be persecuted while running the show has a hollow ring. It is more about tactical advantage than persecution as outlined in Would I Lie to You?

As part of their 2020 LGBT+ campaign the diocese of Llandaff is launching their first ever LGBT+ prayer writing competition to celebrate LGBT+ History Month 2020: "We’re inviting you to write an original prayer based around the theme Power of Prayer. Your prayer could feature in our forthcoming LGBT+ prayer book and may be spoken at the Faith Tent Eucharist at Pride Cymru."

The diocesan press release invites readers who may be looking for inspiration to watch the above Prayer for Pride video. In fact it is another propaganda tool claiming discrimination while twisting the meaning of love.

News from Wales has announced a special service in North Wales "celebrating diversity and the legendary Ladies of Llangollen" which takes place at St Collen’s Church in Llangollen on Saturday 22nd February, including a blessing of the tomb of the Ladies of Llangollen.

According to the report: "The service is timely following a recent report issued by the bishops of the Church of England on same-sex marriages. This report has hurt, disappointed and discouraged many LGBT Christians...this service will send out a powerful message of inclusion, hope and welcome to all LGBT people across the land."

That is, inclusion, hope and welcome for an alleged oppressed minority but exclusion, no hope and goodbye to Anglicans who are among the majority of Christians who remain faithful to the teaching of the Apostolic Church.

Following the statement by the Church of England's House of Bishops that for Christians marriage is the lifelong union between a man and a woman and remains the proper context for sexual activity, trendy bishops started to break ranks, distancing themselves from the guidance.

Quick off the mark, the bishop of Gloucester, Rachel Treweek, issued a statement saying that she was “deeply frustrated and saddened” at the guidance. "I recognise that it has fanned into flame unnecessary pain and distress and I wish to acknowledge my part in that", she said.

Again using love to justify her stance Treweek added, "The word ‘love’ emanating from the generous love of God is one that needs to be heard and lived, and I am extremely sorry that it has not been heard in the publication of the House of Bishops".

In the House of Commons civil partnered vicar's son Ben Bradshaw questioned the Second Church Estates Commissioner on the guidance. Alleging that the Church "still treats its LGBT+ members as second-class Christians", he told the House that "serious questions" will be asked about the Church of England's established status if it stands by its position on opposite-sex civil partnerships.

Justifying her enthronement as the first openly gay bishop in the Church in Wales the bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, said, “God has given us a world teeming with difference and diversity".

That is their own diversity, soon to be enshrined in the forthcoming Church in Wales LGBT+ prayer book.

It is not difficult to identify the real second-class Christians in the Anglican Church.

The journey

Yesterday saw the twentieth anniversary Pride Cymru parade through Cardiff streets, supporting the LGBT+ community on the pretext of raising awareness of equality and diversity,

Away from the hype the reality is different. LGBT+ fully permeates Church and State.

The last bastion of Christianity in the media, the BBC's Songs of Praise, has been eased out of prime time viewing to a short lunch time slot. It has further alienated viewers after it featured a same-sex wedding.

This is pure propaganda in a process turning this

into this

After 20 years of 'being proud and together', the LGBT+ community still insists on raising "awareness of equality and diversity" as if they have not noticed the rainbow flags on government buildings and in shop windows.

The rainbow flag is displayed everywhere from the 

vote catching First Minister of Wales

university chaplaincy

police

and Church

culminating in a full circle preparing the next generation

aided by the Church, 'where love matters', allegedly.

Equality and diversity? Pull the other one.

Images from Wales on Line, Church in Wales and Twitter


Postscript [29.08.2019]

Question put down for Church in Wales Governing Body meeting 11 - 12 September 2019:

"During August the Diocese of Llandaff and the Church in Wales actively supported and promoted the Faith Tent at Pride Cymru via social media, various press releases and the presence of a number of clerics at the event. As part of the event there were three sessions of "drag queen storytime". The drag queen in question has YouTube videos entitled "Good Christian bitches" and "the most underrated type of gay sex" as well as a number of other videos containing explicit material contrary to the Christian faith. Despite this speaker being a "third party" - the Church in Wales support for the entire event was unequivocal. Does the Church in Wales affirm the lifestyle this speaker promotes or is the Church prepared to simply overlook the usual high moral standards expected of speakers at events it promotes?"

Thank God somebody is prepared to stand up for the Church at GB saying what needs to be said to defend the Christian faith instead of simply 'going along to get on'.

Postscript [11.09.2019]

This bland response from the bishop of Llandaff tweeted from Governing Body:

@ChurchinWales @BishopJuno of @LlandaffDio answers a question about @PrideCymru, saying the Church had a duty to minister to the whole community and support such major  events. "We are seeking to engage with a section of society which the Church has not always treated well in the past" #govbody

If that is all she said she evaded the question put.
I have seen no evidence that the Church has treated the gay community badly in the past. Quite the contrary. By contrast traditionalist Anglicans have been treated abysmally with encouragement from the bench.

Faith tent

From a recent Tweet, "Still Proud, Still Here, Still Faithful".                                       Source: Twitter

The Facebook banner for the Faith tent at Pride Cymru event, eagerly endorsed by the Llandaff diocese of the Church in Wales - Proud to be supporting @TentFaith at @PrideCymru ❤️🏳️‍🌈✝️#WhereLoveMatters:

Llandaff Diocese @LlandaffDio Jun 4 Here's our take on #pride events:
"They celebrate love and affection. They celebrate equality and champion diversity. We are proud to be part of the #FaithTent at @PrideCymru ... whatever your faith, whatever your spirituality, all are welcome. See you at Pride :) @TheGatheringCdf"

The Faith tent is not about faith as received or about the excluded faithful who are 'still here' with nowhere to go.

It is about promoting a lifestyle that perverts words such as love, equality and diversity to suggest that if you do not support gay pride you have no love, do not believe in equality and dislike diversity, none of which is true.

As one MP said on TV recently when condemning protesters in Birmingham who object to LGBT teaching in teaching primary schools, "Love is all".

Love is all but it is to be interpreted in context. God is love. Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." Clearly that did not mean getting into bed with each other.

In the Bible there is Agape, Eros, Philia and Storge all neatly wrapped up into love as the presiding bishop of TEC did at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.  See More luuuuv and lots of it, for some.

This picture appears in a tweet "There's bound to be some fabulous entertainment for our young supporters in the @UberUK Family Area this year's Big Weekend!"

Police with Wesh Pride                                                                          Source: Twitter @PrideCymru

How can a child understand what is being supported when clutching a 'Welsh Police with Pride' flag?

Gay pride marches have become a popular pastime for the constabulary. Anyone needing to dial 999 only to find that nobody is available as they are all busy it is possible that they are busy elsewhere, eg, here, here or here.

Flamboyant Gay Pride events are intentionally fun days out for the whole family but they have nothing to do with homosexual couples living quiet family lives. It is about familiarisation leading to normality.

But there is a far more serious aspect beyond the fun and laughter.

Children are being targeted. They are targeted in primary schools and in the promotion of Drag Queen Story Time despite the admission from a drag queen that children are being groomed for the next generation.

Instead of supporting such deceit the Church should be speaking out against it.

Postscript [07.08.2019]

From a tweet by Rev Rose Hill, a Faith Tent organizer. 

Just one of the many LGBTQ+ tweets @LlandaffDio  highlighted on the Llandaff Diocese website 'Where Faith Matters'!

"We are becoming a more welcoming, inclusive and diverse space" - Why faith at @PrideCymru is important and what you can expect from @TentFaith.

Apparently visitors can expect an 'eclectic mix' of events talking about 'inclusive education' and a 'pride Eucharist', this year celebrated by the self-promoting transgender vicar of St John the Baptist Church in the centre of Cardiff. Also a 'wonderful worship band' called Blessed Sacrament with 'drag queen' story times. 

The Rev Rose Hill adds that it is important for the diocese to be there because "it shows those of us in the LGBTQIA who are of faith are welcome in the church and also that the diocese is changing. That the Church in Wales is changing, becoming a more welcoming, inclusive and diverse space. 

Just like there are many LGBTQIA people, both lay and ordained, within the church so there are many people of faith within the LGBTIA community. And it is so important that we as people of faith within the community demonstrate the love and welcome of God to all," - Where faith matters'!

Clearly the irony is lost on the bench of bishops. Faith does not matter to the Church in Wales if you are an orthodox Anglican. There is no love and no welcome. 

If the Church in Wales had continued to show God's love, welcome orthodox Anglicans instead of excluding them, the Church would not have had to struggle to fill the pews left vacant and beg for increased giving to support a failing institution. 

Rev Sarah Jones vicar of St John's with Rev Rose Hill               Source: Twitter