C of E priesthood today

This clip from Sunday's Songs of Praise which hosted the Young Chorister of the Year 2020 competition illustrates the changing face of priesthood in the church of England.

The Rev Kate Bottley of Gogglebox star fame wore a novel creation resembling an evening dress with clerical collar to signify her calling. 

To be fair it was a welcome change from the hot pants outfit worn when caught cavorting behind Jason Mohammad in the Good Morning Sunday alarm call.

The Rev Sally Hitchiner used to grab the headlines. Dubbed 'the Vicar who wears Prada' she caused an 'unholy row among the faithful' when she posed in tight silver leather trousers worth over £1000.

Her response was "I dress in a way that reflects my personality."

'More Dior than Dibley' cracked MailOnline.

Sally Hitchiner founded Diverse Church with the aim of 'planting grass roots communities of LGBT+ Christians, enabling the wider Church to discover the gift of LGBT+ Christians in their mist'.

So successful has the LGBT+ movement become that secular values have become mainstream with the Church of England set on course to undermine the institution of Christian marriage by allowing same sex unions.

Following her appearances on Gogglebox the Rev Kate Bottley remarked that she had been compared with the Vicar of Dibley 

She follows up the comparison with some affirming tweets from other women priests celebrating their  success.

Mailonline remarked: "Rejoice! It's the real-life Vicars of Dibley: Knickers drying on the radiator, guinea pigs in the congregation and candles setting robes alight... as the Reverend Geraldine returns on Zoom, JENNY JOHNSTON meets some actual female clergy".

Dawn French's return as The Vicar Of Dibley has not been universally welcomed. The BBC was 'slammed' for not staying impartial following a scene in which French takes the knee in support of Black Lives Matter.

The comedy series originator Richard Curtis said it had a serious side. It was "grounded in reality".

He claimed he attended the wedding of two friends which was presided over by a female administrator and thought ‘this is so right’. In 1992, just as Richard was devising the series, the Church of England was allowing the ordination of women for the first time. He was also living in a Dibley-like village at the time and knew that it would be the perfect setting.

No theology. No scripture. No tradition. Just perfect!

Same-sex marriages and transgender madness

From: Coalition for Marriage (C4M)

European Court orders all EU countries to recognise same-sex marriages

Dear marriage supporter,

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ordered all EU countries to recognise same-sex marriages, even if they are illegal under national law.

In a ruling last week the Court ordered Romania to grant residency to an American man who married a Romanian man in Belgium. This is despite Romania’s laws only recognising marriage between a man and a woman.

Eight EU member states support real marriage through their laws, including Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia. They now face being forced to recognise extra-territorial same-sex marriages in their immigration and welfare systems despite there being no democratic mandate to do so.

Across the world, same-sex marriage has been brought in through the back door without a popular mandate.

In the United Kingdom (aside from Northern Ireland) it was introduced by David Cameron’s government despite not being in his party’s election manifesto.

In America it was forced on all states by the judiciary of the Supreme Court.

And now across the European Union member states will be forced by this court judgment to recognise marriages in other states which would be illegal under their own national law.

There is cause to take heart in all of this: despite what we are often told, same-sex marriage is not universally accepted or approved. If it were, there would be no need for such underhand tactics the world over in making it legal.

Doctor dropped by DWP for asserting biological reality

A senior doctor who was set for a role as a disability assessor at the Department for Work and Pensions has been dropped due to his belief in the biological basis of gender.

Dr David Mackereth has worked as an NHS doctor for 26 years. He told his instructor that as a Christian his faith would not allow him to use a person’s preferred gender when writing reports if that gender was not their biological one. His contract was subsequently terminated.

It says something for the bullying and bigotry of the transgender zealots in government that a man with a quarter of a century of public service behind him can be treated in such a disgraceful way.

Yours sincerely,

(Signed) Thomas Pascoe

Campaign Director
Coalition for Marriage (C4M)

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Make believe

Based on past atrocities, which of these three exclamations is most likely to be heard if a suicide bomber decides to 'martyr' himself or herself, killing and maiming as many people as possible ?

Whether in a shopping mall, restaurant, concert hall, hotel lobby, tube train, on a London bus or on an idyllic beach, most will recall with horror 'Allahu Akbar' being shouted in triumph as the innocent are slaughtered and disfigured. 

The recent terrorism training exercise involving a simulated suicide bomb attack at Trafford Centre was hailed a 'great success' but a Police Chief was later forced to apologise for using fake Muslim shouts of 'Allahu Akbar'. One observer rightly pointed out that a terrorist could be anyone but if, for example, the Salvation Army were to be implicated a tea wagon would have been more appropriate than a suicide belt!

Can we learn nothing from Rochdale, Rotherham, Derby and Oxford where gangs of men, mainly of Pakistani Muslim heritage, lured white girls as young as 10 into a nightmare of sexual abuse with political correctness helping them get away with it for fear of accusations of racism and Islamophobia?

In Germany violence by Muslims against Christians in refugee homes is being played down or ignored for the same reasons. Many other examples could be quoted.

In June, to coincide with the holy month of Ramadan when Muslims traditionally fast and give to charity, buses in London, Manchester, Leicester, Birmingham and Bradford are to be used to carry posters which praise Allah.

The Director of the Muslim charity Islamic Relief said: 'There is a lot of negativity around Muslims. We want to change the perception of Islam. The campaign is about breaking down barriers and challenging misconceptions. The posters would help to raise funds for victims of war and disasters in countries such as Syria, and portray Islam in a positive light'.

That is fine but Muslims must accept that if the rest of us are to be held up to scrutiny Islam can not be exempt if they want to be seen in a positive light. We can not live in a 'make believe' world when the reality is totally different.