Order, Order

Reuter photo of a demonstrator leaving Millbank through a shatterd window

As Lib Dem Deputy PM Clegg rose to justify his party's shabby treatment of their student supporters during Question Time in the House today, his Con Chief, the ex-Carlton Communications PM Cameron was busy explaining to his Chinese audience that British students would be picking up the tab for their tertiary education. While not defending lying to the electorate, the disciplined Lab MP Phil Woolas must be reflecting on the difference.

Integrity v. Duplicity

Today His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury announced the resignations of two Bishops, Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton, and "will now set in train the process for filling the vacant sees". Later reports indicate that five bishops have 'quit'.

Rumour has it that when Bishop David Thomas retired in 2008 the Archbishop of Wales declared that there would be a replacement over his dead body, ignoring the original intention of care for those who opposed the ordination of women when the measure was carried at their Governing Body.

Whatever one thinks about the ordination of women, Abp Rowan Williams has always acted with integrity respecting those who do not share his conviction. Abp Morgan by comparison appears to want only what he wants ignoring his mentor's example just as he has ignored the example of the One he professes to follow leaving a significant part of his flock without the pastoral and sacramental oversight they pray for.

Deprived of leadership, the faithful in Wales have yet to experience the exciting possibilities offered by an Ordinariate but as the Church in Wales declines, a leader may yet arise out of its dying body.

Muslim martyrs feel the pinch

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

"BBC World Service Flash

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And now for something completely different....

The Great British arena

"We are all in this together!"

It's as simple as ABC:

Architects + Business = Cuts

By The Book!

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is back in the news.

Following widespread reports of her imminent execution (apparently Wednesday is a good day for executions in Iran) later reports suggest that "Iranian legal authorities had not yet reached a final verdict in the case of Sakineh Ashtiani and that the information regarding her execution did not correspond to reality".

The authorities must take great comfort from the knowledge that this poor woman's suffering is by the book - as they see it.

Outrageous

Two innocent people. The one on the left corrupted by her religion. The one on the right deliberately singled out for attack by her as he offered his services freely in support of ALL his constituents, regardless of colour, race or creed.

At home and abroad stories of the consequences of a 'peace loving' religion filter through as though they were just unfortunate accidents. The majority of people living in Britain and throughout the world are regarded as inferior by millions simply for being Christian. In any other sphere hatred and incitement would not be allowed but this is ignored in religion because only a few do the dirty work. It only takes a few.

Postscript

From The Independent: After the sentence was passed,...... a group of men began shouting in the public gallery "Allahu akbar" ("God is great"), "British go to hell" and "Curse the judge".

Another covenant?

The Anglican Communion is taking desperate measures to stitch together something that might be passed off as a silk purse rather than the sow’s ear it has become. When the General Synod meets later this month to discuss the proposed Anglican Covenant, designed to hold together its disparate members with their “constitutional autonomy [in] the Anglican Communion”, they will find that lines have already have been drawn and campaigns organised against it.

As the major churches of East and West strive for unity with signs of [gender neutral] brotherly love, the Anglican Communion persists in pushing itself further and further away pretending that God is for their liberal agenda, necessitating rules for dealing with strife. Gone is the mystery, the tolerance, the ‘love thy neighbour’ of the New Covenant which swept away the hypocrisy of old. In its place we have a secularised, do as you please organisation where faith has given way to political correctness, often self-centred rather than Christ-centred.

An example of how badly things have gone wrong is demonstrated by the Episcopal Church of the United States illustrated in the Anglican Curmudgeon Blog and, closer to the context of the Church of England, by the St Barnabas Blog.

Seeing how Anglicanism is falling apart clearly shows that re-interpreting the Gospel to suit today's lifestyle does not work. This is exemplified by the web site of the CofE's neighbouring Church in Wales, the introductory page of which has much more to do with politics than with religion. “His Darkness” the Archbishop of Wales, a disciple of Mrs Jefferts Schori, frequently claims that he is making the church relevant to society today, blind to the fact that the unchanging mysteries of Orthodoxy and Catholicism have far more relevance outside his little domain. Even unchanging Islam growing in their own backyards fails to convince liberals that they may be mistaken.

Compare these examples of modern day Anglicanism with the timeless teachings of the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Compare traditional faith with the modern difficulties caused of choosing another way. I do not ever remember the Archbishop of Canterbury looking so uncomfortable as he does when he seeks to explain the Anglican Covenant. And with good reason as its main purpose is stated to be how to sort out divisions that have arisen [of their own making Ed]. Archbishop Rowan ends by saying that he hopes the covenant will be a “truly effective tool for witness and mission in our world”.

I wish him success in his endeavour but it must be blindingly obvious that if the Anglican Church had continued to follow the New Covenant in Jesus Christ, there should be no need of another.