Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI RIP

 

May Angels lead you into paradise;

may the Martyrs receive you at your coming

and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem.

May a choir of Angels receive you,

and with Lazarus, who once was poor, may you have eternal rest.

Christmas Greeting 2022

Gari Melchers, The Nativity, 1891

 

My depiction of the nativity this year sums up the general mood and suffering of many.

Nevertheless, with hope,

Very Best Wishes for a Happy Christmas and Peaceful New Year

Modern Britain

That it should come to this in Great Britain today. A woman is arrested for silent prayer on a public street. 

Have police officers nothing better to do? We didn't have any of this nonsense before police constables were elevated to police officers.

Meanwhile in Scotland 'changing gender' is to be made easier so that a man can self identify as a woman and enter women only facilities.

The country is going mad.

Theology today

Source: Church in Wales Diocesan press releases

News from Monmouth: "Bishop Cherry, in consultation with Dean Ian, has appointed the Revd Dr Manon Ceridwen James as Honorary Canon Theologian at St Woolos’ Cathedral." Bishop Cherry is 'delighted' that Manon has accepted this invitation. No surprise there!

Theology in the Church in Wales today is not what it was. Today, verses in the Bible are twisted to suit secular circumstances or ignored altogether so it is not difficult to understand that the same sex partnered bishop is delighted with her new appointment. 

 Two previous blog entries, Misogyny, repression and stigmatisation and Par for the course drew attention to Canon James' book on Welsh feminist theology Women, Identity and Religion in Wales.

It claimed to offer "significant and original insights into women, Welsh identity and religion":

"Women, Identity and Religion in Wales by Manon Ceridwen James, a Canon at the Cathedral, is the first comprehensive study of its kind from a present-day perspective. At the heart of the book are conversations with thirteen women whose lives and experiences reveal how women facing misogyny, repression and stigmatisation are able to respond with resilience and humour." 

A regular critic of this blog commented under my previous entry that bishop Cherry is  a "focus for unity and you [another commentator] would do well to apply the 'by their fruits' axiom in regards to assessing her ministry."

The previous paragraph of the biblical text was conveniently ignored: "Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves."

Defender of the Faith

King Charles III signs an oath to uphold the security of the Church in Scotland during the Accession Council at St James’s Palace, London,
where King Charles III is formally proclaimed monarch.   Source: Premier Christianity/PA Images /Alamy Stock Photo

The Tablet reports that King Charles III recently heard testimony of a Catholic priest who escaped 'abduction and death threats' in his native Nigeria from where there are regular reports of abduction and killings. 

Googling 'abduction and death threats in Nigeria' immediately delivers Christian Student Running from Death Threats in Nigeria. There are links to other stories of persecution, particularly of Christians. Muslim militants who perpetrate these atrocities are often referred to as ‘bandits’, much like those found guilty of the sexual exploitation of 1400 children in the Rotherham from 1997 to 2013 were described as of Asian or Pakistani origin.

It is surprising, therefore, to read again that whilst King Charles III is due to inherit the title ‘Defender of the Faith’, a clause will be added to his coronation oath in order to recognise that he serves all religious faiths and not just the Church of England.

No purpose can be served by inserting a clause to ‘reflect modern, multicultural Britain’ if it embraces an ideology that is capable of creating so much misery for so many.

Charles has already sworn an oath as Defender of the Faith when he was formally proclaimed King Charles III in September.

Despite the confusion spread by woke bishops the faith of the Church of England is the Christian faith which teaches that there is only one way to the Father.

Either we believe that or we do not.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IS ‘MASSIVE SOCIAL REENGINEERING’

From C4M

 Dear marriage supporter,

Redefining marriage to include same-sex couples constitutes a “massive reengineering of our social life” by the state, an influential Christian scholar has said.

Kevin DeYoung, a pastor, theologian and popular author, wrote that redefining marriage has a huge impact across swathes of areas because of the gender-neutral assumptions it enshrines. Same-sex marriage falsely assumes “the indistinguishability of gender in parenting, the relative unimportance of procreation in marriage, and the near infinite flexibility as to what sorts of structures and habits lead to human flourishing”.

Same-sex ‘marriage’ enshrines in law a “faulty” view of marriage, “one that says marriage is essentially a demonstration of commitment sexually expressed”, DeYoung writes.

But marriage isn’t just about commitment and sexual expression. It is about the union of a man and a woman, and is a pre-political institution which predates the state and exists independently of it. The state recognises this marriage relationship and gives it legal standing, “for the common good and for the well-being of society”. Foremost in its purpose in doing so is the “well-being of the child” which is the natural fruit of the marital union, for: “Kids do better with a mom and a dad. Communities do better when husbands and wives stay together.”

The problem is that by expanding the definition of marriage, the whole institution is weakened as the meaning of marriage is changed: “same-sex unions cannot be accepted as marriage without devaluing all marriages, because the only way to embrace same-sex partnerships as marriage is by changing what marriage means altogether.”

DeYoung speaks wise words. Too many people, whether Christian or not, slip into the trap of thinking that while they are personally opposed to same-sex marriage, they ought in fairness to support the ‘right’ of gay people to marry one another. But this fails to understand that redefining marriage weakens all marriages and thereby harms us all.

At C4M we urge those who know same-sex marriage to be wrong to have the courage of their convictions and insist that the definition of marriage should not be changed.

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

PLEASE DONATE

Yours faithfully,

Colin Hart

Chairman

Coalition for Marriage (C4M)

Christianity on the wane in England and Wales

Homage of the Archbishop of Canterbury at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey. Source: Royal UK

The latest release from the ONS Census 2021 reveals  that "for the first time fewer than half of people in England and Wales describe themselves as Christian."

The ONS release emphasises that the religion question is voluntary but 94.0% (56.0 million) of usual residents answered the question in 2021, an increase from 92.9% (52.1 million) in 2011. 

“No religion” was the second most common response, increasing by 12.0 percentage points to 37.2% (22.2 million) from 25.2% (14.1 million) in 2011.

Wales had a greater decrease in people reporting their religion as “Christian” (14.0 percentage point decrease, from 57.6% in 2011 to 43.6% in 2021) and increase in “No religion” (14.5 percentage point increase, from 32.1% in 2011 to 46.5% in 2021) compared with England and Wales overall.

Following my previous entry a commentator trolled: "Another possibility is the infantile and derogatory nature of the thoroughly unChristian contributors to this site. The rest of us, however few in number, do at least try faithfully to address the injunction to love one another and leave the judging to God."

So what is a Christian? What is love? We are made a Christian at our baptism when we pledge to turn away from sin, reject evil and remain faithful to Christ to the end of our life.

Many of us are challenged for being unchristian because we do not accept the secularisation of Christianity. "All you need is love" say revisionists using the word synonymously for same sex relations despite the various forms of love referred to in the Bible.

Church going has declined because for many it has ceased to have any of the 'otherness' of old. Others continue to attend from habit or to seek affirmation of their life style based on the claim that 'all you need is love'.

The issue is coming to a head.

Warning bells are sounding as the coronation of  Charles III approaches. The King's coronation must not be 'woke-fest celebration of so-called modern Britain', former minister Sir Edward Leigh told the Commons. The event must be a 'spiritual one', he said. 

Concerns had been expressed following an interview in 2015 whether Charles would be 'Defender of Faith' or 'Defender of The Faith'. This was the response of the then Prince of Wales:

"No, I didn’t describe myself as a defender: I said I would rather be seen as ‘Defender of Faith’, all those years ago, because, as I tried to describe, I mind about the inclusion of other people’s faiths and their freedom to worship in this country. And it’s always seemed to me that, while at the same time being Defender of The Faith, you can also be protector of faiths. It was very interesting that 20 years or more after I mentioned this – which has been frequently misinterpreted – the Queen, in her Jubilee address to the faith leaders, said that as far as the role of the Church of England is concerned, it is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country. I think in that sense she was confirming what I was really trying to say – perhaps not very well – all those years ago. And so I think you have to see it as both. You have to come from your own Christian standpoint – in the case I have as Defender of the Faith – and ensuring that other people’s faiths can also be practised."

The desire to protect freedom of beliefs is laudable but contradictory in part given the nature of some 'religions'. Under Article 9 of the Human Rights Act 'Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.'

One has only to read the appeal from Release International to see how Christians are persecuted in Muslim countries. Blasphemy laws are used to persecute Christians in Pakistan while Islamic terrorism is rife in Africa.

One cannot justify defending a political ideology that does not respect the rights of others and mandates the death sentence for apostates.

Breaking the trend in the census results apart from the increase in “No religion”, there were increases in the number of people who described themselves as “Muslim” (3.9 million, 6.5% in 2021, up from 2.7 million, 4.9% in 2011) and “Hindu” (1.0 million, 1.7% in 2021, up from 818,000, 1.5% in 2011).

In 2015 a survey found that Islam was the fastest growing religion in the UK while the Church of England was in decline. "In 1983, the number of people following Islam stood at 0.6% of the population compared to a little under 5% in 2014." It needs no encouragement

In the past, leaders in the UK and in the USA have claimed that Islam is a religion of peace despite all the evidence to the contrary. Many in the Anglican Church follow the same line.

The BBC has already taken the lead in promoting Islam by appointing Muslims as Religion Editors. If this spills over to the coronation of King Charles the Church of England may as well shut up shop now along with the Church in Wales where the 2021 census showed that Wales had a greater decrease in people reporting their religion as “Christian” (14.0 percentage point decrease, from 57.6% in 2011 to 43.6% in 2021).

Postscript [01.12.2022]

From Christian Post: Christians are being butchered in Africa. What are we going to do about it?

"The number of Christians who paid with their lives for their faith was 5,898 in 2022, which is up from 4,761 in 2021, according to the Open Doors USA organization.

"Out of that number, around 4,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria by Islamist groups, such as Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, and Ansaru, which teach that Christians should either convert to Islam or die."

What are we going to do about it? 

Religious and political leaders can stop endorsing Islam's claim that it is a religion of peace.