Atheist group wants cross removed from city war memorial

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is threatening legal action against the City of Woonsocket for a Christian Cross displayed on public property in front of Firestation 2. The cross is part of a World Ward 1 memorial erected in the city in 1921. In 1952 the monument was rededicated in honor of three Woonsocket brothers Alexandre, Henri, and Louis Gagne that were all killed in World War II.

The Freedom of Religion Foundation,(FFRF) a group based in Madison, Wisconsin, said in a letter to Woonsocket Mayor Leo Fontaine, (click here to view letter) they have received complaints about the cross and that it’s display is “unlawful.” As first reported by the Woonsocket Call, the group is threatening legal action against the city if the situation is not rectified. Read more

Ministry Trust to be established in Southwark Diocese

Due to widespread concerns in the Diocese of Southwark, a Trust is being established to support the ministry cost of parish clergy. Read more

Bishop of Chelmsford: Church tax is a kick in the teeth

THE Bishop of Chelmsford says a possible tax on churches feels like “a kick in the teeth”.

The Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell has written to the Chancellor, George Osborne, asking him to keep zero-rate VAT on alterations to listed church buildings.

As part of the Budget, the Chancellor proposed introducing VAT at 20 per cent on alterations to listed church buildings.

The Bishop said: “Listed church buildings are vital community assets, contributing a huge amount to community cohesion and development. Read more

Boris steps in to stop Christian poster campaign over use of anti-gay messages on the side of London buses

Boris Johnson has blocked Christian campaigners from using advertisements on London buses to promote their message on homosexuality.

The London mayor personally vetoed the campaign, which was due to start next week, because he said it suggested gay people can be cured.

The Christian adverts, which mimic an initiative by pro-gay group Stonewall, were intended to advertise 'gay conversion' through therapy.

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German man who had four children with his sister loses European Court fight claiming incest conviction breached his human rights

A German man who fathered four children with his sister - and then claimed an incest conviction breached his human rights - has lost his European court case.

Patrick Stuebing and Susan Karolewski argued they had rights to privacy and family life, which they say were violated when German courts jailed Steubing for 14 months in 2005.

The European Court of Human Rights, in Strasbourg, France, ruled Germany was entitled to ban incest.

Patrick Stuebing and Susan Karolewski, the German brother and sister who grew up apart, were reunited and then fell in love and had four children. Steubing was convicted of incest in 2005

The case led to calls for Germany to join countries such as France, Turkey, Japan and Brazil in legalising sex between relatives.

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Popular vicar converts to Catholicism ... and takes HALF his flock with him

A vicar led half his congregation in converting to Catholicism after complaining that the Church of England is telling believers in traditional values to ‘sod off'.

Father Donald Minchew was followed by 70 of his flock when he left the Anglican church where he has led services for nearly two decades to join a Catholic church less than 500 yards up the road.

He said the extraordinary leap of faith made him feel like the ‘Prodigal Son’ returning to a church with established beliefs after years of enduring the ‘pick and choose’ attitude of the CofE where congregations are fed on a diet of ‘pap and banality’.

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Archbishop panel member believes gay people can 'change' sexual desire

[...] The Rev Colin Coward, director of Changing Attitude, the campaign for the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the Anglican communion, said Harrison's position on the commission appeared "cranky in the extreme".

Harrison's supporters insist his views reflect a substantial section of Anglican opinion about homosexuality and it would be impossible to elect a leader of an estimated 50 million churchgoers worldwide without such views being represented.

Harrison has written recent articles saying that gay relationships "fall short of God's purpose in creation". He argues that using that therapy and pastoral ministry may be remedies for those clergy drawn to a gay relationship but who feel it is unchristian, saying "there is evidence that some people with unwanted same sex attractions can achieve significant change".

He is one of three lay members of the commission voted in by the Church of England's General Synod in 2007. Its first meeting is expected in May. Read more

... an avenging angel and BBC hypocrisy

[...] So far, so strange. A newspaper uncovers widespread criminality in health clinics. The minister responsible requests an immediate investigation, which takes only three days and costs a mere £1 million — less than one ten-millionth of the Health Department’s £105 billion budget.

The scandal is stamped out, the guilty face punishment . . . and instead of patting the Health Secretary on the back, the BBC swoops down on him like an avenging angel, flaming with wrath.

Traumatic

Indeed, the tone is set from the very opening words of the report, with that spurious reminder that someone had said the poor fellow should be taken out and shot. In my trade, this kind of reporting is known as a ‘hatchet job’. The question is: why is Auntie so angry with Mr Lansley?

I reckon I know exactly why. For unless I’m much mistaken, the one and only reason why the BBC went for Mr Lansley’s throat and thought it worth leading its news bulletins with the story is that the criminal behaviour on which he clamped down with such swiftness and efficiency was taking place in abortion clinics. And as we all know, the free availability of abortions is a central tenet of progressive thought, and therefore of the BBC.

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Stoned yet again: the geriatrics who refuse to grow up

[...] Recently, Paul McCartney told Rolling Stone that, aged 69, he had decided to give up cannabis. The reasons he gave for his conversion to abstinence were unintentionally revealing, not only of him, but of our increasingly immature and self-centred, that is to say adolescent, world-view.

The slowly ageing idol said that it was finally time to give up smoking cannabis because he now had a “sense of responsibility” towards his eight-year-old daughter. He added, “When you’re bringing up a youngster, your sense of responsibility does kick in, if you’re lucky, at some point.”

This statement was very revealing – far more revealing than it was probably intended to be – because it constituted an admission that smoking cannabis was an act of irresponsibility. There is, of course, a time and place for irresponsibility in a man’s life, namely adolescence, but 69 is a little late in the day to grow out of it. Read more

Chessun hears Evangelical protest over preferment

[...] In a sermon preached at the consecration of the Bishops of Woolwich and of Croydon on 21 March, the Dean of Southwark, the Very Revd Andrew Nunn, referred to “criti­cism voiced about some recent appointments in the diocese” by Canon Chris Sugden on Newsnight on BBC 2 on 16 March.

Dean Nunn said: “There’s a word which characterises our ministry in this place and in much of this diocese — a word that sends shivers down the spines of some, and that word is ‘inclusive’. Whatever others imagine comes bundled with that word, we’ll continue to use it, with confidence and with pride, because that’s what we see characterised in God and in Jesus, an inclusive love which honours every person.” Read more