Universities failing to fight extremism, says watchdog

The government's counterterrorism watchdog believes Britain's universities are reluctant to deal with radicalisation on campus and says a report by vice-chancellors that rejects demands to ban controversial speakers is "weak".

Lord Carlile, who is in charge of overseeing the government's counterterrorism strategy, Prevent, urges ministers to develop a "new narrative" for combating extremism, supporting moderate Muslim theologians against al-Qaida. "You have to meet like with like," he says.

He is scathing about the conclusion reached by Universities UK, representing 133 universities – and says their report contains a "glaring omission". He told the Guardian: "[There] is a total failure to deal with how to identify and handle individuals who might be suspected of radicalising or being radicalised whilst within the university." Read more

Dire Straits banned in Canada for causing offence

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has ruled that "Money for Nothing," a Dire Straits hit from 1985, is too offensive for Canadian airwaves. The song is being singled out for the repeated use of an anti-gay slur — "that little faggot" — in its second verse.

This hasn't stopped some Canadian classic rock radio stations from playing the song. In the days since the ruling, stations in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Edmonton, Alberta have protested the decision by playing an unedited version of the song on repeated for a full hour. Read more

WALTHAMSTOW: St Luke's appoints new vicar

A NEW vicar has been appointed at Walthamstow 's St Luke's Church.

Former chemical engineering graduate Rev Frances Shoesmith, 46, takes up the role after leaving her previous post as a minister in Liverpool.

Rev Shoesmith will also become one of two 'team vicars' for the parish of Walthamstow, which includes St Gabriel’s in Havant Road, St Mary’s in Church End, St Stephen’s in Copeland Road and St Luke’s, which is in the High Street.

Fellow team rector Simon Heathfield said: “The Bishop of Barking and I are delighted to be able to announce this appointment. Read more

‘Suppressing the truth’ - Greg Venables on the Anglican Communion

ARCIC III: isn’t it time to bring this ecumenical farce to an end?

[...] It isn’t just that Catholics and Anglicans believe different doctrines: it’s that there is between them a fundamental difference over their attitude to the entire doctrinal enterprise. I remember very vividly, in my days as an (Anglican) clergy member of the Chelmsford Diocesan Synod, a debate on one of the ARCIC documents followed by a vote on whether to recommend to the General Synod in London that it should be accepted. The document was accepted overwhelmingly. At lunchtime, standing at the bar with a number of clergy, I asked how they had voted; they had all voted affirmatively. I then asked them if they had read the document. None of them had; and most of them, it became clear, had little idea of what it contained. “Well”, I asked, puzzled, “why did you vote for it, then?” “The point is,” one of them replied, “the important thing is unity. The RCs are frightfully keen on doctrine. You have to encourage them: so I voted for their document”. There you have it: what the late Mgr Graham Leonard, when he was still an Anglican bishop, once called “the doctrinal levity of the Church of England”. Read more

If the Left is to rise again, it must lift the official silence on race and culture

[...] The failure of successive governments to deal with what is euphemistically called "social cohesion" is precisely what leads to extremism. The complete inadequacy of particular kinds of multiculturalism is yet to be properly acknowledged. In education, for instance, many "multicultural" approaches have been entirely top-down and imposed in increasingly inept ways. The EDL can exploit ignorance and fear because in many of the places they find support different communities are still leading "parallel lives".

The EDL slogan of No Surrender, a Loyalist slogan (or just possibly the title of a Bruce Springsteen song) also tells us a lot about their roots and influences. Far-right movements will, of course, thrive during a recession. Certainly, one of the things we need to do is to understand the new right. For the left to rise again in any meaningful way, we have to deal with the concept of Englishness, and stop the official silence around race and culture. The crude stereotyping of the EDL plays into their hands. As with their Dutch counterparts, they are using a language of libertarianism, modernity and fake inclusiveness. They know what they are doing, just as Al-Muhajiroun does. Such groupings may in fact be mirror images of each other. Any anti-fascist movement cannot take on one without the other. That is indeed complicated. But any other way is indeed surrender. Read more

UP DATE TO THE MURDER OF DAVID KATO KISULE OF MUKONO

NSUBUGA Enock aka Sydney, the prime suspect in the murder of David Kato Kisuule, a gay activist was arrested yesterday at 1600hours at Nakabago in Mukono District by a team of police officers supported by crime preventers.

Kato, 48, who was a self-employed Ugandan, was attacked on 26 January, 2011 at around 2p.m at his home in Bukusa-Kyetume, Nakisunga - Mukono District.

Nsubuga, the suspect confessed to the act of murder and was taken to Mukono Magistrate’s Court for an extra- judicial statement yesterday.
According to the statement of the suspect, Nsubuga on the 25th of February 2011 negotiated with the suspect to be paid money for using him as sexual partner, but the promise was never fulfilled.

The following day which was 26th,February ,2011, Nsubuga confessed that he picked a hammer from the bathroom and hit him on the head which resulted into his death. Nsubuga, further said that he locked the house and took off with some of the items belonging to the deceased. Read more

Court bans man with low IQ from having sex

A man with a low IQ has been banned from having sex by a High Court judge who admitted the case raised questions about “civil liberties and personal autonomy”.

The 41 year-old had been in a relationship with a man whom he lived with and told officials “it would make me feel happy” for it to continue.

But his local council decided his “vigorous sex drive” was inappropriate and that with an IQ of 48 and a “moderate” learning disability, he did not understand what he was doing.

A psychiatrist involved in the case even tried to prevent the man being given sex education, on the grounds that it would leave him “confused”.

Mr Justice Mostyn said the case was “legally, intellectually and morally” complex as sex is “one of the most basic human functions” and the court must “tread especially carefully” when the state tries to curtail it. Read more

David Cameron tells Muslim Britain: stop tolerating extremists

David Cameron will today signal a sea-change in the government fight against home-grown terrorism, saying the state must confront, and not consort with, the non-violent Muslim groups that are ambiguous about British values such as equality between sexes, democracy and integration.

To belong in Britain is to believe in these values, he will say. Claiming the previous government had been the victim of fear and muddled thinking by backing a state-sponsored form of multiculturalism, the prime minister will state that his government "will no longer fund or share platforms with organisations that, while non-violent, are certainly in some cases part of the problem".

In a major speech to a security conference in Munich, he will demand: "We need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism." Read more

Bus teenager stabbed 24 times

A teenager was fatally stabbed 24 times in a frenzied knife attack by a mob of youths who ambushed him at a bus stop, detectives said tonight.

Daniel Graham, 18, died from catastrophic injuries after a 45 second attack near East Dulwich railway station, in south London, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Investigators revealed new details of the horrific attack tonight as they appealed for witnesses to help them catch at least six men responsible for the murder.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Manning, who is leading the inquiry, said officers have been met by a wall of silence among young people who attended a party before the killing.

He said: "This was a completely frenzied attack in full view of dozens of people. The attackers made no attempt to cover their faces. Daniel was stabbed 24 times.

"Witnesses described a gang raining blows on to him. Someone was hitting him with a bottle and others were kicking and punching him. Another man was described as punching him in the side.

"I went to meet his family yesterday. His mother is just deeply traumatised. I think it is almost impossible for her to take anything in." Read more

Dinner lady dismissed for revealing bullying case gets £49.99 compensation

A school dinner lady who won an appeal for unfair dismissal after revealing a case of bullying will get just £49.99 compensation because she deserved to be sacked.

Carol Hill, 60, has endured a 20-month ordeal since helping seven-year-old Chloe David, who had been tied to a fence and whipped with a skipping rope by four children.

Last month a tribunal last month upheld her complaint of unfair dismissal by Great Tey [CofE] Primary School, near Colchester.

At the remedies hearing yesterday Mrs Hill was awarded a severance package of £351.82, including £400 in back pay and compensation of £49.99.

The tribunal at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, ruled that although the school failed to carry out a satisfactory investigation before sacking her, Mrs Hill would have been dismissed for going public with the information and was therefore not entitled to compensation from Essex County Council. Read more

Dublin and the Art of Dishonest Conversation

The Dublin Primates’ meeting marks one more step along the road which is slowly but surely seeing the Anglican Communion evolve into two distinct groupings. As A. S. Haley observes ‘The takeover of the Instruments of Communion by ECUSA, aided and abetted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, is now complete’ . For instance, in sharp contrast to the ultimatum issued by the Primates after their meeting in Dar es Salaam in 2007, no word of censure or rebuke was evident in the ‘statement of purpose’ issued by the Primates on Sunday Despite the fact that just weeks before this meeting, two senior female clergy of the Episcopal Church were ‘married’ in a ceremony at Boston Cathedral.

So if the official Lambeth institutions are no longer worth fighting for, should orthodox Anglicans now simply let history take its course, get on with evangelism where they can and hope for the best? I believe not, because the Dublin meeting makes explicit a theological shift which is even more significant than the predictable institutional changes made to enhance Lambeth’s control, such as the establishment of a Primates’ Standing Committee. The essential common interest of Rowan Williams and ECUSA/TEC becomes clear, whatever their differences over the pace of change, in the closing paragraph of the Dublin Primates’ statement where they affirm that ‘In our common life in Christ we are passionately committed to journeying together in honest conversation’. Read more

Church must make women bishops, say MPs

The Government is being asked to remove the Church of England's exemption from equality laws if it does not end the bar to women being made bishops.

A group of influential MPs will tomorrow call for Parliament to intervene over the historic reform as fears grow that the Church will reject plans allowing female bishops.

The cross-party group, including former ministers Frank Field and Stephen Timms, and Simon Hughes, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, is concerned that the General Synod, the Church's parliament, may not pass legislation designed to end the glass ceiling for women clergy.

Traditionalists believe that a rise in the number of opponents of female priests to the Synod has improved their chances of blocking the law, which can only pass if it receives a two-thirds majority in the houses of laity, clergy and bishops.

Many of them feel that the current legislation does not provide sufficient concessions to those who cannot accept women as bishops.

However, Mr Field has tabled an early day motion, which could abolish the Church's current exemption from equality laws relating to gender discrimination and ultimately force it to consecrate women. Read more

Uganda Daily Monitor: Can we talk honestly about homosexuality?

David Kato, a gay rights activist who campaigned against the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, and who sued a local tabloid last year after it named him as being homosexual, was killed in his home this week.

Police say they are investigating the circumstances of his death and it is not yet clear whether this was a homophobic attack in which Mr Kato was targeted for his sexual orientation or his thoughts about the matter.
Whatever the motive behind the killing, this incident reminds us of the homophobia that is widespread in our country and society – and the deadly consequences of not dealing with it.

Homosexuality is illegal under Ugandan law and the Anti Homosexuality Bill prescribes harsher punishments, including the death penalty for sodomy.

While such legislation might serve as a deterrent, it will not eliminate homosexuality and might cement the discrimination of sexual minorities.

The homosexuality question in Uganda has two major flaws. First is that a lot of the debate is shouted down from extreme positions of moral self-righteousness; as a result there is little common understanding among those who oppose gay rights and those who advocate for them.

Secondly, a lot of the debate is carried out or influenced by foreign actors – both in favour of and against homosexuality. Read more

Archbishop condemns murder of Ugandan gay human rights activist

"The brutal murder of David Kato Kisule, a gay human rights activist, is profoundly shocking. Our prayers and deep sympathy go out for his family and friends - and for all who live in fear for their lives. Whatever the precise circumstances of his death, which have yet to be determined, we know that David Kato Kisule lived under the threat of violence and death. No one should have to live in such fear because of the bigotry of others." Read more

Can Christianity and Islam tolerate each other? A question of absolute truth...

Posted by Laurence, 07/01/2011
 

What happens when two different religions claim to know absolute truth about God?
What happens when these claims differ or oppose one another?
Can tolerance and acceptance happen successfully between the two religions?
You are invited to attend an exciting and live debate on Saturday 5th February at 7.30 pm at Gunnersbury Baptist Church.
Entrance is open to everyone and is free of charge.

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Pair charged over 'gay excution leaflet' in first British 'sexual hatred' case

Two men are due to appear in court charged with stirring up hatred due to sexual orientation in the first such case in Britain.

Razwan Javed, 30, and Kabir Ahmed, 27, are to appear before magistrates in Derby accused of handing out leaflets calling for homosexuals to be executed.

It is the first prosecution since laws outlawing homophobia came into force last March.

The pair were yesterday charged with distributing the leaflet, titled “The Death Penalty?”, outside the Jamia Mosque in Derby in July last year.

They are also accused of placing the leaflets through local letterboxes during the same month, the Crown Prosecution Service said. Read more

Anglican Communion Primates arrive in Dublin, Ireland for meeting

Primates from across the Anglican Communion arrived today at the Emmaus Retreat and Conference Centre in Dublin for the first day of their six-day Primates' Meeting.

The Primates, who are the senior bishops or archbishops of a province of the Anglican family of churches, were invited from all 38 Provinces. The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, was also invited to allow the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to fulfil his role as the President of the meeting.

Several Primates, including Archbishop Maurício José Araújo de Andrade Primate of Brazil & Bishop of Brasilia, said they were looking forward to a positive meeting.

“It is important that in this meeting dialogue continues between the different parts of the Anglican Communion,” he said. “If it is possible to sit together with different ecumenical and interfaith partners, how much more do we need to continue to sit down and dialogue with bishops from other parts of the Communion.”

The Dean of the Province of Central Africa, Bishop Albert Chama* said he believed God would enable the Primates to remain in unity and to love one another as the body of Christ. Read more

WALTHAM FOREST: Churches tight-lipped over Catholic move

SECRECY surrounds three Anglican churches in the borough which have reportedly decided to join a new branch of Catholicism - but are yet to tell their superiors of the move.

This week the Catholic Diocese of Brentwood announced that six congregations in the UK - including one in Leytonstone and two in Walthamstow - were definitely going to join its 'Ordinariate' grouping.

The new branch, which was first announced in 2009, is being established for disillusioned Anglicans following rows over issues such as women bishops, gay clergy, and same-sex blessings.

But the Church of England says it is not aware of any decision having been made by the three churches and that no priests in Waltham Forest have yet resigned.

Meanwhile the diocese of Brentwood has refused to release the names of the churches or the clergymen who are involved. Read more

Alien life deemed impossible by analysis of 500 planets

There is no hope of finding alien life in space because conditions on all other planets are too hostile, a leading astronomer has claimed.

Howard Smith, a senior astrophysicist at Harvard, made the claim that we are alone in the universe after an analysis of the 500 planets discovered so far showed all were hostile to life.

Dr Smith said the extreme conditions found so far on planets discovered outside out Solar System are likely to be the norm, and that the hospitable conditions on Earth could be unique. Read more

(Ed: But see here for somewhat 'off' astronomical reporting from the same paper!)

Frontline cop in Afghanistan reveals battle to bring law and order to badlands

AN officer policing the Afghanistan frontline has revealed a chilling epidemic of ruthless murders and sexual slavery in the country's tribal badlands.

Military policeman Billy Hayes was sent to the deadliest part of the ravaged nation to mould new recruits and build a new force to take on Taliban fanatics.

He discovered a crime-ridden wasteland littered by roadside bombs where warlords kidnapped boys for their sexual pleasures.

But his tour of duty scored a series of spectacular successes, including:

Capturing a serial killer who wiped out an entire family, including two girls aged just three and five years old. Read more

Chelmsford priests to join Catholic Church

Seven Anglican priests and 300 members of six congregations are to join a new section of the Catholic Church, the Catholic Diocese of Brentwood says.

The move involves three parishes in Essex, and three in east London.

It is the largest influx to date into the Ordinariate, which Pope Benedict established for Church of England members unhappy over issues such as the ordination of women.

Three former Anglican bishops have been appointed to lead the Ordinariate. Read more

Darlington church: We'll defect over women bishops

THE simmering row at the heart of the Church of England over women clergy boiled over last night as a North-East congregation announced it planned to defect to the Catholic church.

The congregation at St James the Great, in Darlington, is to hold a public meeting next month to discuss entering the Ordinariate – a special branch of the Catholic church for Anglicans who convert to Catholicism.

The meeting will be addressed by Father Keith Newton, former Anglican bishop of Richborough who, with two other ex-Church of England bishops, was ordained as a Catholic priest earlier this month and made head of the Ordinariate. Read more

New Bishop of Reading announced

He is the Right Reverend Andrew Proud, and is currently the area bishop of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa.

And on that issue, this is what he has written in the past:

[...] Having made a plea for openness, kindness and respect[lxvi] we still need to assert that the culture of the Church is different to the culture of the world. As the Latin American, Roman Catholic symposium on evangelisation put it, "The inculturation of faith and the evangelization of culture go together as an inseparable pair, in which there is no hint of syncretism: this is the genuine meaning of inculturation."[lxvii] The Church must not be afraid to reassert its core beliefs and values, for the sake of the Gospel, even if many in the North, watching news reports of the Lambeth Conference on their television screens, will understand it to be a debate about human rights and the right of individuals to pursue personal happiness.[lxviii] Increasingly, it looks to me, from here, that the promotion of same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly homosexual individuals, are both the desperate, last-ditch attempts by a sinking Church to stay afloat in an otherwise alien and hostile culture. That, it seems to me, quoting Christopher Clapham, is about seamanship rather than navigation; staying afloat rather than getting anywhere.[lxix] For me, his whole issue is about mission and experience has taught me that, to have an effective mission, we need to be faithful to our apostolic faith in all its fullness.

Thus, I believe that much more is at risk here than personal happiness and self-fulfilment. What is at stake is nothing less than the credibility of the Christian Gospel and of the Anglican Church itself, both of which impact upon the effectiveness of her mission. It is a simple matter of fact that the Anglican Communion is no longer the preserve of the global North. Historical precedence no longer gives those of us from the North the right to direct what the rest of the Communion shall believe or practice. The Anglican Communion is now as much their Church as ours. The voices of the global South[lxx] will make uncomfortable listening for many in the North, but we should all listen. For, as Kwame Bediako suggests, the global South might indeed be in a position to secure the future of Christianity in the North. Africa has changed my own discipleship and renewed within me the sense of call and commitment I felt as an ordinand. It is my prayer, for the sake of the land and people of my birth, that Bediako will be proved to have been right.

It’s Broken. Fix it! The Anglican Communion Institute on the Primates' Meeting

... What is the truly serious area of concern is this: the claim that, given the character of e.g. the Archbishop of Canter bury, there is nothing that can be done about the Meeting. The Archbishop of Canterbury is held to be an immovable force, impregnable and beyond challenge. The effect of this is to give him an authority virtually beyond the scale of the Bishop of Rome. A council of the church, if we are right in holding that the Primates’ Meeting is such, is not really a council and cannot be, according to this view. The will of the Primates cannot, must not, be capable of expression. The iron hand of the Archbishop of Canterbury is beyond the reach of fellow Primates. If Hilary were to appear in Dublin as the Athanasius of the West, in the very nature of the case he would have to be defeated and sent packing.

It matters little in such an understanding of the situation whether ten, one, or twenty were not to appear. If the Primates Meeting is not really a Council of the Church and if the Archbishop of Canterbury has the power to defeat any influence from those fellow Bishops whose actual leadership and authority in the Provinces is not in question, then it must be renamed. It is The Archbishop of Canterbury Meeting. And if this is the true state of affairs, will the Primates as a total body accede to this? Read more

Ex-Anglican bishops ordained as Catholics

Three former Anglican bishops, unhappy with the ordination of women, have been ordained as Roman Catholic priests at Westminster Cathedral.

Their ordination signals the inauguration of a special section of the Catholic Church for such Anglicans.

Keith Newton, Andrew Burnham and John Broadhurst will take up roles in the section known as the Ordinariate.

Father Newton has been chosen as leader of what is to be known as the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Read more

Joint Statement on the Ordinariate from the Bishops of Chelmsford and Brentwood

Dear friends in Christ,

As bishops charged with responsibility to uphold the unity of God’s church on earth
we are painfully aware of the divisions that still impair the unity that Christ longs for and for which he shed his blood. This is not just a unity within the church – though we long for this to be revealed – but a unity for all God’s people and between the families of the nations.

The church has a specific vocation to witness to this unity and it is always a cause for concern if it is threatened or damaged. Some have intimated that the introduction of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus (Personal Ordinariate in England and Wales) may present just such a challenge. We do not see it this way. We recognise that in both our communities there have been times when individuals and groups have felt it right to move from one community to another.

At the moment there are some priests and people in the Church of England who for
reasons of conscience believe that their Christian journey can best continue within the Roman Catholic Community. We give thanks for their contribution to the life of the Church of England, and we pray for the new life they will have and the gifts they will bring to the Catholic Church. But the setting up of the Ordinariate does not in any way deter us from the ultimate goal of that visible unity within the church that is Christ’s prayer and which is shared by all Christian people. Nor do we think it will be helpful if in the setting up of the Ordinariate there is confusion between the different identities of the worshipping communities. We therefore expect congregations within the Ordinariate to meet and worship in the context of their local Roman Catholic Church and form a distinct new part of that community’s witness. The worship and witness of the Church of England in the parish they have left will also continue.

Ultimately we hope that these developments will draw us closer together. During his
visit to the United Kingdom in September, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI was keen
to stress that the Ordinariate “…should be seen as a prophetic gesture that can
contribute positively to the developing relations between Anglicans and Catholics.

It helps us to set our sights on the ultimate goal of all ecumenical activity: the
restoration of full ecclesial communion in the context of which the mutual exchange
of gifts from our respective spiritual patrimonies serves as an enrichment to us all.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury has also indicated his support for close co-operation
between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church as the Ordinariate
comes into being.

We therefore also take this opportunity to re-commit ourselves to working together
for the cause of the gospel in Essex and East London, and we urge priests and people
within the Church of England who are considering joining the Ordinariate - and we
think there may be five or six such groups - to make contact with us so that during this time of transition nothing could be seen to impede our friendship, unity and mission.

Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Chelmsford
Rt Revd Thomas McMahon, Bishop of Brentwood

Former Bishop of Ebbsfleet interview with the Catholic Herald

On the Feast of the Epiphany, the former Anglican Bishop of Ebbsfleet Andrew Burnham spoke to me about his journey towards an ordinariate. He had only just been received into the Church. Today he will be ordained to the diaconate and on Saturday, he is ordained a priest. What follows is the full text of my interview with him over lunch at Brown’s, near the Oxford Oratory. Read more

Standing Committee of TEC developing resources for same-sex blessings

The 2009 General Convention of The Episcopal Church acknowledged the changing circumstances in the United States and in other nations, as legislation authorizing or forbidding marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian persons is passed in various civil jurisdictions that call forth a renewed pastoral response from this Church. In light of these circumstances, the General Convention directed the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to collect and develop theological and liturgical resources for blessing same-gender relationships. At the same time, we were asked to invite theological reflection from throughout the Anglican communion. The Commission has begun its work by articulating Theological Principles and Liturgical Principles to guide the development of resources. Read more

Third of young Japanese men not interested in sex

More than a third of Japanese males aged between 16 and 19 have no interest in or are actively averse to sex, according to a government survey.

Japan's birth rate stands at 1.21 per family, far below the rate of 2.08 babies that is required for a stable population.

As of March 2009, Japan's total population stood at just over 127 million, but that figure is projected to decline to 95 million by 2050. And if more drastic measures fail to encourage people to have sex - and hence children - then there will be a mere 47.7 million Japanese at the turn of the next century.

According to the survey of 671 men and 869 women, issued by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 35.1 per cent of men aged 16 to 19 said they are not interested in or averse to sex, more than double the 17.5 per cent of men in the previous study in 2008. Read more

Child gets Saw 3D advert banned

A TV trailer advertising the film Saw 3D has been banned after a 10-year-old complained that it was "distressing" and "inappropriately scheduled".

It began with a screaming man reaching towards the screen with a bloodied hand and featured images of saw blades.

The unnamed child saw the advert at 2029 in a break during The Gadget Show on Channel Five. Read more

The dam breaks in Portugal

... As Wolfgang Munchau wrote in the FT on Monday, the essential problem is that Spain and other Club Med states cannot both deflate to regain lost competitiveness within EMU and at the same grow fast enough to control debt dynamics. They can do one or the other, but not both at the same time.

The EU strategy is simply unworkable. It relies on hope and a prayer, and the misguided belief that the North-South imbalances are “self-correcting” to pinch from Wolfgang’s excellent column once again.

All we can do is stand back and watch in pain as the Euro-Hegelians ruin one country after another.

My sympathies to the Portuguese people who are not to blame for the foolish illusions of their governing elites. And remember, Cara Nação, this bail-out is not for you: it is for European banks exposed to Portuguese debt, just as the Irish and Greek bail-outs were in reality rescues for German, French, Belgian, Dutch, British, and Spanish lenders that ran amok during the credit bubble.
But you pay. Read more

Fury as Channel 4 teaches youngsters Kama Sutra positions in graphic 'Joy Of Teen Sex'

... Mediawach UK director Vivienne Pattison told MailOnline: 'This programme crosses the line into prurience, with graphic scenes of sex that can only be described as pornographic.

'The definition of porn is something that arouses the person watching it and the graphic nature of some scenes in this programme will doubtless do that for many viewers.'

She said another major concern was who would be watching the programme.

'The show claims to offer sex advice to under-18s but airs after the watershed. So who is going to watch it I don't know,' she said. Read more

Dambisa Moyo: without change US will almost certainly become a socialist nation

Dambisa Moyo is that rare type of person – an economist who makes waves. Her first book, Dead Aid, angered many in the charity sector by arguing that foreign aid has harmed Africa and should be phased out.

Her second, which is published in London on Thursday, accuses America and other Western powers of squandering their world economic dominance through a sustained catalogue of fundamentally flawed policies.

How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly – And the Stark Choices Ahead goes so far as to predict that the US will be a “bona fide socialist welfare state” by the latter part of this century.

“Indeed, if nothing else changes it from its current path,” writes Moyo, “it is almost certain that America will move from a fully-fledged capitalist society of entrepreneurs to a socialist nation in just a few decades.

“The trouble is, it won’t be just any socialist welfare state... the US is on a path to creating the worst and most venal form of welfare state [poorly developed and designed] – one born of desperation from many years of flawed economic policies and a society that rapaciously feeds on itself.” Read more

Anglicans heading to Rome told they can't stay in their churches

They have worshipped together for decades on the pews of their parish church. Generations of their loved ones have been baptised, married and buried there.

But now a Church of England congregation is being torn apart by the Pope's offer to welcome disaffected Anglican traditionalists into the Catholic Church.

In a vote which has split the local community and left long-standing friends on opposite sides of a growing divide, 54 parishioners at St Barnabas Tunbridge Wells have indicated that they intended to become Catholics while 18 said they would remain in the established Church.

While the Kentish churchgoers are among the first to take such a stand, congregations up and down the country will soon follow suit as worshippers and clergy weigh up whether to enter the Ordinariate, the structure set up by Pope Benedict XVI to embrace defectors from the established Church.

At St Barnabas the move towards Rome is being led by the vicar, Fr Ed Tomlinson. He believes that traditionalists who oppose the ordination of women have been badly let down by Church leaders. Read more

A Stranger in My Own Land

I have just returned to London, where, I have lived since I was 11. I have been away for four years, living as an ethnic minority in a monocultural part of the world, amassing a host of stories to tell to disbelieving friends. On the whole, I am glad to return. I shan't miss some locals' assumptions that, being a white woman, if I was outside after dark, as I occasionally was, usually to walk the few metres between my house and the church, I must be a prostitute eager to give them a blow job. I shan't miss the abuse my priest husband received: the daubing of "Dirty white dogs" in red paint on the church door, the barrage of stones thrown at him by children shouting "Satan". He was called a "f***ing white bastard" more than once, though, notably, never when in a cassock. I will also not miss the way our garden acted as the local rubbish dump, with items ranging from duvets and TV sets, to rats (dead or twitching) glued to cardboard strips, a popular local method of vermin control to stem the large numbers of them which scuttled between the rubbish piled in gardens and on pavements. Yes, I am very glad to have left Britain's second city. Read more

Christian health worker Margaret Forester faces sack over anti-abortion booklet

A Christian mental health worker is facing the sack after giving two colleagues a leaflet warning of the physical and psychological damage some women suffer after having an abortion.

Margaret Forester passed the booklet to family planning staff at the health centre where she works because she felt that the NHS was not offering patients enough information about the risks associated with terminating a pregnancy.

But Ms Forester, 39, said she was suspended from her job as a psychological wellbeing practitioner based in Westminster because managers at Central North West London Mental Health Trust disagreed with her personal beliefs.

She will appear in front of an internal disciplinary committee on Wednesday, charged with “distributing materials some people may find offensive”. Read more

Lawyers cry foul over leak of Julian Assange sex-case papers

(Ed: You do have to laugh, though.)

LAWYERS for Julian Assange have expressed anger about an alleged smear campaign against the Australian WikiLeaks founder.

Incriminating police files were published in the British newspaper that has used him as its source for hundreds of leaked US embassy cables.

In a move that surprised many of Mr Assange's closest supporters on Saturday, The Guardian newspaper published previously unseen police documents that accused Mr Assange in graphic detail of sexually assaulting two Swedish women. One witness is said to have stated: "Not only had it been the world's worst screw, it had also been violent."

Bjorn Hurtig, Mr Assange's Swedish lawyer, said he would lodge a formal complaint to the authorities and ask them to investigate how such sensitive police material leaked into the public domain. "It is with great concern that I hear about this because it puts Julian and his defence in a bad position," he told a colleague. Read more

Stockholm bomber: banned extremists recruit near Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly's Luton home

The outlawed Islamist group al-Muhajiroun is openly recruiting near the home of the suicide bomber who blew himself up on a Stockholm street last week, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

MI5 and anti-terrorist police are attempting to unravel what transformed the father of three into an extremist.

But moderate Muslims in Luton, where Iraqi-born Taimour Abdulwahab lived for almost 10 years, claim the authorities are to blame for turning a blind eye to the activities of hard-core jihadi sympathisers.

Unimpeded by the police, the group, now calling itself The Reflect Project, is accused of mounting a campaign of intimidation and violence against those who disagree with it.

The group's members are followers of the radical cleric Omar Bakri Muhammad, who is being held in jail in Lebanon on terrorism charges, and are led locally by Ishtiaq Alamgir or Sword of Islam – a former inland revenue accountant.

Earlier this year, Mr Alamgir helped to organise a protest at a homecoming parade in Luton for troops who had served in Afghanistan. The demonstration ended in violence and arrests. Read more

The British Army Blog: The silent liturgy of our farewells

In this blog, Padre Robin Richardson writes from Camp Bastion about the death of Private John Howard on 5 December.

I’m writing this entry back at Camp Bastion; I don’t get back here that often, and this time my reason for being here is a sad one. Private John Howard was killed in action this week, serving with the Brigade Reconnaissance Force and making the ultimate sacrifice in the struggle to give the people of Helmand Province, and Afghanistan, the future they’re asking for at every meeting I’ve been to. ‘If we can have security, if you can keep the Taliban away, then things will be better for us.’ I’m not a commander and I’m not a reporter or a spokesman for anyone other the Church who have loaned me to the Army, and yet I hear the same thing again and again. So, as I sit here having to accept the death of one of our bravest and best, I know that Jack (it’s how John was known) was making both a difference to the lives of people who for decades have been largely voiceless and a measurable mark in the history of ISAF’s support of the people, government and security forces of Afghanistan. Read more

Switzerland considers repealing incest laws

The upper house of the Swiss parliament has drafted a law decriminalising sex between consenting family members which must now be considered by the government.

There have been only three cases of incest since 1984.

Switzerland, which recently held a referendum passing a draconian law that will boot out foreigners convicted of committing the smallest of crimes, insists that children within families will continue to be protected by laws governing abuse and paedophilia.

Daniel Vischer, a Green party MP, said he saw nothing wrong with two consenting adults having sex, even if they were related.

"Incest is a difficult moral question, but not one that is answered by penal law," he said. Read more

Sepp Blatter: Christians new enemy of World Cup soccer

[...] It has been reported that just prior to the vote by the 22-man committee, Blatter (who does not cast a vote unless there is a tie) reminded his charges about “the evils” of the British media. A BBC show recently alleged widespread corruption in FIFA’s ranks.

The humiliating vote was a clear reprisal on Blatter’s part.

But in his reaction to English outrage, he may have overstepped.

It was one thing for him to tell the Swiss weekly magazine Weltwoche that England are “bad losers.” They are. They have every reason to be. But they still are.

It was another thing to cast this controversy in the divisive terms of race and religion.

“I really sense in some reactions a bit of arrogance of the western world of Christian background. Some simply can’t bear it if others get a chance for a change,” Blatter told the magazine in an issue that will be published Thursday.

For the record, Blatter is a western Christian. But his power-base within FIFA has always come from cliques within the developing world. Read more

Barnabas Fund Halal meat online petition

Access here.

How should Christians think about sex? Jesus take me as I am

Ed: Part of a Guardian 'Comment is Free' discussion to which I have been asked to contribute. The writer of this first piece is Stephen Tomkins, contributing editor of shipoffools.com and deputy editor of Third Way magazine.

[...] Augustine believed that this was how original sin was passed on from one generation to another. By being conceived in an act of passion, we are born damned. So, in order for the Mother of Christ to be free from sin herself, her parents were miraculously enabled to do the deed without physical pleasure. The obvious corollary is that the church should embrace in vitro fertilization as a way to create sinless humans (with complete mental willy control in men). I can't understand why it hasn't.

Not all western Christians today would take Augustine's word for all that, of course, but it's still a pretty dysfunctional spiritual heritage for us to have to deal with. Then again, secular society has the same ancestry if you go that far back, and its own sexual obsessions, though different to the churches', are evidently forbidden fruit of the same family tree.

Protestantism has escaped from much of the sex phobia of Catholicism, but not from the obsessive policing of private relationships, and putting sexual rules at the centre of right living.

If only western Christians could rediscover Augustine, and see that our whole sexual ethics is based on a man who was more scared of his plonker than he was of talking like one, and who wished he could work it like a finger puppet. Maybe we could clear away some of these obsessive regulations and get back to basics. Read more

Empty seats in Dublin as Primates opt out

AT LEAST ten Primates from the Global South are now expected to boycott the Primates’ Meeting in Dublin in January.

In a statement released on Wednesday, five African Primates, members of the GAFCON Primates’ Council, confirmed that they would not attend the two-yearly meeting. In addition, it is understood that the Primate of South-East Asia, Dr John Chew; the Primate in Jerusalem & the Middle East, Dr Mouneer Anis; and the Primate of the Indian Ocean, the Most Revd Ian Ernest, will not go to Dublin.

Furthermore it is expected that two new Primates, Presiding Bishop Tito Zavala, Primate of the Southern Cone, and the Most Revd Onesphore Rwage, Primate of Rwanda, will also boycott the meeting. Read more

BlackRock's Larry Fink predicts euro will fall to $1.20 (0.76p)

The boss of the world’s largest money manager predicts that the euro, which has been hit by fears that Ireland's financial woes could spread to Portugal and Spain, will fall 10pc to $1.20 against the dollar.

Mr Fink told the Financial Times: “The fundamental problem is most European sovereign credit is owned by the banking system. The banking system was supported by the regulators’ credit ratings of sovereign credit, so you could have bought Ireland and it had the same credit rating as Germany at one time ... that policy was clearly wrong.”

On the huge amounts of government debt that European banks now hold, he added: “You have something that was freely understood and traded and people invested in it, to something that nobody wants.” Read more

Somali-born teen arrested in US car bomb sting

A Somali-born teenager was arrested yesterday for attempting to detonate what he thought was a car bomb at a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in Oregon, US authorities said.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in connection with an alleged plot to bomb the annual event in downtown Portland, the FBI said in a statement late yesterday.

The bomb was a fake and had been provided to Mohamud as part of a long-term sting by the FBI. It also said Mohamud had been in contact with an unnamed individual overseas believed to be involved in terrorist activities.

"The threat was very real. Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale," said Arthur Balizan, a senior FBI agent in Oregon.

Agents shadowed Mohamud, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, for months and met him several times as the plot developed, officials said, adding he had told them that he had thought of waging violent jihad, or holy war, since the age of 15. Read more

Obituary: The Very Reverend Colin Slee

... Slee was an obvious choice for appointment to the provostship of Southwark Cathedral in 1994 (all provosts were restyled deans in 2000). Although the heady days of 1960s' "South Bank Religion" were long gone, Southwark retained some radical aspirations, and the unsolved problems facing the Church in the back streets of south London still demanded new and often unconventional methods.

But nothing in Slee's approach or reputation was ever likely to endear him to the diocese's wealthy Evangelical parishes in Surrey. He, in turn, candidly described this growing movement as exhibiting "a strident, partisan, doctrinaire and frequently self-righteous churchmanship that alienates and excludes seekers after the truth".

Inclusiveness should, he believed, be at the heart of the Church's life and this was reflected in the large Sunday morning congregation in Southwark Cathedral, where young and old, black and white, rich and poor, gay and straight mingled in a lively community. Read more

Bishop of Chelmsford prepares for installation ceremony

The new Bishop of Chelmsford, the Right Reverend Stephen Cottrell, is preparing to officially take up his post.

The former Anglican Bishop of Reading, who was born and raised in Leigh-on-Sea, will be installed at a ceremony in Chelmsford Cathedral on 27 November.

He will become the 10th person to lead the country's second largest diocese. Read more

Public is not realistic about terrorism, Scotland Yard chief says

In his first major speech on terrorism, Sir Paul Stephenson said most of the country remained “relatively untouched” by terrorism, despite the events of July 7.

The Met Commissioner said that had led to a “simple inability to accept the real potential for such devastating, murderous attacks.”

He said he did not want to overstate the risk but added that society had “unrealistic expectations of security” and those were “expectations that can never be satisfied.” Read more

Anglican church faces 'piece by piece dissolution', warns archbishop

Dr Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, warned of the risk of "piece-by-piece dissolution" of worldwide Anglicanism in a heartfelt personal plea today to warring factions in the Church of England.

At the opening of the church's general synod in London, he called for all parties to put aside their disputes and agree on a fresh framework for settling differences across the 70 million-strong international communion.

The synod votes tomorrow on the Anglican covenant, which has been seven years in the making, and sets the Church of England at a crucial crossroads. The church is already facing probable defections to Roman Catholicism by some priests opposed to the ordination of women bishops.

The covenant was devised in response to divisions caused by the US Episcopal Church's decision to endorse the election of the openly-gay bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, and it has to be endorsed by all 38 previously autonomous provinces of the communion across the world. The vote will be crucial as not only is the Church of England the mother church of the communion, but Williams is its spiritual head. A senior church official told the Guardian: "There is no Plan B. If this falls, the communion is in ruins." Read more

A statement from the Bishop of London regarding Bishop Pete Broadbent

See here.

Bishop suspended over Wills and Kate comment

The Queen was today spared the embarassment of coming face to face with the Church of England bishop who said William and Kate's marriage would only last seven years and decried the "nauseating tosh" surrounding the royal engagement.

Bishop Pete Broadbent, who made the remarks on his Facebook page, was this morning suspended indefinitely as bishop of Willesden, London, shortly before the Church of England General Synod - its governing body - was due to be addressed by the Queen.

News of the suspension came hours after The First Post was tipped off by a source close to the bishop that he would not be attending the Synod meeting.


Read more

Queen opens Church General Synod amid signs of change

After a special service at Westminster Abbey later, the Queen is to open the Church of England's General Synod.

The synod gets the honour of a royal inauguration because this is the established, state church and the Queen is its supreme governor.

The synod - the Church's legislative body - is the only institution outside parliament that can make laws, even if it does have to get its decisions approved by a special parliamentary committee.

One of the most important laws likely to emerge in the synod's five-year term starting on Tuesday is the introduction of women bishops.

It has already been a debate that has deeply divided traditionalists from progressives, and led some on the Catholic wing of the Church to say they will take up the Pope's offer of a place in the Roman Catholic Church.

To many outside the Church - and to some Anglicans as well - so much anguish and dispute over what they regard as a logical progression from the ordination of women priests 16 years ago is unaccountable.

But for traditionalists - from both Anglo-Catholic and Protestant backgrounds - there is something fundamental at stake. Read more

Why we waited 15 years for an Ordinariate: the inside story

On Saturday evening, I received a telephone call from a Catholic priest, formerly an Anglican clergyman, who had been one of a group of influential Anglo-Catholics (the most senior being the Rt Rev Graham Leonard, formerly Bishop of London) who in the early 90s had entered into negotiation with a group of Catholic bishops led by Cardinal Hume, on the possibility of devising a method whereby Anglicans might convert to the Catholic Church not individually, but in parish-based groups. My caller was clearly excited, having learned in more detail than has yet been published, the terms under which the Ordinariate will be set up. “They’ve given us everything we were asking for,” he said. “It’s all there.”

I had been in contact with him throughout those long-ago negotiations, about which he had kept me fully informed as each meeting took place. I kept copious notes, later confirmed by the minutes of the meetings, which were leaked to me by more than one participant. This information formed the basis of a detailed and accurate account of what had happened, which appeared in my book The Roman Option some time after the whole thing had been torpedoed by the opposition of certain English Catholic bishops, as a result of which Cardinal Hume – who in the negotiations had been entirely supportive of the Anglican negotiators – lost his nerve and withdrew his support. The scheme foundered and sank, some thought without trace. In Rome, Cardinal Ratzinger asked “what are the English bishops afraid of?” Pope John Paul asked the former Bishop Leonard: “Why are the English bishops so unapostolic?” Read more

New bishop of Chelmsford: My hopes for the Church of England in Essex

THE new Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell has been speaking of his new role and his determination to be the voice of the Christian church in Essex.

He affirms: “I am most excited by the work I can do outside the Church, even more than inside it.” Read more

Bishop 'sorry' for royal wedding rant

A Church of England bishop has apologised for a "deeply offensive" rant about Prince William's engagement.

The Bishop of Willesden, the Rt Rev Pete Broadbent, posted that he did not care about royals and gave the prince's marriage to Kate Middleton seven years.

"We need a party in Calais for all good republicans who can't stand the nauseating tosh that surrounds this event," he wrote of the wedding day.

The bishop has now apologised for the "distress" his comments caused. Read more

Catholic Church to welcome 50 Anglican clergy

Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, will reveal on Friday the Vatican's plans to welcome the departing priests - including five bishops - who are expected to be received into the Catholic Church early in the new year.

Hundreds of Anglican churchgoers will join them in the Ordinariate - a structure introduced by Pope Benedict XVI to provide refuge for those diaffected with the Church of England.

The number of worshippers who leave the Church is predicted to double as the new arrangement finally begins to take shape. Read more

Twitter joke trial: Paul Chambers loses appeal against conviction

[...] Paul Chambers, a 27-year-old accountant whose online courtship with another user of the microblogging site led to the "foolish prank", had hoped that a crown court would dismiss his conviction and £1,000 fine without a full hearing.

But Judge Jacqueline Davies instead handed down a devastating finding at Doncaster which dismissed Chambers's appeal on every count. After reading out his comment from the site – "Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!" – she found that it contained menace and Chambers must have known that it might be taken seriously.

He was also saddled with a legal bill three times higher than his original £384 with £600 costs, as the court ordered him to pay a further £2,000 legal bill for the latest proceedings. Read more

Converting Anglican bishop says papal action changed the landscape

The Anglican Bishop of Richborough told his flock that he plans to become Catholic because Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic constitution “completely changed the landscape” for Anglo-Catholics and he now believes that he must lead the way to union with the Universal Church.

Bishop Keith Newton of Richborough, England said in a pastoral letter to priests and people in the Richborough area that he will resign as bishop as of Dec. 31. He will not conduct any public episcopal services. This “difficult” decision followed much thought and prayer, he remarked. Read more

Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan 'for blasphemy'

Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old mother-of-five, denies blasphemy and told investigators that she was being persecuted for her faith in a country where Christians face routine harassment and discrimination.

Christian groups and human rights campaigners condemned the verdict and called for the blasphemy laws to be repealed.

Her supporters say she will now appeal against the sentence handed down in a local court in the town of Sheikhupura, near Lahore, Pakistan. Read more

Aussie bishop joins exodus to Catholic Church

A RETIRED Australian Anglican bishop has joined an exodus of British bishops to the Catholic Church.

David Silk, a former Bishop of Ballarat, has joined four other bishops who yesterday expressed their "dismay" and "distress" at the church's liberal direction and announced they would join the Roman Catholic Church.

In a statement yesterday, the British bishops said they believed that modern reforms, including women bishops, were "incompatible" with historic Anglicanism.

The Bishop of Fulham, John Broadhurst -- whose wife, Judy, and three of his four adult children will convert with him -- predicted lay Anglicans would flock to the Catholic Church in their thousands.

"There are lots of people interested. Some are actively looking at it," Bishop Broadhurst said. Read more

Pastoral Letter from the Bishop of Richborough

To priests and people in the Richborough Area

PASTORAL LETTER NOVEMBER 2010

RESIGNATION

I imagine most of you will already know that I have resigned as Bishop of Richborough as from 31st December and will not be conducting any public episcopal services between now and then. I will, in due course, be received into full communion with the Catholic Church and join the Ordinariate when one is erected in England, which I hope will happen early next year. This has been a very difficult decision and has not been taken without much thought and prayer over the last year. For more than 8 years I have enjoyed being Bishop of Richborough; I have particularly valued the many visits to parishes for confirmations and other occasions. I am more grateful than I can say for the warmth, friendship and support I have experienced from so many priests and faithful lay people. I did not deserve it but I thank God for all I have received from you.

I am sure it will be said that I am leaving because of the issue of the ordination of women to the episcopate. While it is true that this has been an important factor in my thinking it is not the most significant factor. The publication of the Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus, just one year ago, came as a surprise and has completely changed the landscape for Anglo Catholics. Since the inception of the ARCIC process, set up by Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey in the 1960s, most of us have longed and prayed for corporate union with the Catholic Church; union which in our own time has seemed less likely because of the new difficulties concerning the ordination of women and other doctrinal and moral issues affecting the Anglican Communion.

Although we must still pray for sacramental and ecclesial unity between our Churches that now seems a much more distant hope. The creation of Personal Ordinariates within the Catholic Church provides an opportunity for visible unity between Anglicans and the Catholic Church now, while still being able to retain what is best in our own tradition which will enrich the Universal Church. This is a hope which has been expressed many times by Forward in Faith and many others within the catholic tradition of the Church of England So I hope you will understand that I am not taking this step in faith for negative reasons about problems in the Church of England but for positive reasons in response to our Lord’s prayer the night before he died the ‘they may all be one.’

Some of you, of course, will be thinking that I am leaving just at the time when episcopal leadership for our parishes is vital. I have great sympathy with this view but there are a number of ways of understanding leadership. Some may think the leader should stay to the bitter end like the captain of a sinking ship, but the example in scripture is that of the shepherd and every instructed Christian knows the eastern shepherd leads from the front rather than following the flock from behind. This is what I hope I am doing. I am leading the way and I hope and pray that many of you will follow me in the months and the years ahead.

However, I know many of you will wish to remain in the Church of England if that is at all possible and for some they will do so whatever provision General Synod eventually adopts. For those I could not continue to be your bishop with any integrity. My pilgrimage is now leading me in a different direction and I can no longer provide the episcopal leadership you need and deserve. You need a new Bishop of Richborough who has the same vision as you have and one for whom a solution in the Church of England is a priority. My priority is union with the Universal Church.

For those whom I have let down and disappointed, I ask your forgiveness. I am only to well ware of my own failings and inadequacies but I have tried, though often failed, to be a loving and faithful bishop for you. I hope you will continue to pray for Gill and me as we take this significant step in our own Christian pilgrimage, as we will continue to pray for all of you.

May God bless you now and always,

Yours in our Blessed Lord,



+ Keith
Bishop of Richborough

Bishop of London: Bishop of Fulham will be replaced

The Bishop of London has today confirmed the arrangements following the resignation of the Bishop of Fulham and has also announced the Revd Luke Miller as the next Archdeacon of Hampstead.

In his letter to the Diocese, Bishop Richard said:

"The Bishop of Fulham has signed his resignation deed and is set to retire on December 31st after well over 40 years service in various roles within the Diocese of London.

"After consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury, I intend with the assistance of representative figures in the Diocese, to appoint a successor to the Suffragan See of Fulham. I envisage that any new Bishop of Fulham will be more closely related to me as the Bishop of London in serving the Two Cities Area. Read more

Archbishop accepts resignations of suffragan bishops of Ebbsfleet and Richborough

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, today gave the following statement in response to the resignations of the suffragan bishops of Ebbsfleet and Richborough:

"I have today with regret accepted the resignations of Bishops Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton who have decided that their future in Christian ministry lies in the new structures proposed by the Vatican. We wish them well in this next stage of their service to the Church and I am grateful to them for their faithful and devoted pastoral labours in the Church of England over many years."

The Archbishop will now set in train the process for filling the vacant sees. In the interim, arrangements have been made for pastoral care to be provided by Bishops John Ford, Mark Sowerby and Lindsay Urwin for those who formerly looked to Bishops Burnham and Newton for their episcopal support and have decided to continue ministry in the Church of England. Read here

A one-way pilgrimage to Rome

The Archbishop of Canterbury is expected to announce this week that two Church of England bishops are becoming Roman Catholics. It will be a historic moment – but it’s fair to say that, given the choice, Dr Rowan Williams would prefer not to be involved in making this piece of history.

In the past, a few bishops have converted to Rome as private individuals and everyone has politely looked the other way. They have swum the Tiber solo, as it were. This time the Anglican prelates are stepping on to a ferry sent for them by the Pope himself. The Rt Rev Keith Newton, Bishop of Richborough, and the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, Bishop of Ebbsfleet, will be the first passengers. Two other bishops, the Rt Rev John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham, and the Rt Rev Edwin Barnes, retired Bishop of Richborough, are expected to follow shortly. Moreover, Benedict XVI has made it clear that there will be space on the new vessel for any number of Anglicans who want to convert together – and, crucially, stay together once they have arrived.

Bishops Newton and Burnham are leaving to join the English Ordinariate, a new structure, similar to a diocese, created for former Anglo-Catholics. Separate Ordinariates are being formed by the Vatican for traditionalists in Scotland, America, Australia and other English-speaking countries. Read more

Essex church adopts 'rolling worship'

St Michael's Church in Galleywood reports that 2010 has been a momentous year,
with the "death" of two congregations and the launch of "Rolling Worship", in
which worship and teaching in a variety of styles is offered all Sunday
morning. Parishioners are invited to "come when they can, leave when they like"
and there is a refreshment break every 30 minutes to make coming and going
easier. Read more (pdf file)

Flying bishops' resignation announcement 'on Monday'

BRITAIN'S Archbishop of Canterbury is expected to announce the resignation of two bishops on Monday, in the first of what is feared will be a wave of departures from the Church of England by traditionalists converting to Roman Catholicism.

The Bishop of Richborough, the Right Rev Keith Newton, 58, is expected to become leader or the Anglican Ordinariate, set up to provide Catholic refuge to Anglicans who leave the Church of England over the issue of women bishops.

The Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Right Rev Andrew Burnham, 63, is also expected to join the Ordinariate, along with the Bishop of Fulham, the Right Rev John Broadhurst, who announced last month that he will be resigning at the end of the year. A fourth retired bishop, Edwin Barnes, is also expected to join the Ordinariate.

Sources said that the Ordinariate is to be launched at Pentecost next year, seven weeks after Easter. Read more

Website used by woman who stabbed MP encourages further attacks

A radical website has praised the stabbing of the MP Stephen Timms and published a list of other MPs who voted for the war in Iraq, along with details of where to buy a knife.

The website, Revolution Muslim, is hosted in Bellevue, Washington, and includes a disclaimer invoking the first amendment of the US constitution, protecting free speech.

Dame Pauline Neville Jones, the security minister, has complained to the Americans that they are allowing radical websites to be run from the US. Read more

The Rural Ministry Seminar

Via Marc Lloyd Blogspot

This is intended primarily for ministers of rural churches of any denomination, but space permitting, others are welcome.

9:30am Coffee available

10am - 4pm Tuesday 1st March 2011

Venue: Warbleton area, between Hailsham and Heathfield in the lovely Sussex Countryside (Warbleton Church Rooms, Church Hill, Warbleton, East Sussex, TN21 9BD - subject to numbers).

Cost: £5 including coffee, biscuits, soft drinks etc. & materials. Please pay on the door. Please bring a packed lunch or head to a near by pub.

Speakers / facilitators:

Rev'd David Hall is the Vicar of Danehill with Chelwood Gate nr Haywards Heath in East Sussex where he has ministered for over seven years. During this time the churches have seen significant growth, including in the music ministry and amongst children, young people and families. David is also a training incumbent supervising a curate. http://allsaintsdanehill.org.uk/. David's first degree was in Business Studies with Marketing Honours. After graduation, he joined the graduate training scheme of a top-ten public relations consultancy, before moving into a management role advising major companies on everything from consumer PR to crisis management. He has met with and learned from Christians all over the world from Africa to North America and firmly believes that small rural churches can have the ministries of large ones!

Rev'd Dick Farr was the senior minister of 3 growing rural evangelical churches for 19 years (Henham and Elsenham with Ugley in the Diocese of Chelmsford on the north Essex Hertfordshire border from 1990 - 2009) working with an ordained and lay team. http://www.heuchurch.co.uk/index.html He is currently the Associate Vicar at St John's, Tunbridge Wells. http://www.stjohnstw.org/
Please spread the word.

Please email me (marc_lloyd@hotmail.com) if you are interested in attending. Booking is essential. Places may be limited.

Please let me know if there are particular issues / questions you would like to see addressed. I will let the speakers know in advance and we will try to cover as many as possible.

Practical and theological issues will be discussed. Sessions will include material on Understanding The Rural Context Today and Ministering in a Rural Context Today as well as considering the particular challenges and opportunities of life and work in the countryside and of being responsible for more than one church building / congregation etc.

There will be some substantial plenary input but also lots of time for comments, questions, discussion and real interaction etc.

Other events may be planned in the future if there is an interest in some kind of on-going group / regular meeting.

Watch this space for more details.

Chelmsford FCA Meeting: Anglicans, by Accident or Design?

About 80 clergy and laity gathered for second public meeting of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in St.Peter’s Church, Harold Wood.

The vicar there, David Banting, emphasised the meeting began with lunch to stress the ‘FELLOWSHIP’ side of our unity. So time was given to a great lunch as friendships were formed or deepened.

Our unity as a group ‘confessing’ shared orthodoxy was then fostered by 3 speakers that represented the Anglo-Catholics, Charismatics and Conservative Evangelicals.

Ed Tomlinson described his move from an Evangelical position into Anglo-Catholicism. His Father was SAMS missionary, but his convictions took him towards Rome. His decision to join the Ordinariat will complete that journey. Ed hinted he thinks the differences between Anglo-catholics and others are too great (in areas like sacraments, authority and priesthood) to allow unity. He sees the only future for Anglo-Catholics is to join him and leave the Church of England.

Simon Coupland’s father was an URC minister. Simon was attracted to the CofE because it was more ‘congregational’ (in every-member ministry)! He also loves the ‘connectedness’ of churches within the denomination (esp ‘New Wine’ networking), and the way it encourages a commitment to others (i.e. everyone in the parish). He sees the need for involvement in politics, but personally prefers to
leave that to others.

Jonathan Fletcher spoke of his conversion to Christ and of his subsequent choice about what sort of Evangelical he would be. He wanted to be an Anglican one because of Cranmer’s clarity on the authority of Scripture, and on penal substitution. He said the 39 Articles avoid fudge. He urged those who hold onto our historic faith to simply call ourselves ‘Anglican’.

Overall it was a day that reflected the strengths and weaknesses of this new Fellowship. Ed’s hopes that all Anglo-Catholics will go with him will not suit everyone. Even if some wanted to change, their churches would not. The strength of CFCA is that it will provide a place for catholics to be valued. Jonathan said they’d been treated awfully in the past. Simon’s awareness that joint action is important, is a boost to a Fellowship that is
setting up for team work. But a ‘let someone else do it’ approach can also be a weakness. Jonathan’s encouragement to ‘pray for the impossible and to plan for eventualities’ puts fuel into the engines of this fellowship. We may next need to consider how to draw together a membership (as opposed to a mailing list). We can then continue to enjoy fellowship (meals with everything), and furthering orthodoxy to the glory of Jesus.

Mike Reith

Wallace Benn's 'January 1939' speech

Chelmsford cleric "happy and content" after sham marriage applications dry up

THE rector of a church in Tilbury once besieged by a “flood of sham marriages” says there hasn’t been a trickle since he enlisted the help of the UK Border Agency.

Father Tim Codling, of St John the Baptist Church, Dock Road, told the authorities that he believed a marriage of two foreign nationals he was due to conduct in August was fake.

They set up a sting and stormed the wedding on August 25, arresting five people, including the bride and groom.

Three months on Father Tim has nothing but praise for the UK Border Agency and Essex Police, but the diocese of Chelmsford is a different matter.

He said: “The support we have had from the UK Border Agency and Essex Police, both secular organisations, has been phenomenal, they have kept us fully up to date.

“The church is seen as a caring organisation, after the sting we requested a meeting with the bishop at the earliest opportunity “Sadly the earliest opportunity isn’t until November 28, I’ll let people draw their own conclusions from that.” Read more

MP Stephen Timms stabbed 'in revenge for Iraq war'

(Ed: Looks like Timms was a victim of what has been called 'Sudden Jihad Syndrome')

A woman stabbed Labour MP Stephen Timms twice at a constituency surgery in revenge for his vote for the Iraq war, the Old Bailey has heard.

The Labour MP for East Ham said he thought Roshonara Choudhry wanted to shake hands when she smiled before lunging at him in Newham on 14 May.

Miss Choudhry told police she wanted "to get revenge for the people of Iraq", prosecutors said.

The 21-year-old is accused of attempted murder and having an offensive weapon. Read more

Fulcrum: Framing the Anglican Covenant: Trick or Treat? A Response to Inclusive Church and Modern Church

The propaganda on the Anglican covenant produced by Inclusive Church (IC) and Modern Church (previously MCU) and published in the church press reveals a most frightening development in contemporary Anglicanism. Two of the Church of England groups most associated with an appeal to reason have demonstrated themselves to be incapable of reasoned argument. They have also revealed themselves so hermeneutically challenged when faced with a relatively simple and short text whose contemporary context is well known that, did I not know some of the groups’ leaders, I would conclude they were deliberately misrepresenting the situation and framing false charges just in order to rally their troops and engender fear in those relatively uninformed of the covenant’s background and content.

The advertisement’s distorted account of the covenant brought to mind Mrs Thatcher’s perception of Europe as described in Geoffrey Howe’s famous resignation speech - a “nightmare image...conjured up by my right hon. Friend, who seems sometimes to look out upon a continent that is positively teeming with ill-intentioned people, scheming, in her words, to "extinguish democracy"”.

We are presented with a vision of the covenant as an oppressive mechanism which will be used against us by such dangerous elements as “neo-Puritans” and “Anglicans in other parts of the world”. It has allegedly “been kept so quiet” because it will “impose restrictions on any future church developments which another province opposes”, “make the Church of England subject to an outside power for the first time since Henry VIII” and “subordinate” General Synod to “new centralised authorities” in order to “make Anglicanism more dogmatic” instead of “Classic Anglican theology’s balance of scripture, reason and tradition”.

Every one of these claims and every answer to the seven questions IC & MCU ask is flawed, at best incomplete, often simply erroneous. Read more

Police given advice on arresting witches and pagans

It is Hallowe'en and the witching hour is drawing nearer, but don't be alarmed – police officers are on the case, having been issued with official guidance on how to deal with witches.

The advice is contained in a 300-page "diversity handbook" which gives officers a range of "dos and don'ts" when approaching followers of a range of religions and other beliefs, from atheism to Zoroastrianism.

Instructions include avoid touching a witch's "Book of Shadows", which contains their spells, or handling their ceremonial dagger.

The online handbook also advises officers not to jump to conclusions if they encounter a situation where a blindfolded, naked person is tied by their hands – they could merely have stumbled upon a pagan ritual, where such activities are normal practice. Read more

Investigation reveals thousands of bogus church weddings may have taken place

Thousands of bogus weddings may have taken place in Anglican ceremonies throughout the country, an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has uncovered.

One vicar said he had been instructed by the Church to conduct marriages even after he warned officials that he believed they were bogus.

A senior Government source accused Church officials of failing to take sufficient steps to stop bogus marriages, which can grant foreigners the right to stay in Britain and claim benefits.

The investigation found that the issuing of marriage licences, required for foreigners to marry in church, has almost trebled in five years. Church figures show that the number of common licences issued rose from 1,650 in 2004 to 4,632 last year. Read more

Chelmsford Cleric accuses Church leaders of ignoring his warnings over sham marriages

Waiting for the bride at the altar, Fr Tim Codling began to realise that something wasn't quite right when he saw her at the back of the church pulling her wedding dress out of a black bin-liner.

In full view of everyone present, she proceeded to change into the dress. It became clear it was twice her size as she walked down the aisle, struggling not to trip over it and with the sleeves hanging down to her knees.

As she stood next to the groom, there was not only an obvious lack of affection, but more alarmingly a complete lack of recognition.

"It was as if they'd never met each other before," says Fr Codling, rector of St John the Baptist in Tilbury, Essex.

"Looking back now, I realise that they probably hadn't."

The wedding was one of dozens of marriages at his church that he believes were part of a scam designed to allow immigrants to gain British citizenship. Read more

Pagans celebrate Halloween as part of the country’s newest religion

In a riverside meadow in the Dorset town of Weymouth, a witch is using a broom to sweep a sacred circle in the grass.

The rest of the coven stand, some in hooded gowns, in a circle around an iron cauldron where a fire is burning.

They've met to celebrate Samhain, pronounced "sah-wen": the turning of the year from light into dark.

Many think of Halloween as a time of ghouls and ghosts, and for some retailers it has become the third most lucrative event of the year.

It is the time of year when some churches remember the souls of the departed.

For the witches of Weymouth it is one of their most important religious festivals, a time when they believe the barriers between the physical and spiritual worlds are at their thinnest.

They invite the spirits of north, south, east and west into the circle, and cut apples to share with the spirits of people who have died. Read more

Is Halloween Evil?

[...] Sure it is, if it involves the glorification (or, worse, the trivialization) of things satanic, and playing nasty pranks on neighbours who simply forgot to pick up a bag of sweets earlier in the day. Beyond that, a community dress-up involving opening our doors to each other and giving sweets to kids in fancy dress is a lovely idea. It might even build friendships in a society hungry for community.

For my part, I am sad that Halloween no longer has much to do with honouring the faithful departed and learning from their example. But that shouldn’t stop believers from making it so. The Anglican Book of Common Prayer of 1662 has the perfect Halloween prayer: “And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear; beseeching thee to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom.”

One last thing. I’m not sure that Christmas in the wider Australian context is any more pleasing to the Almighty? If there are grades of sins, I reckon the Aussie worship at the shopping mall in the build up to Christmas and the consequent neglect of the poor until we’ve paid off the credit card are much more ‘satanic’ than allowing our kids to dress up as goblins. And what is a goblin, anyway? Read more

Haunted houses: Got ghosts? A little daily exorcise should help

[Ed: Note at the bottom in the list of "What to do if you think you've got ghosts", Ask the vicar Most dioceses have a designated house-cleanser (oh, all right, exorcist). If yours hasn’t, contact the Church of England (020 7898 1000)]

The scene is a dark basement in an 18th-century town house, built on the site of an ancient monastery, within the walls of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

A couple is busy doing routine DIY tasks, when suddenly they put down their tools. A cacophony of banging is coming from upstairs. And that’s strange, because there’s no one else living in the house.

“At first, we thought the noise must be coming from next door,” says Cate McKeon. “Then we realised it was coming from our kitchen.

“So we ran upstairs, and when we got to the kitchen, we found the cupboard doors, about a dozen of them, all standing open at right angles. Yet they had been closed when we went down to the basement. It was inexplicable.” Read more

Muslim man told Skype divorce joke stands

The ruling, made in an online fatwa by the Darul Uloom Deobandi seminary in northern India, regarded as one of Islam's leading authorities on religious law said that the woman would have to first marry another man before she could remarry her first husband.

The man, from Qatar, wrote to the seminary following his Skype joke to seek clarification.

"Jokingly typed 'talak, talak, talak' (I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee) to my wife on Skype chat. I don't understand Islam very much and did not know about how talaq works. We love each other very much and want to be together but right now [we are] caught in this thing. Want to know a way out," he wrote.

His hopes of a "way out" were dashed when the seminary issued a fatwa confirming his wife must first remarry another man, consummate the marriage, and then divorce him before she could be allowed to remarry her first husband. Read more

Chelmsford Diocesan Evangelical Association meeting, Saturday 30th October 2010

Science, psychology and same-sex attraction: what does the research actually say?

Meadgate Church, Meadgate Avenue, Great Baddow, Chelmsford, CM2 7LJ

Saturday 30 October: 10.00 to 1.00

Coffee from 9.30, please bring a packed lunch. Non-members: £3.00.

Glynn Harrison is emeritus professor of psychiatry at Bristol University. 'Evidence' from scientific studies is quoted in debates about human sexuality. We will look at how it is used and misused on all sides of the debate and ask how insights from biology and psychology can be integrated within an orthodox Christian framework for the ordering of human sexual desire.

Who won the General Synod elections and what hope for women bishops?

[...] There are still a large number of issues to be thought about and resolved. We still need a more thorough debate on theology, and indeed on Reform’s claims that the opposition is from scriptural grounds. (Other evangelicals strongly disagree.) But to decide so far ahead of time how you will vote on a measure which has not been presented in a final form, suggests an incapacity or unpreparedness to listen and debate. For if minds are already made up along party lines, even on issues we have not yet discussed, then what is the point of Synod? All we would need to do is to assemble the tribes and count the numbers.

In fact, in my own twenty–three years as a member of General Synod, this is not what happens. The real work goes on in the interaction of those who disagree, in the exposure of people to views and outlooks which are different from their own. It is in the readiness to hear the Bible through the presentations of others that understanding is developed. It is in the listening and weighing up of the argument where decisions are best made. It is in the openness with which we concede that none of us has the whole truth, for that belongs to God alone, that humility and generosity begin to flourish. Read more

Facing the axe: Diocese that has twice as many Muslim worshippers as Anglicans

A historic Church of England diocese where Muslim worshippers outnumber Anglican churchgoers by two to one is set to be scrapped.

According to sources, the Dioceses Commission is drawing up proposals to axe the cash-strapped Diocese of Bradford in Yorkshire and merge it with neighbouring Ripon and Leeds.

Some are pressing for both dioceses to be subsumed into the adjoining Diocese of York, to create a ‘superdiocese’ under Archbishop of York John Sentamu, the Church’s second-most powerful leader.

The first major shake-up of dioceses for almost 100 years could also see senior ­bishops replaced by lower-paid juniors, and ­millions of pounds shaved off central administration costs.


Read more

An ungodly row: Dawkins sues his disciple

Josh Timonen was one of a small coterie of young protégés around Richard Dawkins, sharing his boss's zealous atheism. But now he and the evolutionary theorist have fallen out spectacularly. Professor Dawkins's charity has accused Mr Timonen of embezzling hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The two atheists had become close in recent years, with Dawkins, the best-selling author and Emeritus Professor of Biology at Oxford University, even dedicating his latest book, The Greatest Show on Earth, to him. But Mr Timonen and the Dawkins foundation are now preparing for a legal wrangle.

The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, has filed four lawsuits in a Californian court alleging that Mr Timonen, who ran its online operation in America, stole $375,000 (£239,000) over three years. It is claiming $950,000 in damages, while Mr Dawkins is suing him for $14,000 owed to him personally. Mr Timonen strongly denies the allegations. Read more