Christianity

Hounding Tim Farron about gay sex deflects from LibDem vote to abolish faith schools

While the Christian leader of the Liberal Democrats was being harassed and hounded day after day by liberal metropolitan journalists to pronounce on whether he believed homosexual acts were sin (which belief would surely be a mortal sin against liberal…

Michael Gove sugar-coats Jesus and preaches fake good news

April 18, 2017
249 Comments

This is a guest post by the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden, former Chaplain to the Queen, who is presently in the (complicated) process of leaving the Church of England. ___________________________…

Julia Hartley-Brewer: it’s “bloody stupid beliefs” like prayer which help create acts of terrorism

March 23, 2017
447 Comments

Even as Tobias Ellwood MP was trying to get the blood to flow once again through PC Keith Palmer's heart, tweets of blame and judgment were flying about like a…

The Real Easter Egg and Sainsbury’s unreal stock-check

March 21, 2017
108 Comments

It was kind of Steven at Sainsbury's to offer to check their stock of The Real Easter Egg at their store in Canterbury, following yesterday's revelation that Sainsbury's don't, in…

Discrimination and discernment: an exercise in relativist supremacy

March 13, 2017
313 Comments

This is a guest post by the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden, former Chaplain to the Queen. ___________________________ In the great amphitheatre of Twitter a gladiatorial combat recently took place between…

Philip North crisis: ‘Good Disagreement’ has become ‘bad bullying’

March 11, 2017
308 Comments

This is a guest post by the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden, former Chaplain to the Queen. ___________________________ When the house that has been painstakingly constructed on the sand falls flat,…

Sex and the Church: how does a “radical new Christian inclusion” differ from the world’s?

February 16, 2017
382 Comments

You know that church that's seemingly in crisis and turmoil? Well, today it'll carry on praying, worshipping, visiting the ill and bereaved, loving one another... (and re-stocking food-banks). And it'll…

The Church of England should not tear itself apart over homosexuality and same-sex marriage

February 14, 2017
896 Comments

The General Synod of the Church of England is due to 'take note' (or not) of the Bishops' report ‘Marriage and Same Sex Relationships after the Shared Conversations.’ In the…

Simony, syncretism or sacred service? Canterbury Cathedral to host Freemasons’ celebration

February 12, 2017
509 Comments

Canterbury Cathedral is to host a service on Saturday 18th February exclusively (if not quite secretively) for Freemasons. The Dean, the Very Rev'd Dr Robert Willis, who may or may…

Shared conversations: some came to seek truth; others to conquer. Why can’t we just be kind?

February 5, 2017
584 Comments

Commenting on the Bishops' statement Marriage and Same Sex Relationships after the Shared Conversations ("a gamma minus piece of drafting if ever there was one"), Canon Professor Mark Chapman prophesies…

Same-sex marriage: what does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?

February 2, 2017
541 Comments

This is a guest post by the Rev'd Dr Gavin Ashenden, sometime Chaplain to the Queen. ___________________________ ‘Archbishop Cranmer’ has written a balanced and generous analysis of the House of…

Trump and torture: you don’t fight Islamist fire with the embers of Christian virtue

January 26, 2017
460 Comments

President Donald Trump wants to keep his country safe from Islamist terrorists. He'd also like to destroy ISIS and wipe them off the face of the earth. In pursuit of…

Vegetarianism a protected belief? How can a quango ignore the will of Parliament?

January 23, 2017
285 Comments

At the end of last year, without much fanfare, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued Religion or belief: a guide to the law. It's the helpful kind of…

Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden resigns as Chaplain to the Queen

January 22, 2017
225 Comments

After a conversation instigated by officials at Buckingham Palace, it is with regret that the Rev'd Dr Gavin Ashenden – theologian, academic, columnist and occasional contributor to this blog –…

Archbishops call on Queen to repent of being Supreme Governor of the Church of England

January 18, 2017
500 Comments

In this 500th anniversary year of an obscure monk called Martin Luther banging his 95 Theses onto the door of Castle Church in Wittenburg, the event which history marks as…

Qur’an in the Eucharist? The Provost of Glasgow Cathedral subverts Christian revelation

January 12, 2017
722 Comments

This is a guest post by the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden, Chaplain to the Queen. __________________________ I have just returned from Paris where I was invited to be part of…

The establishment of the Church of England and the Christian Monarchy flourish together or fall together

December 28, 2016
387 Comments

This is a guest post by the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden, Chaplain to the Queen. __________________________ One of the many reasons I like twitter is for the jokes. “Why should…

Nurse sacked for offering to pray with patients? Draconian, but not persecution

December 11, 2016
434 Comments

To read that Sister Sarah Kuteh has been sacked by Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent, for the crime of offering to pray with her patients, is a cause of…

Will Theresa May restore religious liberty by adopting reasonable accommodation?

December 6, 2016
284 Comments

Theresa May is an Anglican, and her faith appears to be sound and secure (ie, it doesn't fade in and out like Magic FM in the Chilterns). A few articles…

Red Wednesday: Houses of Parliament turn to blood in honour of those who suffer for their faith

November 23, 2016
163 Comments

The Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral will be all be lit up red this evening to remember those who are persecuted or killed for their beliefs. The…