Culture

Divorce and remarriage: Catholic crisis, chaos, conspiracy, or just contextual theology?

October 25, 2015
Archbishop Cranmer
403 Comments

The fallout from the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church (aka 'Synod on the Family') has been considerable. Whatever the reported outcome, we are exhorted to look not to the letter,…

Bishop of Chelmsford repudiates episcopal "talent pool"

October 1, 2015
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It was a glorious sermon, with an audacious, if not subversive (which some may call prophetic) intervention on the Church of England's emerging "talent pool" approach to recognising bishops.…

Corbyn's moral mission for a kinder, more inclusive politics

September 30, 2015
185 Comments

A bit doddery and oafish, Jeremy Corbyn stumbled and stammered through his first Conference speech like a 1950s grey-bearded puritan. He was robed in a bright red tie, though…

"I'm not sure I believe in God, but I'll take Pope Francis over Richard Dawkins any day"

September 28, 2015
178 Comments

Chris Deerin was a "devout Catholic, altar boy.. (who) wanted to be a priest". That's nice. Sadly (or fortunately, whichever side you're on), he is devout no more. He…

White trash? Court rules that white girls are worth less than Asians

September 18, 2015
129 Comments

Paedophilia, molestation, rape, grooming, 'white trash'.. Stories abound of the gangs of Asian (usually Pakistani) men preying on young white girls, believing them to be somehow worth less than…

Assisted Dying: Canon Rosie Harper condemns "extreme and emotive claims" of "a certain section of believers"

September 11, 2015
409 Comments

The Archbishop of Canterbury couldn't be any clearer: 'MPs must not take risks with the lives of vulnerable people', he writes in the Evening Standard. He is unequivocal, too,…

Cameron declares war on British Jihadists

September 8, 2015
419 Comments

"Today, I can inform the House that in an act of self-defence and after meticulous planning, Reyaad Khan was killed in a precision airstrike carried out on 21 August…

Archbishops clash over crushing ISIS and right-to-die compassion

September 6, 2015
150 Comments

The Church of England is all over the place today. Indeed, one headline seems almost purposely designed to degrade the other. In the red corner we have Archbishop Justin…

Evangelism threatened by counter-extremism measures

August 28, 2015
107 Comments

The Evangelical Alliance has been surveying Evangelicals. 1,730 of them, to be precise. And it transpires that four out of five of them think government policies to tackle extremism…

The apocalypse of Islam and the signs of the times

August 26, 2015
189 Comments

The Temple of Baalshamin predated Mohammed by six centuries. It was a cultural jewel in the Syrian desert, revealing to the world a glimpse of the pre-Islamic religions of…

Mohammed, not Oliver, is UK's most popular baby name for boys

August 18, 2015
150 Comments

According to the Office for National Statistics, 6,649 baby boys were named Oliver last year, making it the most popular baby name for boys born in the UK. This…

If the BBC is "our cultural NHS", it's another state religion

July 18, 2015
32 Comments

According to Shadow Culture Secretary Chris Bryant, the BBC is the nation’s "cultural NHS". He said it to the Royal Television Society, and wrote it for HuffPo UK. And…

Married at First Sight? Channel 4 make marriage a throwaway commodity

July 11, 2015
150 Comments

Over Channel 4’s 33-year history there has been a whole range of programmes which have found their way into the nation’s hearts. Where would many of the older generation…

Communicating truth in a “dictatorship of relativism"

May 29, 2015
570 Comments

Cardinal Raymond Burke preached this week in Oxford against the “dictatorship of relativism” which brands Christians “fundamentalists and extremists”. The Tablet recounts: Quoting the Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Burke…

The turban was made for man, and not man for the turban

May 18, 2015
177 Comments

The story has gone viral and circled the world. Harman Singh, 22, of South Aukland, New Zealand, was lounging around at home when he heard the screech of car…

We must fight harder for vulnerable, abused and neglected children

May 10, 2015
288 Comments

This is a guest post by Dr Krish Kandiah – President of the London School of Theology and founding director of Home for Good, a new fostering and adoption charity.…

Blukip: why doesn't the Right show a bit more love?

April 21, 2015
150 Comments

Can you imagine Norman Tebbit, Simon Heffer, Nigel Farage and Peter Hitchens indulging in a group hug? No? Too macho? Okay, let's feminise it. How about Margaret Thatcher, Ann…

#PastoralLetter (4): sowing old seeds cannot produce "new politics"

March 28, 2015
191 Comments

Having responded to the Preface of the Pastoral Letter from the House of Bishops “to the people and parishes of the Church of England for the General Election 2015″;…

The Church of England exists for all people – not just Christians

March 20, 2015
177 Comments

According to Bishop Lesslie Newbigin, "there is not and cannot be a gospel which is not culturally embodied". He maintained that the missionary task of the Church is to…

Non-Christian faith schools are "straining the State educational system to breaking point"

March 17, 2015
126 Comments

In his Lyndwood Lecture delivered to the Ecclesiastical Law Society last December, former Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC MP made a potent case for the continuing Establishment of the…