Pope Francis: God willed the Reformation and the Church of England
Pope Francis went to Abu Dhabi this week to meet the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, which is good and pleasant. No doubt the Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church…
Protestantism
Royal Assent: Crown neutrality on Brexit is unsustainable
The last time Royal Assent was withheld from a parliamentary bill was in the wake of the union of England and Scotland in 1707/8, when Queen Anne declined to support the Scottish Militia Bill. And she did so on the…
Catholic Herald stokes sectarianism with ‘Heretic of the Week’
The Catholic Herald runs a column called 'Heretic of the Week'. It hasn't been running for many weeks, which is probably why it isn't that widely known, but a recent…
Catholic Herald calls for disestablishment of the Church of England
The Catholic Herald has long held a certain antipathy toward the term 'Protestant', with occasional blurts of 'bigot' aimed at anyone so obtuse as to be duped by its theology…
Death penalty: Pope Francis hasn’t changed the teaching; he just ‘developed doctrine’
One of the more curious aspects of Roman Catholic apologetics is its inability to answer certain specific questions to which it should have ready answers: 1. What is the content…
Ofsted chief says they have ‘no anti-faith bias’, but does she have anti-Protestant leanings?
Ofsted Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman gave a speech yesterday evening entitled 'The Ties that Bind', which concerned the need for a little more 'muscular liberalism' in education. She spoke at…
Identity politics in the Church is just sectarianism writ small
It all began last week with a tweet from the always provocative and interesting Canadian academic Jordan Peterson. Listening to the constant denigration of the intelligence of those who support…
Bishop of Liverpool slams ‘so-called Evangelicals’, and so condemns himself
The term 'Evangelical' as applied to Christians has a long and well-chronicled heritage. In 1525, William Tyndale explained in his Doctrinal Treatises (p8): "Evangelion (that which we call the gospel)…
Reformation 500: Vatican postage stamp commemorates Luther and Melanchthon
The Vatican has issued a postage stamp to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. At the foot of the cross, Martin Luther holds the Bible (the fons et origo…
Reformation 500: we are all Protestants now
‘Reformation’ is an awkward word; so, of course, is ‘Protestant’. Both terms convey a sense of theological unity or ecclesial uniformity wrapped in a righteous evangelical zeal, when, in fact,…
Theological illiteracy: 46% of Protestants think it’s okay to worship idols
Talk about theological illiteracy: the recent YouGov poll asking whether the 10 Commandments are still widely considered important principles to live by yielded some data of jaw-dropping incredulity. There's no…
England has defeated religious fanatics in the past, and will do so again
When in 1587 Pope Sixtus V began conspiring with King Philip II of Spain in 'The Enterprise of England', it was the world's most powerful religious leader giving his blessing…
Church of England schism: a timely new reformation or tit-for-tat boundary pushing?
On 31st October 1517, an obscure Catholic monk called Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints', the Castle Church in Wittenberg, protesting at the sale…
Archbishops call on Queen to repent of being Supreme Governor of the Church of England
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…
Church denounces Austria’s ‘far-right’ Norbert Hofer for campaign poster invoking God
Norbert Hofer is the presidential hopeful of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) in the forthcoming election (which is being re-run in December owing to previous electoral irregularities). The Freedom…
Giles Fraser backs Brexit – and the liberal elite sneer at him for it
The Rev'd Dr Giles Fraser is one of the very few Church of England clergy who has publicly declared that he wants the UK to leave the EU. It…
Owen Paterson: Cameron has "lost touch" with the counties, and will most likely lose his head
"The further you go from London, the stronger the feeling is," said former Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, speaking of England's deep strains of Euroscepticism. "I do get the slight…
The Woolf Institute is wrong: Christianity is needed in public life now more than ever
This is a guest post by Will Jones who holds a PhD in Political Philosophy from the University of Reading and a diploma in Biblical Studies from Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He currently works…
Is the Pope Anglican?
The American Spectator isn't at all happy with the "liberal" Pope Francis and his "caricaturing of conservatives". That's Roman Catholic traditionalists, as opposed to the GOP-type conservative. "Under the…
Time to forgive Guy Fawkes?
"Guy Fawkes should be forgiven because he has become a ‘global brand’, says headmaster of Catholic plotter's old school." That's a summary of an inept piece in the Telegraph…