Would Worcester College Oxford apologise for hosting the Pope?
Worcester College Oxford is among the fairest of the University. Founded in 1714, some of its buildings date back to 1283, when there was a Benedictine abbey on the site.…
Assisted Dying
Euthanasia: New Zealand Catholic Bishops make priests complicit
Euthanasia (/Assisted Dying/Assisted Suicide) is now legal in New Zealand. If you want to die there today, there is now someone to help you along your way with all the compassion and kindness of the law. The crucial vote took…
Daniel Finkelstein: opponents of assisted dying are ‘radicals’
In his Times article today, Daniel Finkelstein insists that to legalise assisted dying (/suicide) would be "a small change"; a very modest development; a necessary and popular incremental reform. As…
Former archbishops split on assisted suicide, and there’s no Anglican via media
In the red corner is George, Lord Carey of Clifton, Archbishop of Canterbury 1991-2002. He favours the legalisation of assisted suicide (or assisted dying, if you prefer) because "there is…
What if Nottingham University were right to ‘cancel’ its Catholic chaplain?
TRIGGER WARNING: The following blog post includes a discussion of the harsh treatment experienced by a Roman Catholic chaplain, and issues of religious liberty, common sense and Christian compassion. Its…
Does ‘Dignity in Dying’ really give people a dignified death?
Theos have produced a new report: Dignity at the End of Life: What’s Beneath the Assisted Dying debate? This is a guest post by its author, Andrew Grey. _______ Assisted…
Archbishop’s political adviser role advertised exclusively in Guardian and Economist
In the continuous stream of church life, things occasionally niggle. Some are easily shaken off with the passing of time, but others recur like an irritating charismatic leitmotif, keeping alive…
Right to Life: where do the Party Leaders currently stand?
Lord Alton has done a useful (and very interesting) bit of digging on how the current party leaders have voted over recent years on a series of Right to Life…
How to Die: BBC "sensitively" screens assisted suicide, so why not broadcast an abortion?
How To Die: Simon’s Choice was filmed over the last few months of Simon Binner's life, following his diagnosis of motor neurone disease, all set against the backdrop of…
Dignity in Dying and the callous indignity of their spin
How many of us breathed a big sigh of relief when the voting results for the Assisted Dying (No.2) Bill were announced? Those in the know were expecting a…
Assisted Dying: Canon Rosie Harper condemns "extreme and emotive claims" of "a certain section of believers"
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,…
Dignity in Dying tell clergy to promote assisted suicide this Sunday
According to the rules of etiquette, it is best not to discuss politics or religion in polite company. You can probably add the subject of death to that, too.…
Assisted dying? Suicide courts, not doctors, will judge the merits of your death
This iniquitous Bill refuses to die. It keeps re-emerging like a Godzilla sequel; forever coming back like the proverbial bad penny – unwanted, unpleasant, unfortunate. We are told that…
The cult of Comrade Corbyn
A cult is a small, unpopular religion. A religion is a large and fashionable cult. When the disesteemed and shunned become desirable and popular, there follows respect, if not…
Assisted suicide and the unbearable indignity of the insupportable life
"I can't take this anymore," said Chantal Sebire (left), as the cancerous bulge ate into her nasal cavity and gnawed at her brain, robbing her of sight, taste and…
Canon Rosie Harper on the "good girl guides" who have been consecrated bishop
"We haven't had anyone from left field," said the left-field Canon Rosie Harper to the left-field BBC, as two wonderful, gifted women were consecrated bishop by the Archbishop of Canterbury…
Norman Lamb's tactics prove only Farron deserves to be LibDem leader
By this weekend 61,000 LibDem members should have received their leadership ballot papers. It’s a straight shootout with the prize of either dragging the party back from the precipice…
"What ceremony else?" Church of England to reform burial of suicides
"What ceremony else?" cries Laertes in Hamlet, as his dead sister Ophelia is buried to a single tolling bell with a meagre liturgy, as all suspected suicides used to…
Lord Carey is wrong to support state-sanctioned assisted suicide
Apparently the UK is "closer than ever" to introducing legislation which will permit the terminally ill to end their lives at a time and place of their choosing. Lord…
Clampdown on Twitter Trolls who 'vigorously' express an opinion
Trolling used to have a clear definition. In the OED, it still does, and we're not talking about the leisure pursuits of cave-dwelling giants or the domestic dawdling of…