Enforced Sabbatical: Rest and Be Thankful
This is the 17th contribution to His Grace’s emergency team ministry during the coronavirus pestilence. The author wishes to be known that he is a feckless waster saved by grace.…
Creation
The Order of St Michael and St George: a racist Royal honour, or just apocalyptic dualism?
As the statues fall, the expurgation expands. Someone has noticed (quite impressively) that The Order of St Michael and St George (instituted in 1818) depicts a white St Michael standing on the neck of a black Satan. "This is a…
The Tower of Babel
This is the sixth contribution to His Grace’s emergency team ministry during the coronavirus pestilence. It comes from the Rev'd Robert Jackson, a sector chaplain. Over 3,000 years ago,…
CofE to be carbon-neutral by 2030 – but at what cost?
No-one disputes the Christian imperative to care for the environment: the stewardship of creation is a matter of generational justice and moral responsibility. In the vast web of nature and…
Which gospel shall be preached this Harvest? And which will the congregation hear?
We are now well into the season when our priests planning their services and delivering sermons in churches and schools to celebrate and give thanks for Harvest time, and in…
Bishop endorses Extinction Rebellion
Extinction Rebellion say billions of people will die in the next decade or so due to climate change, so they are blockading parts of London for a fortnight, preventing people…
Ely Cathedral holds a special service to bless and celebrate animals
Did any cathedral or parish church hold a service to celebrate animals before the Vicar of Dibley did so on 15th December 1994? The Rev'd Geraldine Granger was visited by…
Sir Brian Souter barred as sponsor of Turner Prize for being a morally orthodox Christian
Sir Brian Souter is a Christian. He also happens to be a wealthy Scottish businessman, philanthropist, and supporter of the SNP, but he is a Christian first and foremost: his…
Insect Armageddon: an Extinction Level Event
The Bible is full of insects and bugs: there are ants (Prov 6:6), bees (Jdg 14:8), fleas (1Sam 24:14), flies (Ex 8:24), gnats (8:16), grasshoppers (Isa 40:22), hornets (Deut 7:20),…
Michael Gove delivers Theos Annual Lecture: “I speak as a Christian”
Michael Gove delivered this year's Theos annual lecture last night, and his subject was environmental justice, stewardship and the moral purpose of government. The whole lecture is well worth reading,…
Children’s Society Christingle song fails to mention God, Jesus – or anything particularly Christian at all
You are probably familiar with Christingle and may well know about all the Christian symbolism which it represents. It’s generally pretty widely recognised that the candle inserted into the Christingle…
Four-day week: mandatory indolence or an interfaith ‘sacred weekend’?
When Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell mooted imposing a four-day week on the British economy (that is, a four-day working week; Labour has no plans to re-calibrate or 'modernise' the solar…
A quarterback and a porn star walk into a bar…
You might think this would be the set-up line for a bad joke, but, no, it’s for real. Amidst the typical National Football League off-season stories about murder, sexual assault,…
Does installing Tim Peake’s spaceship in a cathedral glorify God and lead people to salvation?
If you install a junk spaceship or other space detritus in a sacred space and then pat yourself on the back for increasing your visitor numbers by 600% to 58,000,…
What kind of person sets a dog on fire?
Bruce is a dog; a bull-lurcher from Little Orton near Carlisle. He has been badly beaten with a stick with nails sticking out of it, his skull fractured, his jaw…
“We have built our tower to the Moon, and now we build it to Mars. What, then, is denied to us?”
This is a guest post by Carl Jacobs: a Christian by grace, a Calvinist by conviction, an American by birth. Husband of one, father of two, an engineer by profession,…
The evil of oil: a letter from the Interfaith Council for an Ethical Energy Policy
This is a guest post by Carl Jacobs. _______ In the name of Ecumenical comity, I have decided to give over my column this week to His Most August Personage,…
How does a crucified stormtrooper glorify God?
There is a crucified stormtrooper hanging on the wall of St Stephen Walbrook church in the City of London, forming part of a 'Stations of the Cross' exhibition. The parish…
Trump’s UN “hate speech” tells the world a few home truths
UN Secretary-General António Guterres doesn't like divisive political discourse: he prefers consensual dialogue about climate change; exhortations to build bridges rather than walls; measured denunciations of Israel rather than the…
The Musicians’ Church hasn’t banned non-Christian music, but it has sown confusion
"Absurd and obscene to see a church in London banning classical groups that want to perform non-religious music", bleated the Humanists on Twitter, knowing full well that the secularist hordes…