Ethics

How does facilitating people-traffickers reflect the nature of God?

The Home Secretary's announcement that the thousands of asylum seekers (or economic migrants) crossing the Channel in an endless stream of dinghies (246,190 last year) are to be sent to Rwanda for processing has been a cause of consternation. The…

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Former archbishops split on assisted suicide, and there’s no Anglican via media

September 13, 2021
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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…

Operation Ark: Pen Farthing saved his animals – and that’s a good thing

September 1, 2021
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When former Royal Marine Pen Farthing set out to fly some 200 animals and his 60 Nowzad staff to the UK from Afghanistan, there was much scoffing and scorn in…

Rev’d Paula Vennells should be removed from the CofE Ethical Investment Advisory Group

April 26, 2021
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Paula Vennells was CEO of the Post Office for seven years, from 2012-2019, when hundreds of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses had their lives ruined (really, really, ruined) as they were convicted…

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Does an embryo made from monkey and human cells have a soul?

April 16, 2021
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If life begins at conception, and it is at the point of conception that personhood is inaugurated, is there 'ensoulment' of an embryo made from human and monkey cells? If…

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Christ Church vs Martyn Percy: a conspiracy of lawyers, divine PR, and the purgatory of CofE Safeguarding

July 5, 2020
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The story of injustice being inflicted by the Church of England upon Prof Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, has been grinding on now for over three months, and…

Queen Victoria statue defaced: #VictoriaMustFall

June 10, 2020
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The mob has now risen against a Queen Victoria statue in Leeds, which is perfectly reasonable considering she once ruled the Empire under whose aegis all those slave-traders flourished and…

The mission of the Church is not ‘right ethics’

April 14, 2020
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This is the 15th contribution to His Grace’s emergency team ministry during the coronavirus pestilence. The author wishes to be known as The Snail @. He has a background in…

Jayne Ozanne Bishop Liverpool Paul Bayes conversion therapy

Faith, sexuality and conversion therapy: how not to do research

February 23, 2019
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This is a guest post by Dr Judith Sture. _______ We can only applaud those who wish to carry out research to help improve the lives of others. But the…

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The divine right of Dominic Grieve and the ‘sacred duty’ to prevent Brexit

February 18, 2019
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"My right honourable friend the Prime Minister talks about her sacred duty over Brexit," declared former Attorney General Dominic Grieve in the Valentine's Day debate on the UK's withdrawal from…

Bishop denounces Boris Johnson as an “amoral liar”

January 9, 2019
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It was a good lecture by the Bishop of Leeds, if a little long. Delivered to mark the centennial celebrations of Bradford Cathedral, he expounded some of the root causes…

Channel migrants: the greatest kindness we can show is to send them straight back to France

January 2, 2019
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The Bishop of Dover the Rt Rev'd Trevor Willmott has called for a kind and compassionate response to the Channel migrants – those from Iran or Iraq who are desperately…

Michael Gove delivers Theos Annual Lecture: “I speak as a Christian”

November 23, 2018
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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,…

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Shared humanity, solidarity, and social justice are all well and good, but one must protect the CofE’s return on investment

September 23, 2018
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It must be found in the Rite of Ordination somewhere. Bishop: Dost thou, therefore, in the name of Social Justice, renounce the Market and all its works, the vain pomp…

Complicit in evil? Church of England has shares in Amazon and uses zero-hours contracts

September 14, 2018
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Imagine the prophet Amos in 650 BC travelling through the southern kingdom up to Bethel in the Samaritan north to sell his figs. It's a long journey, but that's where…

The hypocrisy of outsourcing the death penalty for Islamist extremists

July 23, 2018
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The UK Government has had a longstanding and principled moral objection to the death penalty. Whether you agree with that opposition or not, it has hitherto been applied consistently: under…

Synod and the Nuclear Ban Treaty: the CofE would rather have sent Britons to Treblinka than annihilate Germany

July 17, 2018
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The Church of England’s General Synod had to talk about something, I guess. It couldn’t talk about the pressing problems of the CofE lest it cause its nascent civil war…

Nigel Biggar on the degeneracy of academic civility

April 10, 2018
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Professor Nigel Biggar has written for the Times: 'Vile abuse is now tolerated in our universities'. He tells us: "The spitting hatred I suffered over my views on empire shows…

Abortion, Down’s and disability: CofE discriminates in favour of the beautiful soul

January 22, 2018
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"People with Down’s Syndrome should be welcomed, celebrated and treated with dignity and respect, members of the Church of England’s General Synod will hear next month." So began the email…

Redefining hate: from diabolical anti-love to any criticism of the fragile self

July 14, 2017
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This is a guest post by by the Rev'd Dr Gavin Ashenden. _____ During the General Synod debate on homosexuality I took to twitter. It’s like sitting up in the…