Asia Bibi is free! Now she must be granted safe passage and asylum
There are few mornings when one wakes up to such glorious news. Asia Bibi, the young Christian woman who was imprisoned and sentenced to be hanged in Pakistan eight years…
Justice
Iwerne: what did David Conner (now Dean of Windsor) and others know about John Smyth’s regime of abuse?
Many years ago, I worked as a duty solicitor, undertaking day and night visits to the local police stations. There were not many on the rota and it was a busy time. One night I learned something about the limits…
Lord Carey challenges Bishops to break their silence on the ‘significant cloud’ hanging over the name of Bishop George Bell
Lord Carey spoke at the 'Rebuilding Bridges Conference' at Church House today, which aims to restore the name and reputation of Bishop George Bell. This is his speech, reproduced in…
Why a woman may be the next Archbishop of York, but not of Canterbury
His Grace The Most Rev'd and Rt Hon Dr John Sentamu, Lord Archbishop of York, has announced that he will retire from his post on 7th June 2020, three days…
British voters prefer EU to non-EU migrants – because they’re mostly white and Christian?
"This point almost never gets the attention it deserves", tweeted Red Tory guru Phillip Blond, when a 2017 LSE poll on preferential immigration was brought to his attention. "Absolutely right…
Complicit in evil? Church of England has shares in Amazon and uses zero-hours contracts
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…
Curate’s egg or Archbishop’s omelette? Welby tells TUC: gig economy is “reincarnation of an ancient evil”
Justin Welby delivered a speech to the TUC, which went down well in one quarter, and not so well in five eighths, most of whom were irked that he delivered…
There will be sex offenders in heaven (and they may be greater in the kingdom than you)
You really don't want to commit a sex crime in the United States. Unlike other crimes, a sex crime creates certain civil liabilities for the offender that can quite literally…
Jimmy Carter acts justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly with his God
He was President of the United States when Charlie flirted with Angels, Starsky tore around with Hutch, and Steve Austin cost $6million ($33million in today's bionics). He's mostly remembered for…
BBC Newsnight provides a pulpit for the myth of secular neutrality
"The best guarantee of religious tolerance is a well-organised secular state... there is a higher authority; it's called the law," proclaimed author Ian McEwan on the BBC's 'Newsnight', in a…
John Smyth dies – just as the CPS gives police go-ahead for his extradition and prosecution
John Smyth, who was accused of the sadistic beatings of young men under the guise of Christian discipleship, has died at his home in Cape Town. This brings to an…
The hypocrisy of outsourcing the death penalty for Islamist extremists
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…
The BBC destroyed Sir Cliff Richard, just like the CofE dishonoured Bishop George Bell
Standing outside the High Court yesterday, Sir Cliff Richard cried. He had just been awarded £190,000 general damages against the BBC (infringement of privacy; general effect on his life), plus…
It is time for General Synod to protest: victims of sexual abuse deserve better than ‘adequate’
Critics of the Church of England’s responses to historic sexual abuse can be fairly generous. Consider the words of David Pearson, founder of the Child Protection Charity CCPAS, who was…
Ethan Couch and ‘affluenza’: where is God in the absence of visible justice?
‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers’ (Henry VI, Pt II, IVii). Sure, I know. Some pernickety pedant with a literary bent is going to tell me…
Gosport hospital deaths: when did ‘life shortened’ become a euphemism for murder?
The revelation that more than 450 patients died in a Gosport hospital after being administered an overdose of powerful painkillers is shocking and appalling. Or, in the words of Theresa…
Did Archbishop Sentamu fob off the Clergy Discipline Commission to protect bishops from allegations of misconduct?
As the police continue questioning the Most Rev'd and Rt Hon Dr John Sentamu over his alleged failure to respond properly to a report of clerical child abuse, here's a…
The Syrian civil war will never be resolved by the UN Security Council or the International Criminal Court
This is a guest post by Carl Jacobs. ____________________ The Syrian civil war has not been kind to the sacred secular institutions of International Liberalism. There are now 400,000 dead…
Windrush children: Home Office defames Conservatives, dismays Christians and shames the nation
61-year-old Paulette Wilson (top centre) came to the UK at the age of 10 with her parents. She had sailed all the way from Jamaica aboard HMT Empire Windrush, a…
Nigel Biggar on the degeneracy of academic civility
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…