While bishops bicker over Brexit, there is one who shows a better way
Should there be a second referendum (aka a 'People's Vote') on Brexit, the Bishop of Oxford was asked. "My own view is that it would make things worse and it…
Pluralism
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 had much to discuss with the world's highest authority in…
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…
Trump to Europe: “You are losing your culture”
While the media pore over Donald Trump's interview with the Sun, focusing on the possibility a post-(soft) Brexit US/UK trade deal ("..it will probably kill the deal") and Boris Johnson…
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…
Iftar in the Cathedral is exactly what the Queen (and Jesus) would want
If it had been called 'Tea & Chapatis' no-one would have batted an eyelid. But the meal had an upper-case Islamic name – Iftar – and it involved Arabic food:…
Rowan Williams was denounced for saying Sharia Law in UK was inevitable, so why isn’t Justin Welby being commended for saying it’s not?
Back in 2008, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams delivered a cerebral lecture about society and pluralism to a huddle of lawyers gathered in London. It might have remained fairly…
Christian Scout leader expelled for expressing concerns about the Scout Association’s anti-Christian bias
Brian Walker has been a member of the Scout Association since he was a boy. He got all his badges and tied all his knots; he swam and climbed and…
The Church of England is a compromised and compromising church – thank God!
As we await the appointment of the next Bishop of London, some are limbering up for the next round of culture wars within the Church of England. In a 'warning'…
Why didn’t the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum speak up for Tim Farron?
Former LibDem leader Tim Farron delivered the Theos Annual Lecture last night, entitled: 'What Kind of Liberal Society Do We Want?' The whole speech is worth reading, because it is…
Church of England votes to ban Religious Conversion
The Church of England's General Synod has backed a motion calling for a ban on the practice of Religious Conversion, aimed at altering a person's religious orientation. Members of the…
If Philip North can’t be Bishop of Sheffield, the Church of England ceases to be catholic
The Dean of Christ Church, Professor Martyn Percy, has issued an ultimatum circumspectly entitled 'Questions of Ambiguity and Integrity'. It's quite long, but essentially it boils down to a choice:…
Nigel Farage says Archbishop of Canterbury “should go”
"It's a great shame that the head of our established church is not actually prepared to stand up and fight for our Christian culture in this country," Nigel Farage told…
Do we really need a faith minister for “fairies, goblins and imaginary friends”?
We live in an age of ever-increasing secularity, in which religious practice must be half-hidden and religious conviction often-denied. You have to excavate quite deep to discover the moral sources…
The great canon doctor Martyn Percy implicates Justin Welby in "secular sorcery"
"Everything you need to know about the Bible can be summed up by the great canon doctor Martyn Percy: 'The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven.'," writes…
Ukip's "positive vision" for British Islam: ban all Muslim schools
Ukip has a Muslim problem, which is fine if they're not particularly concerned about courting the Muslim vote, but not fine if it leads to the formulation of policies…
Sadiq Khan is Muslim. Get over it!
Sadiq Khan has been elected the first Muslim mayor of London. Muslim, Muslim, Muslim. Islam, Islam, Islam. The council-estate sons and daughters of Pakistani bus drivers are taking over…
Pentecost evangelism? What is the gospel in an age of religious relativism?
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have written to every clergyman and woman in England (all 11,300 of them, which is a lot of stamps), urging them to pray…
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…
Woolf Institute: Butler-Slush and the demand for more multifaith mish-mash
So, the Woolf Institute, whose declared mission is concerned with "combining theology with the social sciences and the humanities", in pursuit of "interfaith" "social solidarity" and "common purpose", convenes…