Liz Truss: “I share the values of the Christian faith”
In a few weeks the United Kingdom will have a new Prime Minister. On current polling, it looks as though Liz Truss will be invited to kiss hands with the…
Pluralism
King Charles III — Defender of the Faith
It really ought to be a big story, because it is a big story. And yet, because it is prosaic continuity, nobody has really noticed. But at the Accession Council on Saturday 10th September 2022, the newly proclaimed King Charles…
The Salman Rushdie fatwa is reflected in every banned book and no-platforming
The fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie in 1989 was a death sentence. His crime, according to Ayatollah Khomeini, was to insult Mohammed and mock Islam in his novel The Satanic…
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…
Matthew Parris just wants to be loved, accepted, and buried in the CofE
Matthew Parris has written a strange a piece in the Times about the Church of England: 'Anglicanism was never really about God', he decrees, with a kind of semi-detached secular-papal…
General Synod elections: the ‘liberal drift’ is not a foregone conclusion
The Rev'd Peter Ould has been psephological over at Psephizo, and his analysis of the recent Synod elections merits some consideration in respect of the 'liberal drift' of the Church…
Boris Johnson is not a professing Roman Catholic: he will still advise the Queen on the selection of Bishops
Is Boris Johnson a Roman Catholic? Yes and no. During an ITV interview with Robert Peston, the Prime Minister was asked if he is now "a practising Roman Catholic", following…
Sheffield Cathedral sacks choir – because God told them to
The Dean and Chapter if Sheffield Cathedral have sacked their choir, and this has caused a bit of a stir in the media and consternation on Twitter. They explain: For…
Kruger: we should not throw away the inheritance of our Christian culture
In his maiden speech on 29th January, a Conservative MP said something which even the Bishops in the House of Lords aren't saying. Danny Kruger, the Member for Devizes, made…
A Christian case for Brexit
If one anti-Brexit argument persists within the clergy hierarchy of the Church of England, it is that the UK's departure from the European Union is a fundamentally 'un-Christian' pursuit. The…
The Islamists amongst us: rehabilitation or indefinite detention?
"Enough is enough," said Prime Minister Theresa May in the wake of the Islamist slaughter of seven innocent people on London Bridge in June 2017. "We must not and cannot…
When did traditional morality become ‘fundamentalist’?
It was a question posed by Professor John Milbank on Twitter a few days ago. Or, rather, it wasn't posed as a question, such as the 'when' inquiry into conceptual…
The Supreme Governor at her supremest hosting a reception for faith leaders
"The concept of our established Church is occasionally misunderstood and, I believe, commonly under-appreciated," the Queen said in a speech at Lambeth Palace in 2012. "Its role is not to…
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…
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…
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…