Secularism

Michael Gove sugar-coats Jesus and preaches fake good news

This is a guest post by the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden, former Chaplain to the Queen, who is presently in the (complicated) process of leaving the Church of England. ___________________________ One of the first rules for mental health is not…

Philip North crisis: ‘Good Disagreement’ has become ‘bad bullying’

March 11, 2017
308 Comments

This is a guest post by the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden, former Chaplain to the Queen. ___________________________ When the house that has been painstakingly constructed on the sand falls flat,…

If Philip North can’t be Bishop of Sheffield, the Church of England ceases to be catholic

February 25, 2017
620 Comments

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:…

Same-sex marriage: what does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?

February 2, 2017
541 Comments

This is a guest post by the Rev'd Dr Gavin Ashenden, sometime Chaplain to the Queen. ___________________________ ‘Archbishop Cranmer’ has written a balanced and generous analysis of the House of…

Integration tsar Dame Louise Casey has a problem with ‘religious conservatism’

January 11, 2017
301 Comments

In 2013 Dame Louise Casey was named by BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour as one of the Top 100 most powerful women in the UK. She was duly appointed by…

The establishment of the Church of England and the Christian Monarchy flourish together or fall together

December 28, 2016
387 Comments

This is a guest post by the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden, Chaplain to the Queen. __________________________ One of the many reasons I like twitter is for the jokes. “Why should…

Nurse sacked for offering to pray with patients? Draconian, but not persecution

December 11, 2016
434 Comments

To read that Sister Sarah Kuteh has been sacked by Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent, for the crime of offering to pray with her patients, is a cause of…

Will Theresa May restore religious liberty by adopting reasonable accommodation?

December 6, 2016
284 Comments

Theresa May is an Anglican, and her faith appears to be sound and secure (ie, it doesn't fade in and out like Magic FM in the Chilterns). A few articles…

Same-sex marriage/blessing confronts Church of England with "a structural flaw of fatal proportions"

August 30, 2016
192 Comments

We have reached Chapter 5 in the great Anglican sexuality saga: 'Church of England parishes consider first step to break away over sexuality'. It isn't clear what the dénouement…

There's nothing British about banning the burqa

August 9, 2016
394 Comments

Not content with a "total ban" on Muslim schools, Ukip leadership candidate Lisa Duffy now wants to ban Muslims from wearing burqas; those Darth Vader-like cloaks which some Muslims…

Turkey purge: is military coup a lesser evil than Erdoğan's Islamism?

July 20, 2016
243 Comments

Following last week's military coup – which is never the answer to anything – President Erdoğan is purging Turkey's civic institutions of every whiff of opposition, dissent, criticism and…

The destruction of Andrea Leadsom: is it no longer permissible to be proud of motherhood?

July 9, 2016
571 Comments

"I absolutely am a Christian and I am very proud of it," Conservative leadership candidate Andrea Leadsom told Channel 4 News. "And it absolutely acts in the background in…

EU Court moves toward a ban on Christians wearing crosses in the workplace

June 1, 2016
261 Comments

This isn't the headline in most of the UK media, for some reason, which appears to prefer singling out Muslims and hijabs. There's nothing quite like a bit of…

What British Muslims Really Think, or what Christians need to rethink?

April 14, 2016
244 Comments

Channel 4's documentary What British Muslims Really Think informed us that 52% of them want homosexuality to be outlawed; 39% believe that a woman should always obey her husband;…

Nazir-Ali: 'Faith, Freedom and the Future: Challenges for the 21st Century'

April 13, 2016
1,187 Comments

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali offers analysis of current challenges and gives urgently needed advice for Christians and policy-makers in a timely new book: Faith, Freedom and the Future: Challenges for…

EU Referendum: Welby asks the fairest questions of all

March 13, 2016
86 Comments

The froth masks the urgency of the substance; the heat deflects from the dominant paradigms of light. The EU Referendum debate is being reduced to a Tory pantomime of…

Should Christians in the public sector 'keep mum' to get on?

January 4, 2016
424 Comments

"Christianity is being subtly 'silenced' within the public sector in the UK because of a civil service culture which treats speaking about faith as 'not the done thing'," writes…

Stephen Crabb has no need to be ashamed of his Christian faith

December 19, 2015
164 Comments

Who could have imagined just 15 years ago at the turn of the century that we would now be living in such unpredictable times? What seems like a permanent…

The Woolf Institute is wrong: Christianity is needed in public life now more than ever

December 15, 2015
223 Comments

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…

The National Secular Society's vacuous and arrogant stance against the Lord's Prayer

November 23, 2015
0 Comments

For decades the Church of England has gained a not entirely undeserved reputation for being a bit wet behind the ears and having all of the subversiveness of a…