Tag Archives: Church of England

Students in Pakistan Madrassa start singing Anglican hymns

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Prayer mats have been removed from a Pakistan Madrassa and co-ed prayer rooms have been set up to cater to its mostly Anglican students.

Daily prayers at the Karachi Islamic Business and Enterprise Madrassa, where 75 per cent of pupils are Anglican, are not based specifically on the Koran, but may make reference to it alongside other religious texts.

None of the meat served at the school, which has over 1,000 pupils aged between 11 and 19, is halal.

Not very plausible, is it?

Yet no-one is particularly surprised that the exact opposite is taking place in a UK Church of England school; you can read all about it here, but I would like to highlight one sentence:

Mr McAteer, who pointed out that the Church of England describes itself as ‘a faith for all faiths’, told the Sunday Times: ‘The values we support are very much Christian values of honesty, integrity, justice.’

I don’t know how McAteer  came up with the laughably incoherent idea that the Church of England is ‘a faith for all faiths’. An institution that claims to be able to encompass “faiths” whose beliefs are logically contradictory (after all, Jesus cannot be both divine as Christianity teaches and not divine as Islam teaches) ends up being a faith with no faith.

Come to think of it, maybe McAteer  is on to something.

The Church of England’s Faith and Ambiguity Commission Report

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The Church of England has issued a report on marriage, same-sex marriage and same-sex civil partnerships.

Following the fine Anglican tradition of definitiveness aversion, it is sufficiently polysemous to allow some to conclude that the CofE rejects the blessing of same sex couples, others to conclude that same sex couples should be given “pastoral accommodations”, “recognition” and “compassionate attention” (in North America, dioceses called that a “generous pastoral response” shortly before launching into same sex blessings) and Giles Fraser to say:

Dr Giles Fraser, a former Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral who is now priest-in-charge of a South London church, said: ‘You cannot escape what is down in this document in black and white.

‘This is saying you can bless same-sex relationships as long as you don’t say what you are doing. It is a wink to people like me who want to go ahead.

‘It is coded language which says do it, but don’t advertise.’

And you thought Rowan Williams had left the building.

A ray of hope for the Church of England

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Most people think it is out of touch with society. There is nothing that drives people out of a church quite as effectively as a striving to be in touch with society.

From here:

More than two-thirds (69%) of the population believe that the Church of England is out of touch with society and half (54%) believe that it does a bad job of providing moral leadership. Almost half disagree with its stance on same-sex marriage.

Bats in the belfry

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It seems that the Bat Conservation Trust has been successful in making the Church of England provide bats a safe space in which to hang – full inclusion for bats – by having churches install bat flaps in their stained glass windows.

It’s encouraging to see that there is at least one organisation that has a convincing perspective on an enduring purpose for English churches.

From here:

Bat conservation is damaging churches not just physically but financially and cannot be sustained, Environment Minister Richard Benyon MP was told today.

The cost of replacing one small piece of a leaded window, for example, increased from £5 using plain glass to £140 when fitting a lead ‘bat flap’ was required by the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) – four weeks’ collection in the rural parish church of Wiggenhall, St Germans.

Leaving interpretation of the law on bat conservation largely to the BCT is bringing the European Habitats Directive into disrepute to the detriment of endangered species more generally, warned a Church of England delegation led by Second Church Estates Commissioner Sir Tony Baldry MP, with representatives of Natural England.

“I remain puzzled as to why our churches are treated as if they were uninhabited barns. They are not,” said the Rt Revd Graham James, Bishop of Norwich.

Theism in the Church of England

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A “theic” is someone who is addicted to the immoderate use of tea; a tea-drunkard.

Thus, as this guide to tea drinkers’ disease warns:

The predominance of nervous symptoms is a characteristic of theism; general excitation of the functions of the nervous system may be observed; or the weakness may be noted more especially in the brain as distinguished form the spinal cord.

This, of course, explains the present plight of the Church of England: all the vicars are drowning in tea and, with their weakened brains, have abandoned one theism for another.

Homosexual priests advised to lie about their celibacy

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It hasn’t taken long for liberal Anglican cleric, Giles Fraser to point out the inevitable result of the Church of England’s ruling that it will appoint celibate homosexual bishops even if they are in civil partnerships. The candidates will lie about their sex lives. Fraser takes it one step further: homosexual candidates have a moral obligation to lie about their sex lives – to lie for Jesus.

From here:

Sometimes we lie for self-advancement. Morally, it’s a no-brainer that this is wrong. But at other times, we lie because we don’t trust another with the truth. Because we have good reason to believe that they will use it to hurt us or others. In the case of sexually active gay priests and bishops, this fear is wholly justified. It is perfectly proper that ordinarily people should maintain a strong presumption in favour of truth telling. But the situation in which gay people in the church find themselves is far from ordinary. Physical intimacy is a moral good, the very incarnation of love. Those who enforce celibacy on the basis of sexuality are maintaining a system of oppression that brings misery and loneliness to many.

I believe all Christians have a moral duty to resist this cruelty. Lying to the church authorities, in these conditions, is a bit like disobeying an unjust order. It’s a form of non-violent resistance.

There is little doubt that the Church of England is following the path forged by North American Anglicanism: it is attracting an increasing number of homosexual clergy, clergy who have no intention of being celibate. As Fraser goes on to note:

Years ago, a gay priest friend of mine, just coming out, asked me if I’d go along with him to a gay club in Birmingham. He didn’t want to go on his own. But he needn’t have worried. There were loads of priests in the club.

One of the very worst aspects of the Anglican homosexual clergy debacle is the rabid reaction they experience when their self-inflated eligibility for career advancement is thwarted.

Here, the former bishop of Oxford wails about the “terrible terrible trauma” of not making bishop, the anguish of which makes the martyrdom, torture and persecution of myriads of Christians living in hostile lands pale to insignificance.

Speaking about nominating his friend Dr John for bishop, he said: “After initially accepting that nomination, the archbishop was put under from huge pressure from around the Anglican communion and eventually Jeffrey John felt, for the good of the church as a whole, he ought to step down and not accept the position, which was a terrible, terrible trauma for him and for all of us involved.”

Homosexual Western clergy should stop behaving like teenage girls whose feelings have been hurt, grow up, muster a smidgen of humility and do the job they claim God has called them to do. Or they should quit and find a job where they don’t have to lie about their sex lives.

Church of England to allow homosexual bishops

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Clergy in celibate same-sex civil partnerships can become bishops under the new rules. I’m not sure what the point of a celibate civil partnership is or whether the sustained maintaining of such a thing is believable – but that is the latest naive or surreptitiously scheming, depending on one’s perspective, CofE edict on how to accommodate homosexual bishops. The Dean of St Albans, Dr Jeffrey John, falls into this category and was denied his appointment as bishop last year; I suppose he will have another go this year.

It’s hard not to see this as a next step to the position reached in North America: clergy at every level vigorously engaged in homosexual activity. Including bishops.

From the BBC:

The announcement, from the Church’s House of Bishops, would allow clergy in civil partnerships to become bishops if they promised to be celibate.

Conservative evangelical Anglicans say they will fiercely resist the development in the synod.

The issue has split the church since 2003 amid a row over gay cleric Jeffrey John becoming Bishop of Reading.

Mr John, now Dean of St Albans, was forced to step down from the role after protests from traditionalists.

He was also a candidate for Bishop of Southwark in 2010 but was rejected. Evidence emerged that this was because of his sexual orientation.

Evangelicals have warned they would be willing to bring in bishops from overseas to avoid serving under a gay bishop.

The Church has already agreed to allow people in civil partnerships to become clergy, provided they promised they would remain celibate, and repent for active homosexuality in the past.

Those conditions are now to be extended to clergy becoming bishops.

The Vicar wears Prada

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A Church of England vicar, Rev. Sally Hitchiner, has posed for a fashion shoot “wearing a £480 black leather jacket by Frances Leon, a £505 Prada top and tight silver leather trousers by the Mother label that come in at just over £1,000. She also wears £535 leopard print Christian Louboutin heels, that rest on a leather stool.”

In the Church of England, this is known as the church’s way of enacting of God’s preference for the poor.

As Ms. Hitchiner herself says: ‘why shouldn’t a priest be interested in Prada? I dress in a way that reflects my personality.’ Good point: perish the thought that the Church of England might use anything crass – like strippers for Jesus – to entice the reluctant to enter its musty sanctuaries; much better to employ the more nuanced imagery of the high heels and leather look of hookers for Jesus.

According to Hitchener, Jesus was ‘thinking fashion theology: Jesus said consider flowers if you’re stressed “how much more beautifully will God clothe you”’. It’s well known that Jesus was big on fashion: he wouldn’t be seen dead performing miracles in anything less than his best tailored to measure seamless robe.

Apparently, Ms. Hitchiner is at the forefront of the battle to ordain women bishops in the Church of England. When they finally materialise – and they will – at least we know how they are likely to dress; that’s the important thing.

From here:

An interesting poser has been exercising the Reverend Sally Hitchiner over the past week. She has posted several tweets on her Twitter page — where she describes herself as an ‘Anglican priest, faith adviser, broadcaster… and finder of funny things’ — on the subject of ‘the theology of fashion’.

She was so preoccupied by it that she even conducted a Facebook debate on the subject.

So we shouldn’t be too surprised then, that this weekend, the 32-year-old Church of England vicar took her theological studies even further forward, posing for a fashion shoot for a Saturday broadsheet magazine under the headline: The Vicar Wears Prada.

In the main picture, Rev Hitchiner is reclining on a leather chair wearing a £480 black leather jacket by Frances Leon, a £505 Prada top and tight silver leather trousers by the Mother label that come in at just over £1,000. She also wears £535 leopard print Christian Louboutin heels, that rest on a leather stool.

In one shot, a heavily kohled eye gazes sultrily at the camera beneath a £239 Andrew Wilkie leopard skin hat set at a flirtatious angle, covering her other eye. Her blood red lips pout above her sharply white dog collar.

 

A very grim day for women priests

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That’s what Justin Welby tweeted after the Church of England synod defeated a motion to allow women bishops:

 

 

What continues to baffle me is the angst that women priests evidently feel at being prevented from being bishops. Surely, as Christians, they cannot believe their worth is defined by the impossibility of being a bishop?

While I’m all in favour of “prayer & love and…. healing”, in this case, healing from what – other than an imaginary slight?

Apparently, the Church of England has a lot of explaining to do

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From here:

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has said the Church of England has a “lot of explaining” to do after the General Synod rejected legislation introducing the first women bishops.

Moreover, in a rare moment of clarity, Rowan thinks that society should be setting the priorities of the church:

“Worse than that, it seems as if we are wilfully blind to some of the trends and priorities of that wider society. We have some explaining to do, we have as a result of yesterday undoubtedly lost a measure of credibility in our society.”

The prime minister, David Cameron, agrees: the church should “get with the programme.” What programme? The secular programme, of course:

“I’m very clear the time is right for women bishops, it was right many years ago. They need to get on with it, as it were, and get with the programme. But you do have to respect the individual institutions and the way they work while giving them a sharp prod.”

So there you have it: what the Church of England does is to be determined, not by God, but by the society in which it finds itself.

Specifically, the Church of England should have women bishops because Britain’s equality laws say so. After the Biblical arguments, what better reason for not allowing women bishops.