Category: ethics

Are we over-policing our language?

We are quick to complain about “political correctness gone mad” but do we Evangelicals have our own tendencies to a form of political correctness when policing each other’s language? Here are a few examples: “I’m going to church” “Don’t you mean that you are going to the building where the church meets in order to… Continue reading Are we over-policing our language?

In the face of climate change – what is our greatest need?

This week, world leaders have flown into Glasgow for the COP26 summit on the environment and combatting climate change. Two Christian responses to the summit raise some questions and challenges, First of all, a church in Glasgow responded by displaying this banner saying The World’s most urgent need is churches preaching Christ crucified, not climate… Continue reading In the face of climate change – what is our greatest need?

Is Original Sin a terrible concept?

Katherine Birbalsingh, has got herself into hot water this week. Bibalsingh is a free school headteacher associated with an education philosophy that focuses on knowledge rich pedagogy and strict behaviour policies. She has also been appointed the chair of a social mobility commission recently.  Her comments that have caused an outcry have been about the… Continue reading Is Original Sin a terrible concept?

Be careful little lips – on the language of political debate

Over the weekend, there was significant discussion about political culture and how politicians talk about each other and how the rest of us talk about politicians.  Now, given that it looks likely that the person who attacked and murdered Sir David Amess was motivated by Islamist extremist, there is a reasonable response to this. Namely,… Continue reading Be careful little lips – on the language of political debate

I’m not convinced we need a public inquiry on COVID

We’re expecting a full public inquiry to follow the COVID-19 pandemic and that is generally seen to be a good thing. Some people want an inquiry because they believe that there are people culpable either through intent or at least wilful neglect and they should be held to account. Others are looking for lessons learnt… Continue reading I’m not convinced we need a public inquiry on COVID

On grief, anger and agendas

It’s funny how things said can suddenly take on a whole new level of poignancy.  On Friday  morning I was involved in two little twitter threads. The first was started by Daniel Blanche sharing the lines of a beautiful worship song: The second linked to a TV discussion that Graham Nicholls of Affinity was involved… Continue reading On grief, anger and agendas

On authors, Israel and boycotts

Author Sally Rooney has announced that she will not allow her most recent novel to be published in Hebrew through an Israeli publishing house. She claims that this is part of the BDS action to campaign against Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank. I’ve not read her work but my wife’s immediate response… Continue reading On authors, Israel and boycotts

Is complementarianism harmful and dangerous?

In our #FaithrootsLive sessions we’ve been looking at church leadership and the roles than men and women can/should play in this.  I come from what is usually referred to as a “complementarian” position.  Now, one of the challenges about this conversation is that it is a difficult, if not impossible conversation to have because as… Continue reading Is complementarianism harmful and dangerous?

Who condemns?

Yesterday in his guest article, Ash Cunningham wrote: This week Karen Ingala Smith published research detailing the ‘Femicide’ statistics in the UK, including the 81 women killed by men since the brutal murder of Sarah Everard. As Ingala Smith herself points out, neither the police nor the government have analysed the data, it has taken,… Continue reading Who condemns?