The end of community? – The risk with The Rule of Six

The UK Government has introduced new rules this week in the fight against coronavirus COVID-19.  For the foreseeable future, it will be illegal to socialise in groups larger than six or to “mingle” outside of such a group.  Several people have observed that this seems to go beyond the concept of social distancing and is… Continue reading The end of community? – The risk with The Rule of Six

COVID-19 update: What is the present reality and should Christians break unreasonable laws?

COVID-19 cases are on the increase again around the world and here in the UK. At the end of last week, new restrictions were introduced for the whole of England limiting the number of people who could socialised together to 6. Similar rules with some variations were introduced in Scotland.  Meanwhile, from tomorrow we will… Continue reading COVID-19 update: What is the present reality and should Christians break unreasonable laws?

Didn’t we expect Coronavirus cases to rise?

Concern has been raised at the recent rise of Coronavirus cases. However, why are we surprised that it is happening? It is worth remembering two important things. First of all, that the original purpose of social distancing and lockdown measures was not in the belief that this would end the pandemic but rather with the… Continue reading Didn’t we expect Coronavirus cases to rise?

Curiosity and coronavirus

I have argued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic that two gaps in our skill set as a society have been identified. The first is an understanding of how statistics work as figures have been thrown around without much understanding of what they tell us. The second has been that we have show a lack of curiosity.… Continue reading Curiosity and coronavirus

Do we need to learn to doubt?

Schools are returning after lockdown and the summer break, soon students will be heading off to University too.  So what should they be learning? What should professors and tutors be teaching their students? Here is one suggested list. It seems a good list doesn’t it? I agree that we should be teaching students how to… Continue reading Do we need to learn to doubt?

Christians, conspiracy theories and COVID-19

Do you know what one of the biggest problems with conspiracy theories is? It’s not that the theorists lack access to the facts on the matter or that they are necessarily failing to share them. Rather, what happens is: The conspiracy theorist has learnt not to trust those in authority and therefore infers suspect motives… Continue reading Christians, conspiracy theories and COVID-19

My country right or wrong?

“Patriotism is the last resort of a scoundrel” This was the classic first term subject for the University debating club to get their teeth into.  Of course, each year we would make the mistake of debating whether or not patriotism was a good or bad thing. In so doing, we missed the point that the… Continue reading My country right or wrong?