I’ve seen a number of suggestions that countries like the UK should respond to the perceived threat of Islamisation with force. Not, of course physical force but a muscular legal, cultural and political response. I tend to disagree with these suggestions because as a Christian, I’ve got different priorities. My concern is to see God’s… Continue reading Why attempts to ban Islam are self defeating
Posts
The time will come
Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of the Temple is one of the significant events from the last week of his earthly life and finds its way into all the Synoptic Gospels.[1] In fact, some have seen that as a crucial part of our ability to date the writing of the New Testament.[2] If these events… Continue reading The time will come
Christians and long-term grief
I’m continuing to do some work on how Christians can walk alongside each other through grief. Partly, that’s about how do we all as believers bare one another’s burdens and partly it’s about how pastors and elders can particularly support church members but it is also about what it means for those of us who… Continue reading Christians and long-term grief
The pipelines that might be broken and why it probably does not affect many of us directly
I’ve just written some thoughts in response to an article that GYD shared about perceptions of a break in the ministry pipeline. In conversation with them, they talked about being involved in conversations about recruitment and there was an indication that they were also talking about the pipeline of youth workers into the church. So… Continue reading The pipelines that might be broken and why it probably does not affect many of us directly
What does it actually mean to love your Muslim neighbour
One thing that struck me about the reactions to my video on loving your Muslim neighbour is that noone bothered to ask what I meant by love. I wonder how many assumed it was to do with soppy feelings. I wonder how many assumed it meant caving in to others without challenging them. What if… Continue reading What does it actually mean to love your Muslim neighbour
Pipelines again and youth work
This article on the Growing Young Disciples website caught my interest. It’s worth saying up front that it did for two reasons, one was a couple of minor areas of disagreement. The other an area of major agreement. So first of all, a note of caution. Regular readers will be aware that I attempted, about… Continue reading Pipelines again and youth work
If the problem is Islam then the answer is … Love and get to know your Muslim neighbours
I’ve written a little recently and shared some videos talking about how we engage with Muslims, how we get to know and love them as neighbours. I’ve discovered that nothing seems to get people’s ire as the suggestion that we should get to know and love Muslims. The assumption seems to be that I’m naive… Continue reading If the problem is Islam then the answer is … Love and get to know your Muslim neighbours
The minefield of when a state provides religious instruction
The Supreme Court has ruled that religious education provision in Northern Ireland was unlawful. A child that did not share the Christian views of the syllabus was discriminated against by a syllabus developed by the Roman Catholic Church, Methodists and Presbyterians. As it happens, there are probably questions I would have about such a syllabus… Continue reading The minefield of when a state provides religious instruction
Do we need to disentangle Christian Nationalism?
Andrew Wilson writes here about the arrival of Christian Nationalism in the UK. He draws heavily on, and interacts with, this article by Tim Suffield. As always Andrew’s analysis is interesting, though I wonder whether we are further down the road than Andrew and Tim realise and that does have implications. Tim suggests that there… Continue reading Do we need to disentangle Christian Nationalism?
What should be our next step in the abortion debate?
I recently explained, here, why I would not be signing a petition which calls for abortions to be banned once a heartbeat was detected. However, I thought it would be helpful to talk more about the kind of debate we should be engaging in and how we should seek to move it forward. I believe… Continue reading What should be our next step in the abortion debate?
Faithroots 