One of the most shocking responses to a video I shared on YouTube about learning to love our Muslim neighbours was the one that compared immigrants to the Martians in the War of the Worlds, coming to destroy us. We should be shocked by such dehumanizing language and we should be disturbed at where this… Continue reading What happens when we think of immigration as an invasion
Posts
Is your satnav set right? Why we need faith
This is the text of a sermon I recently preached from Luke 17. Introduction A few years ago, we went on holiday with some friends to a place called West Bay which is down in Dorset and famous as the place where Broadchurch was filmed. Our friends’ parents had a holiday home there but they… Continue reading Is your satnav set right? Why we need faith
The King and the Pope
Some Christians have been quite exercised over King Charles’ State Visit to the Vatican where he prayed with the Pope. Here is my response.
Are there different levels of reward in “heaven”?
We tend to emphasise that we are saved by grace alone so that we cannot boast in our works and this has tended to result in a dismissal or downplay of the suggestion that good lives here can affect our experience of eternal life and the extent to which we will be rewarded in heaven. … Continue reading Are there different levels of reward in “heaven”?
Dreams about war -what they do and don’t mean
Christopher Wickland who identifies as one of the so called “patriot pastors” linked to Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom protest shared this claimed prophecy on Facebook today. I want to respond here for two reasons, first of all because I myself had a dream recently that seemed to touch on the same issue of “war”… Continue reading Dreams about war -what they do and don’t mean
Police intelligence and the Maccabi Tel Aviv ban
I see that a rumour is doing the rounds which seems to have originated from an unnamed source in the Guardian, that the reason for the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans ban at Aston Villa was not to do with the safety of Israeli and Jewish fans at the game but police intelligence that the fans… Continue reading Police intelligence and the Maccabi Tel Aviv ban
Christian Nationalism, National Christianity and Disestablishment
I’ve written a bit recently about Christian Nationalism and I distinguished a contemporary form of Christian Nationalism which in effect simply christens/baptises ethno-cultural nationalism from what I referred as Christian nation-alism, the idea of the nation having a Christian identity. One form of the latter involves having a national/established church as is the case with… Continue reading Christian Nationalism, National Christianity and Disestablishment
Can we still have Gospel partnership with Anglican churches (and what we actually mean by this)
I don’t think I can be much clearer than I have been in terms of my views about what Evangelicals in the Church of England should do, indeed, should have done a long time ago. It should be obvious to most now, that it is impossible to be an evangelical or a complementarian and remain… Continue reading Can we still have Gospel partnership with Anglican churches (and what we actually mean by this)
We cannot just gloss over Christianity’s antisemitism problem
Tim Dieppe of Christian Concern has written to the Spectator about antisemitism within Islam. Dieppe is responding to an article which talks about the theological underpinning of antisemitism in Islam and Christianity. As you can see, Dieppe’s argument is that the Quran contains significant examples of antisemitism whereas the Bible does not. I agree with… Continue reading We cannot just gloss over Christianity’s antisemitism problem
Before you start citing Enoch Powell please actually read his “Rivers of blood” speech
One of the rules of political debate on social media is that at some point, someone is going to mention Adolph Hitler. However, there is an even more specific rule, specific to the UK and to debate about immigration and multiculturalism. It’s that at some point, someone will announce that Enoch Powell was right and… Continue reading Before you start citing Enoch Powell please actually read his “Rivers of blood” speech