This is a guest post written by Ronnie Stockton I’m not averse to the odd footy cliche, so obviously the ‘in the mixer’ tagline of yesterday's R&R post caught my eye. As an atheist, I do find that faith is a 'funny old game' and I was intrigued by the passionate debates created by Baroness Warsi's article about … Continue reading In the mixer…or just mixed up? Why Baroness Warsi is wrong about secularism – by Ronnie Stockton
Baroness Warsi, secularism and putting faith ‘in the mixer’
Photo by RODOLPHE ASENSI on Pexels.com Baroness Warsi's article on faith and secularism in the Daily Telegraph this morning has created an Almighty debate. After the controversies over the banning of prayers at Bideford Council meetings, it's yet another example of how issues of faith are increasingly right at the heart of public debate. In… Continue reading Baroness Warsi, secularism and putting faith ‘in the mixer’
The Bideford prayer ruling: not so much anti-faith as undemocratic
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com My concern about the Bideford Town Council ruling which bans prayer from meetings is not because it is anti-faith. It is more because it is undemocratic. Undemocratic The judge ruled that the Local Government Act 1972 didn’t give the Council power to have prayers. But surely in a democratic… Continue reading The Bideford prayer ruling: not so much anti-faith as undemocratic
We should be anti-bad business not anti-big business
Photo by Tom Fisk on Pexels.com George Osborne says that he is worried that the UK is becoming ‘anti-business’. What he means is anti-big business. I mean, if failing mega corporations can’t hide their profits away to avoid tax and CEOs can’t claim obscene bonuses in peace why would they want to come to theUK?… Continue reading We should be anti-bad business not anti-big business
Welfare Reform Bill is on the right track, but it won’t get the job done
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com There’s been an awful lot of handwringing over the Welfare Reform Bill and the ‘benefits cap’ in particular. However, most of the bill is on the right track, although it’s only one part of the bigger picture. The Benefits Cap The benefits cap is clearly illogical and wrong (see… Continue reading Welfare Reform Bill is on the right track, but it won’t get the job done
How an urban holiday club changed my life
I grew up in a large C of E church in South Croydon. Looking back it was a church which gave me a lot of great things – most of which I did not appreciate at the time. Every year the church sent a number of volunteers to help with Scripture Union’s annual Holiday Club… Continue reading How an urban holiday club changed my life
Faith Under Fire by Andrew White: Awful and Awe-full
Faith under Fire is both one of the most Awful (in what it recounts) and Awe-full books that I have read in recent years. Andrew White is better known as the stubborn and inspiring 'Vicar of Baghdad', serving his 3500 strong congregation of St. Georges – the only Anglican church in Iraq. He daily faces the… Continue reading Faith Under Fire by Andrew White: Awful and Awe-full
Hustle’s bubble: The Myth of Redemptive Finance
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com The final ever series of Hustle starring Adrian Lester airs tonight and after discovering it just over a year ago I'll be tuning in. Hustle is a BBC drama in which a gang of successful, high living and smart mainly twenty somethings use their considerable skills to con successful, high… Continue reading Hustle’s bubble: The Myth of Redemptive Finance
The Commodification of Unfaithfulness
This article was originally published on Ekklesia in November 2011 On 6th January Jon Kuhrt was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 on the You and Yours programme about the Faithfulness Matters campaign In January 2010, I was driving close to where we live in South London when my five year old son asked; "Daddy, what’s… Continue reading The Commodification of Unfaithfulness
The way of Jesus: comforting the disturbed & disturbing the comfortable
Photo by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS on Pexels.com The Occupy LSX camp outside St Paul's Cathedral has meant that that the church's relationship with causes of political and economic justice has been front page news in recent months in an unprecedented way. It has lead to a politicised renewal of the phrase What Would Jesus Do? This… Continue reading The way of Jesus: comforting the disturbed & disturbing the comfortable
