Real religious faith versus the murderous corruption of faith...

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Via Cranmer's blog:

He has lost a thousand of his parishioners over the past year alone - murdered by Muslim militants; many of them summarily shot or beheaded. He has recently been speaking to numerous fellowships in the UK to raise awareness of the situation in Iraq, and he received death threats last week from ISIS/ISIL (or IS [Islamic State], as they now wish to be called). Notwithstanding the danger, he has returned to St George's in Baghdad to continue his work. He wrote:

We go back to Iraq on Tuesday. There are so many needs to provide and we thank our Lord for how he has provided for us to meet these needs through you. We have so many Christians who have literally been ousted from their homes with nothing, they are living on the streets.Please pray that we may be able to show them the love of Jesus and provide their needs.

The Islamists are trying to eradicate the symbol of the cross from their new Caliphate.

There was no Mass in Mosul last Sunday for the first time in 1600 years. Those Christians who risk worship must do so in silence, praying under new Sharia regulations that have silenced every church bell in the city. 

Cranmer provides a place where people can give practical, cash help alongside their prayers. I hope many do perhaps including some on the spiritual journey of Ramadan right now.

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More on that pesky free speech...

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Apparently expressing the beliefs of mainstream christianisty, islam and judaism is now illegal:

Mr Miano has recently been out preaching in Wimbledon. He very much enjoys biblical evangelism, speaking about spiritual growth, personal holiness and the person and work of Jesus Christ. On Monday, his theme was sexual immorality - all forms (1Thess 4:1-12). He talked about sin - heterosexual and homosexual - without discrimination. As he was preaching, a lady heard him say that homosexuality was a sin, and promptly summoned the police, who duly arrived.

Mr Miano was then arrested for violating Section 5 of the Public Order Act: he was accused of using homophobic speech likely to cause anxiety, distress, alarm or insult.

Now I don't think that homosexuality is any sort of sin but I do know that free speech means others should be able to express that view. And I also know that many christians, muslims and jews consider homosexuality to be a sin.

But there's something about sinners - at least if you're a christian:

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Luke 6:37

The suppression of free speech is an act of judgement as plainly as is the stoning of adulterers or the casting out of people we choose to label 'sinner'.

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Thoughts on prejudice, Christianity and the law

There was a time when casual racism was commonplace and (literally) unremarkable. We have thankfully left that behind – today racism is seldom ‘casual’ since no-one can argue seriously that they were unaware of what their words or actions signify. Of course, this does not mean that racism does not persist merely that we do not excuse even minor infractions. Some would argue that we have – in some instances – gone too far, at least in our responses to the use of racial terms and racial abuse. But, in the round, we are a better society for having made the changes – legal and behavioural – in our response to racism.

For sexuality, however, we have not travelled the same distance – while putting up a sign saying “no gays” is illegal, there remains a tendency to excuse actions or words that constitute ‘casual homophobia’. Most commonly this excuse comes in the form of ‘respecting religious faith’. Now, it is incontrovertible that mainstream Christian and Muslim belief views homosexuality as a sin (as is also the case for adultery, sex before marriage and masturbation). But this does not mean that Christians and Muslims should be exempted from anti-discrimination laws. So the woman managing a B&B who turns away a gay couple has no defence of being a Christian.

More interesting is how we respond as a society to this situation. Do we throw the full might and majesty of the law at the boarding house owner? Close her down? Or do we act proportionately – and if so, what exactly does that mean. It would be wrong to ignore the strictures of the law since that would undermine the effectiveness of that law. Would some sort of official “quiet word” be more effective? What I do think is that you cannot pass laws and expect that the following morning people will have changed what they think. And at the root of all this is prejudice – in this case a prejudice sustained by large, powerful religious organisations.

While there remains a liberal dilemma in all this – where do the rights lie in this matter – we have settled the issue of racial prejudice by saying that prejudice harms and therefore you have no right to be prejudiced (which isn’t the same as saying you cannot be prejudiced – the law can’t change that only you can). In the case of homosexuality, we have allowed ourselves to be constrained by a verse in Leviticus. Despite prejudice harming, we are prepared to excuse it in the interest of ‘respecting faith communities’. And the saddest thing in all this is that Christians (at least of the sort I was brought up to be) are taught to love the sinner – and that we are all sinners and that god loves us despite this. How can that be squared with turning a gay couple away from your B&B because you’re a Christian?

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