Paul’s journey on the margins continues on Cyprus (Acts 13). Having dispatched the magician Elymas with what sounds like a rather scary stare (‘filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul fixed his gaze on him’) Paul finds himself with a new convert on his hands in the shape of the island’s proconsul, Sergius Paulus. (Why is it that political leaders often like to have a priest-like figure by their side? Think Nixon and Billy...

More today on same sex couples and ‘Christian hotels’ and the judgement in Bristol County Court. In my last post I noted the social context in which the judge placed the case – a context that says that no longer can Christians expect the country’s laws to reflect their values and beliefs. It is because of this shift in society that we now have laws protecting the rights of people who were discriminated against in the ...

Do Christians have the right to impose their moral views on non-Christians who do not share those views? This was the simple question a judge was asked to answer in a case heard in Bristol County Court a few weeks ago. The defendants, a Christian couple called Peter and Hazel Bull, were being sued by two men who have entered a civil partnership with each other, Martin Hall and Steven Preddy, because they had refused the men...

Being right is over rated – so said a wise man to me once as he counselled me in being a better husband. And of course he was correct – in many spheres of life the importance we attach on being ‘right’ can be an unhelpful attitude. But is the same true in matters theological?

Most of you today would undoubtedly say yes. But it was not that case back in the fifth and sixth centuries. Indeed being on the wrong side of ...

We’re a Christian country, right? So we should have Christian laws. Where will we begin? We would obviously have to repeal civil partnerships and re-criminalise homosexuality. Any kind of research into genetics would need to be curtailed. And as for the creeping onset of euthanasia, that would surely be stopped in its tracks with the re-introduction of the death penalty. Look – it’s easy when you get going. Why not th...

How important is certainty where theological belief is concerned? Can doubt and faith exist side by side? Is uncertainty a weakness that needs to be taught away or is it a healthy sign that faith is developing and maturing? I ask the question after reading the Evangelical Alliance’s report 21^st Century Evangelicals – a survey of over 17,000 people who consider themselves to be evangelical. It is a fascinating document –...

‘The Alexandrian public is more delighted with tumult than any other people; and if at any time it should find a pretext, breaks forth into the most intolerable excesses; for it never ceases from its turbulence without bloodshed.’ That’s not a quote from a BBC commentator on the streets of the Egyptian city today but rather the view of an ancient church historian at a time when the Christian church was a real powerhou...

It is referred to as the Gangster Council – and if that makes it sound the most unchristian meeting ever held then you would be right and wrong at the same time. Wrong in that it was a formally-called gathering of ‘world’ Christian leaders; right in that the level of violence used in it totally discredited the meeting. Unfortunately, the violence used was but a reflection of the violence generally used within the chur...

Are Christians being persecuted in the UK? Errr … no. You wouldn’t believe it reading some websites though, including the Christian Institute’s. (I was nice to them yesterday and I’m sure being balanced is important, don’t you?) Indeed listening to some, including the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, you’d think that the state is executing a grand plan of sweeping the faith away from public sight.

S...

Bleak mid-winter it certainly is. For the past three days we’ve been in lock-down in Brynsiencyn with very little happening because of the snow. Carol services have been cancelled here as in many other places and by this morning I’m feeling thoroughly fed up. The great celebration that is our Christian Christmas is pretty much off in any collective sense – though we’ll still enjoy our turkey on Saturday.

The feeling of dis...

It’s Christmas and I’m feeling grumpy. Yes, ok, that’s my probably my default mood; but I’m worse than usual. You see I’m fed up of the entire anti-PC brigade complaining about how Christmas is being banned up and down the country. Over the past few years one spluttered story after the other has appeared in our popular press demanding that Christmas be put back into … well, Christmas I suppose.

Now u...

No longer should Christians in the UK have to pay council tax and their income tax levels should be half what any other citizen pays. In addition anyone who threatens Christians in any way should be punished under law.

Yes, I know, how ludicrous! None of us would think it sensible to call for such changes even if we would dearly love it to happen. But way back in the fourth century this was the type of law passed in favour...

Having been brought up in a Welsh Baptist chapel, ‘advent’ meant nothing at all to me. Some twenty years of formal ministry and three degrees in theology later and I’m still rather perplexed. No matter. It’s got something to do with the period running up to Christmas – though probably not ‘counting down the number of shopping days left’.

As part of their pre-Christmas preparations the Children’s Society –...

Simon Cowell, whoever produces Strictly, and the US government have all one thing in common this week – they face their power being subverted. To be fair to him, Cowell was very honest when he acknowledged on last night’s XFactor that there were people trying to wreck his programme by voting for Wagner – someone who couldn’t carry a tune in an Onya bag. Last night the subversion finally failed, however, and Wagner l...

This post probably won’t get read by many – usually, the more the theological they are, the less read they are. But I would appreciate your input on this one, so bear with me. I want to return to the issue of idolatry and the state – first touched upon in this blog when I discussed David Cameron’s Happiness Index.

Let me begin by going back in history to the fifth century and a certain theologian called Augustine. ...

‘If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands – CLAP! CLAP! If you’re happy and you know it’ … and so on until your hands are red raw from clapping so much just to prove to David Cameron that your happiness levels are indeed high despite the slashing of our public services. Yes the prime minister is interested in setting up a happiness index for the UK – a statistical device that will tell us how happy we ...

Few could surely have been unimpressed by the dignified way Aung San Suu Kyi returned to public life following her years of captivity. The lack of bitterness, unforgiveness, and recrimination in her words set Suu Kyi apart from so many in today’s world. How easy it would be for her to call for a violent revolt against the regime that kept her under house arrest. Instead she calls for face to face talks and reconciliation....

It seems not all were agreed with my stance on the British Humanist’s call for a change in the 2011 Census where recording people’s religion is concerned. The reason given is that with 70% of people saying they identify themselves as Christian we can then call on the government to legislate with Christian values and morality in mind. It’s a Christian country after all – or so goes the argument.

Well let’s take this...

The British Humanist Association is on the march once again. Britain beware! Whatever they’re for, we’re against – right? Well in this case, wrong. What they’re calling for this time is that on the next census form (2011) the question that asks us what religion we are is specific enough for those who are not practising any religion to be able to say so.

And personally I’m all in favour of this change. The last ce...

The proposal to build an Islamic cultural centre including a mosque within a short distance of Ground Zero is causing Americans a lot of heartache – and while I can understand the pain it must cause for many in the US, I cannot undertsand how some are connecting all Muslims with the murders of 9/11. It’s a bit like the people of Warrington being upset at the Catholics building a new church within a few blocks of where t...

Media outlets in Wales like the BBC and Golwg360 thought the fact that the Welsh language was spoken in an official capacity for the first time in Westminster Cathedral was the worthy story on Saturday, and not the fact that the British State used to execute Christians. The great and the good of England and Wales gathered in that great non-conformist cathedral to celebrate the martyrdom of John Roberts, Trawsfynydd.

Robert...

A howl of anguish is the most frequent response by Christians as the church continues to see how its influence is diminished in the UK. Indeed, this diminishing is sometimes portrayed as the beginnings of persecution as some on the right become ever more strident in their views. Whatever our views on this, we would all have to agree that the church is becoming more marginal in its influence on Western society today. The que...

Homosexuality is an ideology that is being imposed upon us by the new Conservative government. Or so suggests a leading Christian campaigning group as it calls on its followers to protest against the government’s equality agenda. Christian Concern for our Nation refers to the newly published equality programme by Home Secretary, Theresa May, as a ‘major departure from the views held’ by her ‘personally and by her party mo...

In London people protest when talk of building a ‘super-mosque’ is in the air; in Barcelona they want to ban the burqa; in Switzerland they want to ban minarets. All over Europe, it seems there is a backlash against Islam and so often Christians are to be found among those protesting. Living in a plural society – a society with many faiths and none – is obviously a difficult concept in the 21^st century.

It’s been a while since I last posted on Stuart Murray’s Post-Christendom. The last post was my resume from the book of what empire church is like. If you want a reminder of where Murray has taken us so far it may be worth spending some time reading that post which deals with the legacy given to us by Christendom.

In chapter 8 Murray begins to suggest some ways forward in this the beginning of the post-Chris...

Today the polling company YouGov have released their findings from a survey on British attitudes towards Islam. Headline figures include the following stats: 58% associate Islam with extremism; 40% do not believe Muslims have a positive impact on society; and 70% believe it is a religion that represses women. Astoundingly some 50% link it with terrorism.

It shouldn’t take us much thinking time to realise how i...

John ‘the rottweiler’ Humphreys showed how difficult it is to break out of the mould this morning as he interviewed the new Home Secretary, Theresa May, on the Today programme. He was pressing her about the Tories’ attitude towards the Human Rights Act and the very different approach they have to it compared to their partners in government, the Lib Dems. Apparently the Tories are very anti while the Lib Dem...

• Empire church is a church that enjoys pri...

We often look at what one church or even a whole church movement is doing and get excited about their success. They start an Alpha course in a run down estate and see some young single mums start following Jesus, and we think, ‘Great. This is what God is doing these days’. Well, maybe. But what if we – just for a moment – take our eyes off the micro and look at the macro? What if we were to look back acro...

In the previous post from Stuart Murray’s book I emphasised the work of the radical reformers, the Anabaptists. But despite their sterling work Christendom was pretty much untouched by the upheaval of the 16^th century. However, in chapter 7 Murray suggests that the ‘seeds of destruction had been sown’ in that period (page 178). He identifies four factors that have led to the slow death of Christendom since ...

What model of church do you follow in your church? There are two basic types which I can think of: there’s the ‘church as bus’ model and then there’s the ‘church as body’. Now we know which the New Testament model is – it is ‘church as body’. Paul in his first letter to Corinthians makes this very clear and gives a lengthy teaching on it. We would all probably claim that this is also the model w...

Responding to the Roman Catholic Church’s deeply troubling problems over the abuse of children is difficult. I do not want to be stirring waters that are not mine to stir. Neither do I want to say anything that causes more pain to those who have been hurt. However there is a lesson for all churches to learn from this most disturbing of episodes and it is to do with power and how it used and abused by church.

The...

Yesterday I was down in Llanelli for a meeting with the German prophet, Michael Schiffmann, and the leadership of Antioch along with a couple from Cardiff. I suppose we’re all very much fellow travellers along the emerging church route, though at different stages – with me some distance behind!

Michael shared some his own journey and thoughts about emerging church and about where church in general has not been fulfilling her...

Though the Protestant Reformers changed much within the church in the 16^th century, they left Christendom intact. Not only that but they also persecuted those who took the Reformation deeper and further and who wanted to dismantle the church-state system built since the fourth century. They were known as the Anabaptists – the ‘second baptisers’ – labelled as such because of their practise of baptising tho...

One biblical word that has made a bit of a come back in the past few years is ‘apostolic’. Its current definition seems to include roughly three activities: church planting; works of miracles, especially in healing; and overseeing a number of local churches. As all three can be seen as apostolic ministry in the New Testament then the title/label is carried over from scripture to the present day. The simple me...

Did the Reformation change Christendom? Surprisingly not is Stuart Murray’s answer in chapter 5 of Post-Christendom. Though the Protestant Reformation brought about much needed change to doctrine and many church practices, very little was done as far as the church’s connection to the state is concerned. ‘They refined it, fractured it and shifted the balance of power within it towards the secular a...

Stuart Murray’s description of Christendom in the late Medieval period is scathing: it was ‘monolithic, totalitarian and seemingly impervious to critique’ (Post-Christendom, page 132). And yet there were dissenting voices to be heard all over Europe at this time. That those dissenters faced the wrath of Christendom through suppression and persecution tells us a great deal about what a threat they were deeme...

I see the bishops have been stirring it up again, this time on the issue of allowing civil partnerships to be conducted on religious premises. They’re pushing for a change in the Equality Bill currently before the House of Lords – the one they recently successfully changed on the issue of bringing equal opportunity rights into employment issues in churches. They didn’t like that change as it would have forced...

Under Christendom the church became the dominant force in society. Indeed by the 12^th century the church was able to exercise power over countries and their rulers in Western Europe. ‘No secular ruler could rival papal wealth or authority,’ says Stuart Murray in Post-Christendom as he paints a picture of a totalitarian church in the late medieval period (page 110). Dissent was not welcomed at all by this time...

Two recent announcements made by the Conservative Party reflect how far they too have moved away from traditional and conservative Christian values. Of course, both Labour and the Lib Dems have distanced themselves from social conservatism a long time ago, but the Tories were pretty much signed up members of the ‘keep the UK a Christian country’ until very recently and could be counted on to defend Christian values on issues such as marriage. But as society has changed so have the polit...