Paths to God and Paths Away From Martyrdom in the Church of England
Speaking of things that keep getting worse:
Telegraph Blogs - Holy Smoke - Bishops battle it out over Muslims, by Damian Thompson
The Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, who holds the Church’s urban life portfolio – since when was the bench of bishops a shadow cabinet? – says “the demand for the evangelisation of other faiths contributes nothing to our communities”. I’d like to hear him argue that point to St Paul, or to any of the martyrs who were put to death for preaching the Gospel to non-Christians without regard to “community cohesion”. …
First, Jesus of Nazareth was adamant that mankind must turn urgently towards him, and that the consequences of not doing so were literally hellish. There is not a hint in any of his sayings that his followers must learn to respect the “path to God”, as Lowe puts it, of people he would have regarded as pagans.
Oy.
Second, the history of religion shows that faiths which lose the impulse to convert members of other religions or traditions, but concentrate instead on trying to re-energise their core constituency, are at enormously higher risk of fading away.
And did you notice the official Church of England response to the controversy? A spokesman said: “We have a mission-focused Christian presence [sic] in every community, including those where there are a large number of Muslims. That engagement is based on the provisions of Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides for freedom of thought, conscience and religion.”
Ah yes, Article 9. A much more agreeable document on which to base one’s “engagement” than the inconvenient demands of the New Testament.
Oy.
Filing under multiculturalism:
For details see here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here.
May 26th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
The Anglican Church in England is becoming a club. A very exclusive one, in fact if not in principle.
May 27th, 2008 at 4:52 am
Perhaps not so much a club as a pension scheme with some political posing attached. That’s where it’s laid up its treasure. After the Reformation the CofE kept the property and the Catholics kept the Faith.
May 27th, 2008 at 6:08 am
Will they outlast the Masons?
May 27th, 2008 at 7:35 am
A close-run thing. Though several Archbps Cantuar have been both.
June 10th, 2008 at 8:59 am
[...] Aaaaaaand here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here. [...]