No apologies for posting this for the 2nd, or possibly 3rd year running. Check the inflatable Santa...
also available for Easter. Now all we need is one for booksellers in the North East.
Monday, December 08, 2008
Faith and Recession
Following the success of Back to Church Sunday, the Sunday papers speculated about whether the credit crunch is forcing people to reassess their values, bringing some of them back to church. (Ht Start the Week). Meanwhile comment is Free at the Guardian is hosted a series of articles last week on 'Can Religion Help Us Through the Slump?' Here's the line-up
Monday's response - Julia Neuberger: Whether you're religious or not, what matters is the desire to make a difference to other people's lives
Tuesday's response - Francis Davis: Across the country it will be priests and imams who stand with local people in their moments of need . Davis is one of the authors of Moral but No Compass, which surveyed the charitable work of the church, and pointed out the inadequacy of the Governments dealings with Chrisitan charities.
snippet: While Gordon Brown's response (to the recession) has been to lead us into even more borrowing, there will be thousands for whom a hug will be just as crucial as their gas meter is ripped out in front of their eyes or as they find themselves locked out of their houses by insistent lenders and landlords.
In neighbourhoods across the country it will be priests and imams who stand with local people in such moments of terror. They are, after all, often the only "professionals" to have the courage to actually live among the people with whom they work.
Wednesday's response - Ishtiaq Hussain: Like other people of faith, Muslims are enjoined to be charitable; crucial during times like these
Thursday's response - Graham Kings: When belts tighten, do they have to tighten around the necks of the poor?
Friday's response Nick Spencer: Some varieties of religion prey on the poor, others offer them help. Both kinds will flourish during the recession
Ht Thinking Anglicans.
... with a whole host of carol services coming up, I'm challenged by all of these about the message I'll be preaching. Often I try to tie Christmas in to something in the news, or something topical, and this year the challenge is to relate it to the recession and the implosion in global capitalism. First main one on Weds (Yeovil College), I'll probably post a full list later this week.
Monday's response - Julia Neuberger: Whether you're religious or not, what matters is the desire to make a difference to other people's lives
Tuesday's response - Francis Davis: Across the country it will be priests and imams who stand with local people in their moments of need . Davis is one of the authors of Moral but No Compass, which surveyed the charitable work of the church, and pointed out the inadequacy of the Governments dealings with Chrisitan charities.
snippet: While Gordon Brown's response (to the recession) has been to lead us into even more borrowing, there will be thousands for whom a hug will be just as crucial as their gas meter is ripped out in front of their eyes or as they find themselves locked out of their houses by insistent lenders and landlords.
In neighbourhoods across the country it will be priests and imams who stand with local people in such moments of terror. They are, after all, often the only "professionals" to have the courage to actually live among the people with whom they work.
Wednesday's response - Ishtiaq Hussain: Like other people of faith, Muslims are enjoined to be charitable; crucial during times like these
Thursday's response - Graham Kings: When belts tighten, do they have to tighten around the necks of the poor?
Friday's response Nick Spencer: Some varieties of religion prey on the poor, others offer them help. Both kinds will flourish during the recession
Ht Thinking Anglicans.
... with a whole host of carol services coming up, I'm challenged by all of these about the message I'll be preaching. Often I try to tie Christmas in to something in the news, or something topical, and this year the challenge is to relate it to the recession and the implosion in global capitalism. First main one on Weds (Yeovil College), I'll probably post a full list later this week.
30 second nativity
Here's the winner of the Churches Advertising Network 30-second Christmas competition.
the winner, Frankie Hipwell-Larkin, has even been on the Today programme to talk about it. Well done him. Any chance of a whole Bible version? The 3 runners up (all 30s audio clips) are also on the CAN site for your enjoyment. I have to say their campaign this year is top notch.
However:
The nativity story is beautiful, it has captured people's imaginations for years and years and years because of its innocence and sweetness and romance; it's heart-warming, it's pathetic (in the true sense of the word) - it's a gem, really: by far the most appealing bit of the bible. Enhanced with enough candles and Christmas carols (not to mention Remy Martin and mince pies), it can bring a tear even to this cynical atheist's eye! And this exercise has stripped it of all that and degraded it to something utterly crass and charmless. They really don't have a clue, do they? They can't be trusted even with their own most valuable assets. from this thread.
the winner, Frankie Hipwell-Larkin, has even been on the Today programme to talk about it. Well done him. Any chance of a whole Bible version? The 3 runners up (all 30s audio clips) are also on the CAN site for your enjoyment. I have to say their campaign this year is top notch.
However:
The nativity story is beautiful, it has captured people's imaginations for years and years and years because of its innocence and sweetness and romance; it's heart-warming, it's pathetic (in the true sense of the word) - it's a gem, really: by far the most appealing bit of the bible. Enhanced with enough candles and Christmas carols (not to mention Remy Martin and mince pies), it can bring a tear even to this cynical atheist's eye! And this exercise has stripped it of all that and degraded it to something utterly crass and charmless. They really don't have a clue, do they? They can't be trusted even with their own most valuable assets. from this thread.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
IDS on Social Breakdown
Very sobering article from Ian Duncan Smith in Saturday's Telegraph, reflecting on the Matthews kidnap case, social services, and social breakdown. Here's a snippet.
All the evidence from neuroscientists now shows that the most critical time for the development of a child's brain is in the first three years. To develop properly the child needs strong empathetic care and nurture as well as reading and conversation.
If the child does not experience these things, or worse, witnesses continuous anger and abuse, their brain will not develop at the proper rate and they will spend the rest of their childhood in and out of trouble. To turn this around will require more than one parliament, which is why all parties need to agree to act now.
A glance at the figures should show how we are already paying for this growing social breakdown. Over the past ten years the cost of policing has risen by 40 per cent, prisons and the courts by 46 per cent, youth justice by 45 per cent and working-age benefits by 25 per cent.
Too important to dismiss as Tory moralising, even if that's your instinct.
All the evidence from neuroscientists now shows that the most critical time for the development of a child's brain is in the first three years. To develop properly the child needs strong empathetic care and nurture as well as reading and conversation.
If the child does not experience these things, or worse, witnesses continuous anger and abuse, their brain will not develop at the proper rate and they will spend the rest of their childhood in and out of trouble. To turn this around will require more than one parliament, which is why all parties need to agree to act now.
A glance at the figures should show how we are already paying for this growing social breakdown. Over the past ten years the cost of policing has risen by 40 per cent, prisons and the courts by 46 per cent, youth justice by 45 per cent and working-age benefits by 25 per cent.
Too important to dismiss as Tory moralising, even if that's your instinct.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
A Moral Duty to Spend Money?
Woolly Thinking
Woolworths was heaving with bargain hunters yesterday, duped by the news stories of a big sale, and the sign in the window of 50% OFF EVERYTHING. If your eyesight was poor, you might miss the 'up to' hidden in the corner, and then wonder why there were virtually no half-price items in the store. In fact, the standard discount was 10%, some of which was the VAT cut.
Our appetite for deception hasn't been dulled by the debt crunch. If anything it's become even more acute. One seller in the market yesterday called out 'you'll never see these prices again' and I wanted to stop and ask him if he was telling the truth.
Woolworths was heaving with bargain hunters yesterday, duped by the news stories of a big sale, and the sign in the window of 50% OFF EVERYTHING. If your eyesight was poor, you might miss the 'up to' hidden in the corner, and then wonder why there were virtually no half-price items in the store. In fact, the standard discount was 10%, some of which was the VAT cut.
Our appetite for deception hasn't been dulled by the debt crunch. If anything it's become even more acute. One seller in the market yesterday called out 'you'll never see these prices again' and I wanted to stop and ask him if he was telling the truth.
The Answer to Debt Is..... More Debt
But this pales into insignificance compared to the rabbit hole that is our economic policy. Here we are in a debt crunch (yes I know it's called the 'credit crunch' but the word 'credit' is marketing sophistry. It's debt) brought on by irresponsible lending, unsustainable levels of consumer debt, a house price bubble, and reckless borrowing at levels never seen before in the UK. So what shall we do? I know:
- The government should borrow at levels never seen before in the UK.
- Reduce interest rates, making it less painful to get into debt, whilst penalising those who've been responsible and saved money.
- As businesses struggle for cash, plough billions into the banks, the same banks who got us into this mess and last year gave bonus awards the size of an African country.
- Pass legislation on sustainability and a reduced carbon footprint, and at the same time yank every economic lever possible to raise levels of resource consumption by the general population
These are the kind of solutions that makes homoeopathy look scientific. Okay, within one story they make economic sense, but is the story the Wealth of Nations or Alice in Wonderland? Is there any society in history which has made it the moral responsibility of its citizens to spend money? There is such a desparation to re-clothe the naked Emperor which is our consumer debt society, and quickly, that surely we should be a tad suspicious. Where are the people asking fundamental questions about the system itself?
2 examples:
- after the short-term pain, a fall in house prices will once again enable a family to own a property without both parents having to work full time and shove their kids into (government sponsored) childcare to make it possible. At least, it will until you get clobbered with university fees. Families are suffering now because owning a home puts you at the limit of your financial resources, so if anything gives then there is no slack. But we have waited for the bubble to burst messily, rather than questioning how big it was allowed to grow in the first place.
- Where too are the voices which, when total consumer debt overtook annual GDP, reminded us that debt is money that doesn't really exist, that isn't really yours, and that one day you have to pay it back?
Soul Destroying
A story is told of a Himalayan mountaineering expedition, where the Western climbers wanted to make quick progress. For three days they walked quickly, though the sherpas seemed reluctant. On day 4 the sherpas sat down and couldn't be moved. One climber asked the sherpa translator what was happening, and he replied: "after walking so fast for 3 days, they are now waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies."
Maybe this recession, painful though it is for impatient Westerners, is the same thing happening on a national level. We have been rushing ahead of capacity - of our personal capacity, and that of the economy and the planet. It's time to stop and let everything catch up. Maybe as we stop we'll get the time to think, reflect, and adjust.
The danger of the pre-Budget report, the interest rate cut, and the Christmas sales, is that they perpetuate the headlong rush for debt-and-spend that is the UK consumer lifestyle. We rush past the shivering, naked Emperor, and are too busy shopping to wonder why we ache, and feel distant from ourselves.
Spend or Save?
Meanwhile we plaster a terrorist attack on a rich hotel in India across our front pages, but when twice the number fall in Nigeria, nobody hears, whilst 5,000 infants a day die from preventable water-borne diseases. One estimate puts the cost per head of clean water & sanitation at £15. That's under $40billion for all 2,500,000,000 people in the world who lack either clean water or proper sanitation, which is the same as the rise in government borrowing from 2008-9. At what point did this kind of maths start adding up?
In blog threads about faith, it's not long before people like me are taunted for believing in sky fairies and the like. But which Christmas makes more sense, the one where we spend, or the one where we, and others, are saved?
this is a cross post from Touching Base, a column hosted by the Wardman Wire.
Friday, December 05, 2008
Advent Calendars: from the novel to the nova
If you've not yet visited the Beyond blog to see/read about the Beach Hut Advent calendar currently happening on Brighton seafront, then go visit now, fantastic.
Equally fantastic is the Hubble Advent Calendar (ht Metacatholic, via Steve Tilley). The heavens declare the glory of God....
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Faith Schools & Bigotry
A thread on Liberal Conspiracy is currently discussing faith schools, in advance of a report due today from the Runnymede Trust on whether faith schools promote that New Labour crock of gold, community cohesion. The full report will be downloadable from the Runnymede Trust site later this morning.
The comments themselves are fairly sensible, with quite a few people noting that they went to faith schools but didn't become bigoted fundies. On bigotry, here's a very thoughtful post from a NZ blog Why am I a Bigot? which argues that the accusation of bigotry gets thrown at Christians who hold strong moral views (in his case on abortion and sexuality), as a way of short-circuiting the argument. If we can label people 'bigots', then we no longer need to listen to their point of view. But is the label true?
One would think that it would be fairly obvious to people that you don’t refute a position by calling the person who holds it a bigot and it is tempting to dismiss this response as simply ... (confused)..; the problem is that people do not appear to find this obvious. In my experience, many people even educated people, recoil from considering any argument against feticide or homosexual conduct or listening to theological concerns on these matters because they perceive such positions to be bigoted.
worth a read (but skim-reading is probably not a viable option!), even if you don't agree with him.
Update: brief summary of the press release:
Faith schools should be open to all
Runnymede's latest report 'Right to Divide?' examines how faith schools have responded to the statutory duty to promote community cohesion. It recommends:
1. End selection on the basis of faith
2. Children should have a greater say in how they are educated
3. RE should be part of the core national curriculum
4. Faith schools should also serve the most disadvantaged
5. Faith schools must value all young people
6. If these recommendations are acted upon, faith should continue to play an important role in our education system
Rob Berkeley, Deputy Director of Runnymede, said:
"Faith schools make up a third of our education system. Schools should be central to their communities and neighbourhoods for all who live there not just those who share their religious world view. If we are serious about the importance of equality and cohesion, faith schools too need to play their part by welcoming all in society to the benefits of their approaches. "
Full report as a pdf here (76 pages), executive summary here (12 pages).
Update: good discussion happening on a new Liberal Conspiracy thread here.
The comments themselves are fairly sensible, with quite a few people noting that they went to faith schools but didn't become bigoted fundies. On bigotry, here's a very thoughtful post from a NZ blog Why am I a Bigot? which argues that the accusation of bigotry gets thrown at Christians who hold strong moral views (in his case on abortion and sexuality), as a way of short-circuiting the argument. If we can label people 'bigots', then we no longer need to listen to their point of view. But is the label true?
One would think that it would be fairly obvious to people that you don’t refute a position by calling the person who holds it a bigot and it is tempting to dismiss this response as simply ... (confused)..; the problem is that people do not appear to find this obvious. In my experience, many people even educated people, recoil from considering any argument against feticide or homosexual conduct or listening to theological concerns on these matters because they perceive such positions to be bigoted.
worth a read (but skim-reading is probably not a viable option!), even if you don't agree with him.
Update: brief summary of the press release:
Faith schools should be open to all
Runnymede's latest report 'Right to Divide?' examines how faith schools have responded to the statutory duty to promote community cohesion. It recommends:
1. End selection on the basis of faith
2. Children should have a greater say in how they are educated
3. RE should be part of the core national curriculum
4. Faith schools should also serve the most disadvantaged
5. Faith schools must value all young people
6. If these recommendations are acted upon, faith should continue to play an important role in our education system
Rob Berkeley, Deputy Director of Runnymede, said:
"Faith schools make up a third of our education system. Schools should be central to their communities and neighbourhoods for all who live there not just those who share their religious world view. If we are serious about the importance of equality and cohesion, faith schools too need to play their part by welcoming all in society to the benefits of their approaches. "
Full report as a pdf here (76 pages), executive summary here (12 pages).
Update: good discussion happening on a new Liberal Conspiracy thread here.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
December Wikio blog rankings
After the deep joy of becoming, according to Wikio, the 120th most influential blog in the UK (stop laughing at the back there) in October, November (just published) saw this blog hit 104, which I'm slightly chuffed about.
In highest slots, political blogs dominate (see previous post), technology blogs seem to be sliding (nobody can afford a Wii anymore), and here are the religious blogs in the top 200:
26 Cranmer (new entry)
104 St. Aidan to Abbey Manor
118 The Cartoon Blog (Dave Walker rises 11 places by doing absolutely nothing!!!! Now that's style)
160 Metacatholic
164 Tall Skinny Kiwi (which proves what a pile of cobblers this list is. Dave Bish contends that he's the top UK Christian blogger, based on technorati links - you'll find the list in his sidebar.)
173 SPCK/SSG News Notes and Info (up 57, well done Phil, I predict top 100 for December on the basis of what I've seen in the last few days)
177 Of Course I Could Be Wrong (will Jonathan be able to string a sentence together now he's been told to quit swearing?)
180 Anglican Mainstream (it's not a blog! It's a news service! But Madpriest will be chuffed to be 3 places ahead of them)
200 Holy Smoke (down 87, Popery just isn't what it used to be...)
I'm guessing they only list sites which they know about, which explains Cranmers sudden appearance. So if someone wants to submit Jon Birch, Jonny Baker, Bishop Alan, Paul Bayes, Tim Chester, even the Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley, then maybe some reality will set in. As long as I can stay ahead of Holy Smoke, I really don't care!
If you have been influenced by this blog, then please seek prayer as a matter of urgency.
In highest slots, political blogs dominate (see previous post), technology blogs seem to be sliding (nobody can afford a Wii anymore), and here are the religious blogs in the top 200:
26 Cranmer (new entry)
104 St. Aidan to Abbey Manor
118 The Cartoon Blog (Dave Walker rises 11 places by doing absolutely nothing!!!! Now that's style)
160 Metacatholic
164 Tall Skinny Kiwi (which proves what a pile of cobblers this list is. Dave Bish contends that he's the top UK Christian blogger, based on technorati links - you'll find the list in his sidebar.)
173 SPCK/SSG News Notes and Info (up 57, well done Phil, I predict top 100 for December on the basis of what I've seen in the last few days)
177 Of Course I Could Be Wrong (will Jonathan be able to string a sentence together now he's been told to quit swearing?)
180 Anglican Mainstream (it's not a blog! It's a news service! But Madpriest will be chuffed to be 3 places ahead of them)
200 Holy Smoke (down 87, Popery just isn't what it used to be...)
I'm guessing they only list sites which they know about, which explains Cranmers sudden appearance. So if someone wants to submit Jon Birch, Jonny Baker, Bishop Alan, Paul Bayes, Tim Chester, even the Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley, then maybe some reality will set in. As long as I can stay ahead of Holy Smoke, I really don't care!
If you have been influenced by this blog, then please seek prayer as a matter of urgency.
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