Quote of last month

better late than never:

I don't actually mind being slagged off for my faith, or laughed at. I don't mind if folk think I'm bonkers. What would concern me far far more would be if I was being arrogant or pushy and deserving of the abuse.

Spoiled mollycoddled Christians in the comfortable West too often scream persecution when all that's happening is that their own lack of grace has rubbed folk up the wrong way, and those folk have, understandably, let them have it in return.

On the other hand, persecution is real and alive on planet Earth, and I pray for those who're experiencing the true variety.

posted by AnneDroid at Get out of Jail Free.

South-West Christian Resources Exhibition 29-31 Jan

The South-West CRE happens near Exeter on 29-31st January, summary details here, and you can view the full event brochure too.

Seminars include: Messy Church, childrens work, environment, debt, worship, fresh expressions, leadership, all-age worship, mission to 20's & 30s, and plenty of others.

there's also Book Aid, who collect used Christian books and deliver them to churches in the developing world - great idea, so now's the chance to have a look through your shelves for those duplicate copies of 'Questions of Life'.

About 80-90 of the exhibitors are listed on the brochure, and a further 50+ are expected to show up.

There Probably is A Flying Spaghetti Monster: Sightings in Lincolnshire

It must be true, reports of giant tentacles in the sky are in the Sun today, and less credibly, reported on the Today programme and the Telegraph. Said beastie has destroyed a wind turbine. The photos of the turbine are copyright, so you'll have to visit the Sun page to see them, but here's what the FSM is supposed to look like:

here's its church, and if you've never heard of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, just look out for any discussion thread with over 10 comments on whether God exists, or pretty much any national newspaper article on religion which has a 'have your say' section. Like this one.

Christianity, A History - New Channel 4 Series

New TV series starting on Channel 4 on Sunday at 7pm, there's a tie-in article in the Independent which looks at the changing face of religious TV, and a bit of the background to the series. Here's a snippet

The eight films in our series are each authored by a different commentator with a particular view or stake in the topic. For instance, the Independent's own Howard Jacobson rails magnificently against Christianity's denial of Jesus' Jewishness, and explores how this laid the ground for 2,000 years of anti-semitism. Michael Portillo investigates the political ramifications of Christianity's acceptance into the Roman Empire. Robert Beckford embraces the British conversion to Christianity as the defining moment of our history. Rageh Omaar considers the taint of the Crusades on relations with Islam today, and Cherie Blair asks whether, after the horrors of the 20th-century, Christianity has a future in the 21st. What all the films have in common is the idea that, believer or not, you can't deny the continuing influence of faith on almost every aspect of our world today – and that includes television.

It also got a spread in the latest Radio Times. That's print media, you know, the stuff where you pick it up and turn pages.

Here's the series homepage on channel 4.

There's Probably No Bus either

The Agnostibus campaign has gone national (it's a bit of a misnomer to call it the 'atheist bus campaign', given the slogan itself ), with £140,000 and 800 buses carrying the message to the nation, and 1000 ads on around London underground. I just love the idea of a commuter crammed like a sardine into a sweaty airless carriage thinking 'of course, the reason I'm not enjoying this is because I'm not an atheist, and the reason I'm worrying isn't because my company is about to go bust, it's because I paid too much attention in my church school assemblies'. With the debt crunch, the timing is deeply ironic.

It's been welcomed by various Christian groups, including Theos . I can't work out if they're just teasing, doing a 'love your enemies: it messes with their heads' thing, or whether they geniunely believe that more people will start thinking about issues of God and faith as a result of this. We could do with a few of the Christians also pointing out that everything in the statement is wrong, or misleading.

Well worth a read is this piece by Nick Spencer:
Let's leave aside the adverts' basic proposition, "There's probably no God". Where did that "probably" come from? It doesn't suggest the sales staff is overly confident about its product. If my pilot told me "This flight to Paris probably won't crash," I'd think about taking the train.

And let's leave aside the advice, "Now stop worrying and enjoy your life". You would have to go a long way to find a slogan less suited to our New Year, recession-looming, mass-unemployment gloom. The truly wonderful thing about the campaign is that it does that most un-English thing. It mentions God in public.

I wonder how long it will be before we get bus drivers careering round corners at high speed and calling back to their passengers, as they cling despairingly to the nearest solid object, 'stop worrying and enjoy life!'


And: if you're a Christian (or Muslim, or...) bus driver, what do you do if you find the advert plastered down the side of your bus? Did any atheist drivers object to carrying Alpha ads?

Pietersen quits as England captian

Breaking news, according to Cricinfo and the Times. Peter Moores has quit as well. Blimey.

Nothing on the ECB site yet. The main source seems to be Sky news. Another brief report here.

later: looks like Sky jumped the gun a bit. Which came first, the news or the event itself?

Roundup of all the 'day after' comments here. Not an ideal way to begin Ashes year.

Quote of the month so far

In case you missed it

"We need a reboot not a bailout, as the man said. It’s time to think different. The fantasy that the answer to one housing Ponzi is another is profoundly barmy. Debt fuelled growth is problematic. It makes everybody feel good for all the wrong reasons.

The wealth is like fairies in Peter Pan — fine as long as you believe it really is wealth, but every time a house is undersold, a fairy dies. It’s certainly no substitute for hard work, added value, goods and services. Borrowing to bailout has to be paid for by future taxation.

If we must borrow heavily off our children, perhaps even our grandchildren, as the UK did to defeat fascism in the 1940’s, at least let it be for a rational and worthy cause, not just more of the same."

Bishop Alan, on the credit crunch, Labours record, and critical bishops.

No Comment

I'd forgotten, until discovering quite by accident an hour ago, that I'd put all blog comments on moderation on 24th December. Thought it was quiet around here. My apologies to those of you who've commented during the 12 days of Christmas, your wisdom is now made public here for all the blogosphere to marvel at.