JP's Corner of The Blogosphere

The BBC News Page this morning has an interesting article about the forthcoming census.  As a Christian, I have to say that I support the basic principle of the British Humanist Association’s Census Campaign (even if I disagree with some of the underlying motives). It’s about time that we got people to think honestly about their faith.  The Church of England suggested to the BBC that “ Christianity is a religion that people identify with, regardless of their level of church-going, ” but I am left wondering exactly what this form of Christianity is. My gut feel is that the religion a lot of people identify with is one which vaguely hopes in a God and an afterlife, and has something to do with ‘being good.’  Identifying oneself as a ‘Christian’ in this case is a way of affirming oneself as a ‘good person.’  I think that most people feel that they are ‘good,’ and for some, ticking the Christian box on the census adds a sense of authenticity. Personally, I am remind...

So, Jeffrey John is potentially going to become Bishop of Southwark .  The news saddens me - but before I am accused of being homophobic, let me say that Dr John’s sexuality is not the real reason I am upset.  In fact, I have three big concerns about this latest news. 1) Much is being made about David Cameron being in favour of Dr John’s appointment, with reports suggesting that “it will be good for the image of the Conservative Party.”  As far as I know, our Prime Minister is not a church-goer, but even if he was, it doesn’t seem right that he is able to choose a church leader for political gain.  Paul’s 1st letter to Timothy contains some good points about choosing a church leader, and someone who “improves the image of the Prime Minister” is not one of them. 2) Some time ago, I was privileged to be in a group invited by Dr John to drinks at his house in St Albans.  I’d been looking forward to meeting him, and was determined to try and put my prejudices a...

As I mentioned in a previous post, I very much enjoyed going to church in Shanghai .   Predictably, I didn’t allow enough time to cross the city and was a bit late.  When I got there I was initially turned away because the room was packed out.  I explained that I was unable to attend either of the afternoon services and managed to wangle my way in – where I had to squeeze up against the back wall because the room was so full.  Almost every bit of floor space and wall space was occupied.  The service I went to, at the hotel in Hong Qiao, has only been running for a few months and yet is already so popular that plans are afoot to start a second morning service to cater for demand.  This growth – despite some of the restrictions which seem to be in place – is certainly something to be thankful for.

I think I might have mentioned before that one of the things I like about the londonpaper is the londonlove section. In particular, I’m often amused by the texts sent in by people trying to take an exchange of smiles on the Tube to the Next Level.   Sometimes I think that people need to be a bit more original, because “I’m the brunette who smiled at you on the Jubilee Line” is not particularly eye-catching (even if smiling at someone on the Tube is noteworthy these days) and could illicit all sorts of dubious responses from people trying their luck. On other occasions I can understand why an exchange of numbers never happened in the first place; I can’t say that I’m especially well-versed in this sort of thing but I’m fairly certain that “I really did have some cold-sore cream in my bag” is not a follow-up to a great chat-up line. I also wonder why some people bother when they end their messages with such gems as “you ...

If you've been keeping up with the news recently, you won't have missed the fact that the Church of England's governing body (General Synod) had an emotionally charged vote on the issue of Women Bishops at the beginning of the week.   It's certainly an interesting and complicated issue.  Personally, I am saddened by the fact that the main picture painted of the church in recent weeks has been one of division and apparently irrelevant bickering, whilst the good news of the Christian message has been left unproclaimed.  I would. however, like to offer one or two thoughts on the matter.   Firstly, a comment was made in a news report I saw that "both sides were taking their arguments from the Bible".  There is a popular, if ignorant argument which claims that the Bible is full of contradictions (and therefore unreliable and irrelevant).  Unfortunately, I suspect that such comments have only served to reinforce such a notion, whilst my percepti...