Muslim Extremists?

Friendly reminder that non-white skin does NOT equal Muslim. Educate yourself and learn to tell the difference! Oh, and there are are plenty of white-skinned Muslims both in UK, Europe (e.g. Bosnia) and the rest of the World.

Second friendly reminder that all extremists are not Muslims. There are, for examples, extremist “Hindus” in India (attacking Muslims & Christians), extremist “Buddhists” in Burma (attacking Muslims), extremist atheists in Russia (attacking LGBTI folk) and extremist “Christians” in the USofA (attacking anyone). These extremists are terrorists and, in the case of religionists, are not following the call of their respective faiths.

DAESH (often called ISIS) are NOT a Muslim organisation, despite their claims and the efforts of right-wing media to suggest so. They are political extremists, terrorists. Nowadays we know that the so-called Christian Crusades were nothing of the sort, but power-plays and a means to obtain, money, gold, assets & land.

Learn from the lessons of history! Question the agendas of media outlets and the motives of politicos! Do not accept the superficial and soundbite propaganda of those in power over us!

Muslim does not equal extremist.

Zum Nikolausfest!

Yesterday afternoon I did something different and am so glad I did. My German mistress from my secondary-school days invited me to a choral concert to celebrate Saint Nicholas (Sankt Nikolaus) Day.

"Saint Nicholas' Day, observed on December 6 (in Western Christian countries) and 19 December (in Eastern Christian countries), is the feast day of Saint Nicholas. It is celebrated as a Christian festival with particular regard to his reputation as a bringer of gifts, as well as through the attendance of mass or worship services" [© Wikipedia]

Gina is a member of an adult choir called Bravura and they, along with the experienced senior group named Silk, supported the main body, Cantus Chamber Choir. The concert was staged in association with the Anglo-Austrian Society under the musical direction of Daphne Sumbler.

The venue was the wonderfully welcoming Christ with All Saints Church in Heaton Norris (a suburb of Stockport). It was built in 1886 in what I presume is the Gothic Revival architectural style. There are a couple of fine stained-glass windows which catch the eye in the section now used as the church. Apparently the edifice was remodelled in the 1990’s to split into sections including a large, multi-purpose and well-used community hall.

The programme (image above) included pieces by Austrians such as Silent Night (Gruber), Ave Verum Corpus (Mozart) and Song of Peace (Haydn) as well as Englanders such as The Snow (Elgar), Coventry Carol (traditional; first written down by Robert Croo in 1534) and Walking in the Air (Blake). Additionally we were treated to other works from inter alia Africa, Europe and North America. I was expecting to listen to some fair to good amateur singing; instead I was delighted to be entertained by an incredibly professional team of dedicated and highly qualified artists.

If one did not consider the entry fee worth the performances with which we were presented, then the festive spread - literally across table after table - was a mouth-watering bacchanalia of goodies. Pfeffernüsse & Lebkuchen (gingerbread), marble-cake, mince pies, gâteaux, Apfelstrudel, Glühwein,…… Yummy!

"[C]hildren can (usually) expect to be rewarded by Saint Nicholas anyway, as long as they can tell him that they have been good: 'brav'!"

If he's reading, Saint Nick I have definitely been brav'!

%DDD

Christian Hierarchy Forgets to be… well, Christian!

By now many will have heard or read about yesterday's demonstration on Westminster Abbey land in Parliament Square (London) by inter alia DPAC protestors. Disabled People Against Cuts can be followed on facebook or via their website. Bernadette Meaden has written the following succinct piece which unwraps the issues. Her brief biography appears below the article. She has very kindly given me permission to re-blog here. Bernadette writes for Ekklesia, a sort of think-tank looking at issues from a Christian & social justice perspective. There are many interesting, well-argued and thought-provoking articles on their site. Please take a look at one or two.

[Image description: Ekklesia's gif logo]

OCCUPY WESTMINSTER ABBEY

This summer almost a thousand people will be ordained as deacons or priests in the Church of England. It is a season of celebration, but for many who look to the Church to be a beacon of justice and compassion, events at Westminster Abbey yesterday left them feeling extremely disappointed.

As priests and deacons are ordained the Bishop will say,

"They are to proclaim the gospel in word and deed, as agents of God's purposes of love. They are to serve the community in which they are set, bringing to the Church the needs and hopes of all the people. They are to work with their fellow members in searching out the poor and weak, the sick and lonely and those who are oppressed and powerless, reaching into the forgotten corners of the world, that the love of God may be made visible."

On Saturday 28th June, people who are sick, and weak, and powerless, arrived at Westminster Abbey hoping to get the support of the Church in their struggle to save services on which they completely depend.

Disabled people are afraid that the government’s closure of the Independent Living Fund (ILF) will mean many of them are forced into institutions because it is easier or cheaper than providing care in their own homes. To understand what this means, please watch this video. And this applies to all age groups: severely disabled people in their twenties or thirties fear spending the rest of their lives in an institution, or trapped in their own homes without adequate care.

Journalist Kate Belgrave was at the protest and reported, ‘Disabled people continue to fight for the ILF through the courts. Today, they attempted to take things to another level and set up a camp in the grounds of Westminster Abbey. The hope was that the church of England would see the point of this extremely serious and important protest, and help facilitate a protest camp and discussion. The lives of these disabled people will be threatened without that ILF money. It’s as simple as that.

Unfortunately, the church seemed to miss that point – perhaps in its rush to get the Met on the line. Christianity was in very short supply at the Abbey today. Police poured through the gates to stop the protest and to stamp on tents, to make sure they couldn’t be pitched. They were very heavy-handed all round and must easily have outnumbered protestors ten to one.’

The reaction on social media was extremely critical of the Church. What was very interesting was that many who commented had a very clear and positive idea of what the Church’s position should be. Many may not have been church goers, or counted themselves Christians, but they had a clear view that Jesus was on the side of the poor, the weak, the sick and the powerless, and they were crying out for the Church to be so too.

John McDonnell MP, who was at the Abbey to support the protest, tweeted ‘Looks like Church of England has turned it's back on the lessons of the Sermon on the Mount as police surround disabled people at Abbey’ and ‘No contact from Dean of Westminster so it looks like at the most iconic site of Christian worship in Britain the Church is evicting disabled’. Financial broadcaster Paul Lewis tweeted, ‘Wonga shareholder calls police to clear disabled protesters off its lawn’

As it transpired, as evening fell arrests were threatened and police refused to allow food or medication to be taken to the protesters, so they were not evicted, they left of their own accord: to applause. The Church came out of the whole situation very badly. Al Barrett, a vicar in Hodge Hill Birmingham tweeted ‘Yet again CofE’s public face is that of the oppressive, defensive neoliberal state and not the vulnerable’

Disabled People Against Cuts who organised the protest, commented: ‘The protesters had no option but to leave the site……….many thanks to the church for chosing to protect their interests and their income from tourists over arguing in solidarity for justice for disabled people. #saveilf’

It was a great shame that the Church did not extend the hand of friendship and hospitality when it was so clearly needed.

For more information on the Save ILF campaign visit the campaign website

-----
© Bernadette Meaden has written about political, religious and social issues for some years, and is strongly influenced by Christian Socialism, liberation theology and the Catholic Worker movement. She is an Ekklesia associate and regular contributor. You can follow her on Twitter: @BernaMeaden

Gay Marriage

I have just found that the famous (and lovely by the by) author, Armistead Maupin (Armistead Maupin on facebook), has posted a link to an advertisement for marriage equality for gays & lesbians. It speaks for itself, so here it is: "beautiful-british-gay-marriage-commercial" .

Some folk believe that the Bible interdicts homosexuality. Well, as the word was only created at the end of the C19th (1897 to be precise) that would seem a tad rich. There are only four (yes four) passages that are supposedly anti-homosexual and Jesus himself never even mentioned the topic. That's right, Jesus the Christ, the basis of Christianity, did not have a single word to say on the matter. However, selective fundamentalists pick and choose which bits of the Bible they are going to follow.

If one reads Deuteronomy chapter 22 verses 13 to 21, one discovers that under the old covenant a marriage was only to be considered valid if the wife (note not the husband!) was a virgin. If it transpired she was not a virgin, the marriage was invalid and the wife was supposed to be executed. Well apart from the sexism and hypocrisy involved, that would make a hell of a lot of marriages invalid and we should have to kill a heck of a lot of womenfolk!

Well, even if we ignore what the Bible might or might not say on the subject, there is the thorny issue of Church tradition. We are told by Roman Catholics and Anglicans (Episcopalians) that traditionally the Church is anti-homosexuality and that marriage is just for one man and one woman. Ahem, actually that is not quite true. There is quite some evidence to demonstrate that the Church from at least the C6th to C18th was blessing same-sex unions (mainly male, but there are some female rites).

For Church precedence see inter alia:

Kontakion to Saints Serge & Bacchus, C6th, Greek
Office of Same-Sex Union, C10th, Greek
Office of Same-Sex Union, C11th, Greek
Prayer for Same-Sex Union, C11th, Greek
The Order for Uniting Two Men, C11-12th, Slavonic
Office of Same-Gender Union, C12th, Italo-Greek
Order for Solemnization of Same-Sex Union, C13th, Greek
Office of Same Sex (sic) Union, C14th, Serbian Slavonic
Agreement of "Brotherhood", C15th, Latin
Office for Same-Gender Union, C16th?, Greek
Office of Same-sex (sic) Union, C16th, Greek
The Order of Celebrating the Union of Two Men, <C18th, Serbian Slavonic

The Vatican purged its library of Latin texts, but omitted to destroy documents in other languages: hence the apparent lack of Latin evidence. Yes, it's probably now dawning upon one that there has been a mass cover-up. It's political of course. The Church in times of trouble has often needed a scapegoat: witches, Jews, homosexuals, etc. Now what is the major issue at the moment - pædophile priests. So the Church needs to go on the attack to deflect attention. It has acted thus for centuries.

I happen to be a pantheist and a Quaker. Quakers would actually like to marry same-sex couples in their places of worship, as would other smaller Christian denominations along with some Jewish groups.

If you would like to support equal marriage, then please sign AVAAZ's petition (Support gay marriage in the UK)

%)