With the ConDem coalition speeding along at a rattling rate,the Telegraph are pulling out the big guns. Liverpool’s very own bishop the Rt Rev James Jones is no stranger to the geo-political world, even managing a pray for God’s help against Climate Change:
The Anglican Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev James Jones said, “I urge all Christians to pray for the earthing of Heaven on this day of prayer. Each day I make my own prayer with these words, ‘Holy Jesus, Son of Man, come in glory and renew the face of the earth’.”
Still, this is not about the climate, although I must say, the bishop really is an appeaser with the following apology offered to the pink community:
“I deeply regret this episode in our common life. I still believe it was unwise to try to take us to a place that evidently did not command the broad support of the Church of England but I am sorry for the way I opposed it and I am sorry too for adding to the pain and distress of Dr John and his partner.”
He called for Anglicans to “acknowledge the authoritative biblical examples of love between two people of the same gender most notably in the relationship of Jesus and his beloved [John] and David and Jonathan”.
Today’s post is about how the Rt Rev Jones perceives Blighty and the future action we should take. If you decide to click the following link, the photo is very multicultural and sets the tone for the whole article. Not once is poor whitey mentioned, not once. Always us who have to make the extra effort, always us who have to please. Argh!
Telegraph, published: 4:03PM BST 20 May 2010
Our culture has its foundations in historic Christian values. We must respect them as we negotiate our future, says the Rt Rev James Jones
Rebuilding Britain rests on the six pillars of family, freedom, friendship, faith, fairness and the future of the earth. These are the columns that need strengthening if the edifice of our society is to withstand the winds of change. They have their foundations in the historic Christian values of our society. We are in danger of cutting ourselves adrift. And, as Lord Hailsham once warned, “cut flowers never produce seed or fruit”.
Family
The failure of public policy on the family is that it has focused mainly on child poverty, when the biggest problem facing children is not economic hardship but emotional deprivation. This blights children of all classes. Many children are growing up in Britain today deprived of emotional and moral nurture.
We have created an economic culture in which both parents feel forced to work outside the home. We need to restructure the tax and benefits system in favour of those parents who take responsibility for the nurture of their children. This is not about bribing people to get married. It’s a matter of justice. A household where two people are earning and where there are no dependants ought to be taxed differently from a household of three, four or five where there is only one income and one of the parents has chosen to work in the home to nurture the children.
There are still areas of material poverty in Britain today. Some children are being brought up in areas of consolidated poverty. The present strategy of Children’s Centres and Sure Start programmes is helping but not reaching the most needy parents. We must learn from countries that use “conditional cash transfers” that bring some of the most hard-to-reach into programmes that help them to become more responsible parents. Graham Greene wrote: “There’s always a moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.” The doorkeeper should be the parent, not the teacher or the social worker.
Freedom
From its genesis, Christianity has championed the right to freedom of speech as a fundamental value. This human right is now threatened under a welter of legislation. Governments have a duty to strike a balance between national security and personal freedom. As with a spirit level, they need to get the air bubble in the middle, but many feel that it is tilting away from freedom.
So while I applaud the intention of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act to protect good relationships between faith communities, I fear it does the opposite. It plays into the hands of zealous converts and zealous officials wanting to assert themselves on the diversity agenda. Religion should not be singled out and protected. It exercises huge power which can easily be abused in relation to women and children. Religion should not be beyond criticism or even ridicule.
Friendship
Future world stability depends on good relationships between the faith communities at both local and international levels. It’s why I agreed to become patron of restoring the oldest Islamic Prayer Room in Britain, which is in Liverpool. Despite some key doctrinal differences between Islam and Christianity, I accepted the invitation to help turn it into a cultural centre for British Islam because the second great commandment is to love your neighbour as yourself. We need to cultivate friendship between the faith communities to create a peaceful Britain. We cannot turn back the clock. With the right political and religious leadership we can develop a tolerant plural society.
There is no contradiction between emphasising the rightful place of faith communities and affirming the established role of the Church of England. Looking locally, the bishop often acts as the convenor of all the faith communities; the parish church provides the cohesion in rural and urban areas abandoned by banks, post offices, schools and pubs; the Anglican bishops offer continuity to civic leadership as mayors and others come and go; the Church celebrates our common life in sorrow and in joy at local and national level. The Church of England is too modest about its achievements!
Faith
Some public bodies try to marginalise Christianity as just one religion in a plural society. This is to fly in the face of our history and constitution. It also ignores the wishes of faith communities whose leaders value the Church’s role as defender of faith in the public realm.
What is it that makes us essentially British? It is our landscape, language, literature, learning, laws and liberty. These and our monarchy are our heritage. The genius of any civilisation is the way its heritage adapts to new insights and cultural influences. We need to recognise how – from our landscape, stone-studded with 13,000 churches and cathedrals, to our literature, infused with biblical imagery – this heritage has been shaped by the Christian faith. To forget this, either wilfully or by default, will produce a cultural amnesia that leaves us without a compass as we negotiate the future.
Fairness
From William Wilberforce to William Gladstone to Keir Hardie, a moral sense of justice is one of the Christian insights that has shaped our political landscape. As the nation deals with debt both personal and national, which has never been greater in our nation’s history, we all know that the future will be painful economically. Political theories of justice have in the past concentrated on how to divide up the wealth. Now the challenge will be how to share the pain fairly. I fear for our society if the brunt is felt disproportionately by the poor.
The future of the earth
There is an African proverb: “We have borrowed the present from our children”. Adam Smith warned against profligacy. The earth is not a limitless larder, so we need a renewed sense of stewardship to shape our policies and our lifestyles. We cannot rebuild Britain without realising that how we live and treat the earth is inevitably an international issue. Our future is inextricably linked with the destiny of the planet.
It was Lady Thatcher who said that we are all but tenants with a full repairing lease on the earth. Although politicians are advised not to “do God”, I believe that democracy is in safer hands when political leaders have a sense of dual accountability to the electorate below and to the Creator above.
The Rt Rev James Jones is Bishop of Liverpool.
Comes with some handy stats though, a little out of date but pleasantly surprised to be reminded of the Jedi following.
Who we are and how we live:
UK population 61m
Projected (2031) 71m
Number of UK population born abroad 6.8m (11.3%)
Household composition
1 adult : 3.6m
2 adults: 5.2m
3 or more adults: 2.1m
1 adult with children: 1.4m
2 adults, 1 child: 1.8m
2 adults, 2 children: 2.1m
2 adults, 3 or more children: 0.8m
3 or more adults with children: 1m
Retired: 6.5m
(figures for 2006-07)
UK religions
Christian: 37m
None: 7.2m
Muslim: 1.5m
Hindu: 552,000
Jedi Knight: 390,000
Sikh: 329,000
Jewish: 260,000
(2001 Census)
Church attendance
Regularly (at least once a fortnight):
Men 13% Women 13%
Never or practically never:
Men 63% Women 52%
Single mother families with dependent children 1971 7% 2007 20%
Household debt as proportion of income
1998 105%
2008 169%
The longer we let the situation fester, the worse the solution will be. The very reason behind the doctrines of diversity and multiculturalism aided by the mass importation of peoples is a deliberate attempt to gerrymander the Western World into accepting a Penal State. The Establishment will make us scream for safety and when we do, and we will, the freedom-loving State will oblige.
And the deluded still believe we can all unite and hold hands, all 192 various cultures and the umpteen subcultures that accompany them with the additional dreams and nightmares on the 93,000 sq miles of land England possess?
It isn’t rocket science for Christ’s sake.
Mr Straw is coming into some flack due to his utterance that Pakistanis see white infidels as easy-meat. The Meeja are determined to muddy the waters and refuse to see the main fault.
The Enemy of the State has been cleared by a panel of three of Thought-Crime, Hate-Crime with only a few reservations regarding his conduct. Other than that, Mr Adam Walker is free to seek employment in the teaching field, bringing to an end the dubious political persecution of a British individual.
An ironic ‘Antifa‘ mong had this to say “It cannot be right that a teacher with such far-right views as Mr Walker is allowed to teach children in our schools – he must be stopped.”
My mindless mind mindlessly minding 