Karen Burke writes in The Guardian about the Church and media conference 2010. Is religion sidelined by the media? Broadcasters, church folk and humanists gathered last week to thrash things out.
Patrick Strudwick writes in The Guardian about Selective gay rights from the coalition. Allowing civil partnerships in places of worship, and a few other measures, can’t make up for a dubious record on gay rights.
The Archbishop of Canterbury preached at a special evensong service at St Paul’s Cathedral in celebration of the Royal Society’s 350th anniversary. A video and transcript of the sermon are available on the Archbishop’s website.
Giles Fraser argues in the Church Times that Enlightened thinking still raises queries.
Mark Speeks writes in The Tablet about Perils of the deep: Pensions and the BP catastrophe.
Jonathan Sacks writes in The Times about Searching the faces of those who bring light to others.
This week’s The Question at The Guardian’s Comment is free belief is Do prisons need religion? Can the moral and material structure that religion provides improve prison life?
Here are the responses.
Monday: Erwin James A civilising influence in prisons. If religion can provide a measure of peace in a troubled environment or a troubled heart then it has to be a good thing.
Wednesday: Francis Davis Religion can make life inside bearable. As a support system – and even, yes, as a way to make life more comfortable – religion is an essential part of prison life.
Thursday: Danny Afzal A Muslim prisoner’s story. When I first went to jail, I gave up God for sausages and bacon butties. But in the end, it was religion that helped me survive.
Friday: Naomi Phillips Faith is not the answer. Religion should be accommodated as far as is reasonable. But prison must remain a secular space.
Canon Fraser says “The Enlightenment has become one of those things that it is impossible to question, without being cast as someone who wants to bring back the burning of witches.”
Yes, well, part of that is because so many of those who against the Enlightenment – and there are plenty in religious circles – seem like they’d be quite at home at an auto da fe. I don’t think that witches are their preferred target in this, though.
“Faith, our Christian faith, presupposes that we are indeed as human beings attuned to truth and to growth, made by a God whose love has designed us for joy, and discovering that this directedness towards joy mysteriously comes alive when we look into the living truth, the living wisdom, of the face of a Christ who drives us back again and again to question ourselves so that we stay alive.” – Archbishop Rowan, to the Royal Society – It is precisely this environment of questioning that the ABC speaks of here that has allowed women and LGBT people of the… Read more »
I’m sorry, but does Rowan ever listen to what he says?
I’m serious!