Karen McIntyre writes in The Guardian about Retreating towards God and asks “What happens if you take a weekend off every month to go on a Christian retreat?” She blogs about her weekend retreats and other things here.
Stephen Hough writes in the Telegraph about Some assumptions about the Assumption.
Sophia Deboick writes in The Guardian that The pope’s heaven isn’t a place on earth (or anywhere else). “Benedict has rejected the rich Catholic tradition of interpreting heaven in terms of the most intense human experiences.”
In The Guardian Alan Wilson starts a new series of articles about The Book of Common Prayer with The Book Of Common Prayer, part 1: An English ragbag. “The Book of Common Prayer has shaped English spirituality for nearly 450 years. What are its enduring qualities?”
Graham Wayne, in The Guardian’s Environment Blog, asks Why would a solar physicist embrace the non-rationality of religion? “John Cook, who runs skepticalscience.com, says his faith drives him. But what does religion give him that science doesn’t?”
BRIN (British Religion in Numbers) analyses religious affiliation and voting in the 2010 UK general election: Religious Affiliation and Political Attitudes: Findings from the British Election Study 2009/10.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times that Kermode’s narrative has reached its conclusion.
He also gave this Thought for the Day about Liberation Theology on BBC Radio 4.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about Sherlock Holmes in old churches. “A sharp eye for details is essential to discover clues from the past.”
This week’s The Question in The Guardian is What is the point of Christian arts? “Is there anything distinctive about religious art, or could we shuck off the Christianity and keep the beauty?” Responses come from Harriet Baber, Roz Kaveney and Maggi Dawn.
“For in reading it again, all I can see is a justification of bloodshed. So Gutierrez sides with those who declare: “let us avoid equating the unjust violence of the oppressors (who maintain this despicable system) with the just violence of the oppressed (who feel obliged to use [violence] to achieve their liberation).” “ How is this any different than Aquinas and the Theory of the Just War? One may lament—even reject—the violence that either Liberation Theology or Just War Theory permit. What *I* reject, however, is a double standard that only gets a case of the Violence Vapors when… Read more »