The proposal to build an Islamic cultural centre including a mosque within a short distance of Ground Zero is causing Americans a lot of heartache – and while I can understand the pain it must cause for many in the US, I cannot undertsand how some are connecting all Muslims with the murders of 9/11. It’s a bit like the people of Warrington being upset at the Catholics building a new church within a few blocks of where t...

Media outlets in Wales like the BBC and Golwg360 thought the fact that the Welsh language was spoken in an official capacity for the first time in Westminster Cathedral was the worthy story on Saturday, and not the fact that the British State used to execute Christians. The great and the good of England and Wales gathered in that great non-conformist cathedral to celebrate the martyrdom of John Roberts, Trawsfynydd.

Robert...

A howl of anguish is the most frequent response by Christians as the church continues to see how its influence is diminished in the UK. Indeed, this diminishing is sometimes portrayed as the beginnings of persecution as some on the right become ever more strident in their views. Whatever our views on this, we would all have to agree that the church is becoming more marginal in its influence on Western society today. The que...

Homosexuality is an ideology that is being imposed upon us by the new Conservative government. Or so suggests a leading Christian campaigning group as it calls on its followers to protest against the government’s equality agenda. Christian Concern for our Nation refers to the newly published equality programme by Home Secretary, Theresa May, as a ‘major departure from the views held’ by her ‘personally and by her party mo...

In London people protest when talk of building a ‘super-mosque’ is in the air; in Barcelona they want to ban the burqa; in Switzerland they want to ban minarets. All over Europe, it seems there is a backlash against Islam and so often Christians are to be found among those protesting. Living in a plural society – a society with many faiths and none – is obviously a difficult concept in the 21^st century.

It’s been a while since I last posted on Stuart Murray’s Post-Christendom. The last post was my resume from the book of what empire church is like. If you want a reminder of where Murray has taken us so far it may be worth spending some time reading that post which deals with the legacy given to us by Christendom.

In chapter 8 Murray begins to suggest some ways forward in this the beginning of the post-Chris...

Today the polling company YouGov have released their findings from a survey on British attitudes towards Islam. Headline figures include the following stats: 58% associate Islam with extremism; 40% do not believe Muslims have a positive impact on society; and 70% believe it is a religion that represses women. Astoundingly some 50% link it with terrorism.

It shouldn’t take us much thinking time to realise how i...

John ‘the rottweiler’ Humphreys showed how difficult it is to break out of the mould this morning as he interviewed the new Home Secretary, Theresa May, on the Today programme. He was pressing her about the Tories’ attitude towards the Human Rights Act and the very different approach they have to it compared to their partners in government, the Lib Dems. Apparently the Tories are very anti while the Lib Dem...

• Empire church is a church that enjoys pri...

We often look at what one church or even a whole church movement is doing and get excited about their success. They start an Alpha course in a run down estate and see some young single mums start following Jesus, and we think, ‘Great. This is what God is doing these days’. Well, maybe. But what if we – just for a moment – take our eyes off the micro and look at the macro? What if we were to look back acro...

In the previous post from Stuart Murray’s book I emphasised the work of the radical reformers, the Anabaptists. But despite their sterling work Christendom was pretty much untouched by the upheaval of the 16^th century. However, in chapter 7 Murray suggests that the ‘seeds of destruction had been sown’ in that period (page 178). He identifies four factors that have led to the slow death of Christendom since ...

What model of church do you follow in your church? There are two basic types which I can think of: there’s the ‘church as bus’ model and then there’s the ‘church as body’. Now we know which the New Testament model is – it is ‘church as body’. Paul in his first letter to Corinthians makes this very clear and gives a lengthy teaching on it. We would all probably claim that this is also the model w...

Responding to the Roman Catholic Church’s deeply troubling problems over the abuse of children is difficult. I do not want to be stirring waters that are not mine to stir. Neither do I want to say anything that causes more pain to those who have been hurt. However there is a lesson for all churches to learn from this most disturbing of episodes and it is to do with power and how it used and abused by church.

The...

Yesterday I was down in Llanelli for a meeting with the German prophet, Michael Schiffmann, and the leadership of Antioch along with a couple from Cardiff. I suppose we’re all very much fellow travellers along the emerging church route, though at different stages – with me some distance behind!

Michael shared some his own journey and thoughts about emerging church and about where church in general has not been fulfilling her...

Though the Protestant Reformers changed much within the church in the 16^th century, they left Christendom intact. Not only that but they also persecuted those who took the Reformation deeper and further and who wanted to dismantle the church-state system built since the fourth century. They were known as the Anabaptists – the ‘second baptisers’ – labelled as such because of their practise of baptising tho...

One biblical word that has made a bit of a come back in the past few years is ‘apostolic’. Its current definition seems to include roughly three activities: church planting; works of miracles, especially in healing; and overseeing a number of local churches. As all three can be seen as apostolic ministry in the New Testament then the title/label is carried over from scripture to the present day. The simple me...

Did the Reformation change Christendom? Surprisingly not is Stuart Murray’s answer in chapter 5 of Post-Christendom. Though the Protestant Reformation brought about much needed change to doctrine and many church practices, very little was done as far as the church’s connection to the state is concerned. ‘They refined it, fractured it and shifted the balance of power within it towards the secular a...

Stuart Murray’s description of Christendom in the late Medieval period is scathing: it was ‘monolithic, totalitarian and seemingly impervious to critique’ (Post-Christendom, page 132). And yet there were dissenting voices to be heard all over Europe at this time. That those dissenters faced the wrath of Christendom through suppression and persecution tells us a great deal about what a threat they were deeme...

I see the bishops have been stirring it up again, this time on the issue of allowing civil partnerships to be conducted on religious premises. They’re pushing for a change in the Equality Bill currently before the House of Lords – the one they recently successfully changed on the issue of bringing equal opportunity rights into employment issues in churches. They didn’t like that change as it would have forced...

Under Christendom the church became the dominant force in society. Indeed by the 12^th century the church was able to exercise power over countries and their rulers in Western Europe. ‘No secular ruler could rival papal wealth or authority,’ says Stuart Murray in Post-Christendom as he paints a picture of a totalitarian church in the late medieval period (page 110). Dissent was not welcomed at all by this time...

Two recent announcements made by the Conservative Party reflect how far they too have moved away from traditional and conservative Christian values. Of course, both Labour and the Lib Dems have distanced themselves from social conservatism a long time ago, but the Tories were pretty much signed up members of the ‘keep the UK a Christian country’ until very recently and could be counted on to defend Christian values on issues such as marriage. But as society has changed so have the polit...