Rowan Atkinson reprimands Vicars

Our Vicars have come under fire from the British actor, Rowan Atkinson. The actor who is better known as Mr Bean and who himself has played the parts of Vicars in movies such as Four Weddings and a Funeral in the guise of humour is not joking in his scathing attack.

'So many Church of England clerics are people of extraordinary smugness and arrogance and conceitedness', he says.

As in every walk of life there is good and there is bad and Vicars are not exempt from this rule of life. I am glad to say that most of the vicars I have met are caring and concerned for their flock. The ones who suffer from the traits that Rowan Atkinson mentions tend to be those who are ambitious and see the local parish as as a stone to step on while looking upwards (not at God either).

Slavery still lives on

Some days ago I was helping my daughter with her Latin homework. She had to answer questions about a typical family who lived in Pompeii and who owned slaves. The practice of slavery was rife in the Roman Empire from about 200 BC to 4 AD. Slaves were put to work in heavy labour intensive industries like mining to living in nice home where they served their rich masters. It all was such an age ago I thought...till today.

Slavery is alive in the world and, more shockingly, in Britain. A group of about 100 men have been held in a slavery racket run by Irish travellers. These men were homeless, alcoholics, illegal immigrants or British residents who had slipped through the net. They were forced to work for very little or no money, were given accommodation that didn't have running water or loos and used leaves in place of loo paper. How wicked is this all? They were forced to work with hand tools only and had to dig up tarmacs or toil on building sites. Violence and initimidation by the Irish travellers ruled the days of these poor men who felt powerless to do anything. All this in modern day?

Slavery in the history of Christianity is one of those episodes of tension which showed how the Christian teaching can be used to support both sides of a contentious argument. We see the example of slavery being used as an analogy in the ordination of women as Bishops. The Methodists were far more straight forward about it and regarded slavery as an abomination. The view of the Church of England seemed to have been finalised on slavery when it apologised for the 'sinfulness of our predecessors'. Slavery has no part to play in the modern world and goes against the grain of Christianity and natural justice which reflects the Christian sentiment.

Christians under siege in Nigeria

"We multiply the more we are mown down by you; the blood of Christians is seed"- Tertullian, Apologeticum AD 197

A family of 8 were killed on Sunday in Plateau State, Nigeria, bringing the number who have been killed in the last week to 40. Christians are living in real fear and dare not even attend church on Sundays. Please pray for this situation.

Abortion and God

A legislative amendment concerning the counselling provided to women who are thinking of having an abortion is to be voted on soon in Parliament. The MP who has tabled this amendment is Nadine Dorries, a controversial figure for many reasons. I am not going to go into the politics of abortion but I do object to Ms Dorries saying that, 'God has no place in a counselling room with a woman in a crisis pregnancy'.

God is there where there is life and death. I particularly worry about those situations where women are seeking to use abortion as a means of contraception or for gender selection reasons or where the women have been raped and are pregnant as a result. In fact, the list of situations that could arise are so long and diverse that I really pray God will be present each time to be the voice of the foetus that cannot speak for itself.