Reignite

Let me preface what I'm going to say by first saying this: I am a Christian. It's taken me a long time to be able to say that, and to know what I mean by that, and I'm very lucky that in the Unitarian church I have been given the space to come to that decision in my own time, on my own terms. But I am a Christian, I'm more Christian now than I have been for years. Now: I want us to drop this "Free Christian" from our title. It's a silly phrase that we need to get rid of. Why? "The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches" is a long and unwieldy title. It would be much better if we traded under something like "Unitarians in Britain." It gives the impression that there are two separate and distinct groups: "Unitarians" and "Free Christians," this is not the case. It's not that there are Unitarians (who are not Christians) and "Free Christians" who are not Unitarians. There are not two dif...

Part of my ministry involves working with children and young people in the church (probably a lot more than most Unitarian ministers, but that's a subject for another day). Recently we have been learning about Islam, and my conversations with our young people around this subject have given me cause for concern. I've spoken to young people, assuming that they would know Muslims in their schools. I was expecting them to say, "Yes, X, Y and Z in my class are Muslim." But I've got none of that. It seems these children and youth are having no interaction with young Muslims. This kind of shocked me. I think of Bolton as being a similar sort of town to Walsall, where I grew up. And I had lots of interaction with people of other faiths and races at my school. More there than at any other time in my life to be honest. According to Wikipedia Bolton is slightly less diverse than Walsall , but still. I'm beginning to wonder, how segregated are Bolton's schools?

The Unitarian College, Manchester Committee is pleased to announce the appointment of the Reverend Alexander (Alex) Bradley as Principal with effect from 01 August 2009. Alex will serve on a part-time (0.7) basis and will continue to serve his existing part-stipend ministry at the Norcliffe Chapel, Styal.

From Ekklesia: The Liberal Democrats have become the first mainstream political party in Britain to admit that many faith schools currently pursue unnecessary discriminatory practices in admissions and employment, and to pledge to challenge them. At their Spring Conference yesterday (Saturday 6th March 2009), the party voted to put the onus on existing publicly funded schools of a religious character to be inclusive or to have their funding withdrawn, while new faith schools would not be allowed to select pupils on grounds of religion or belief. The party also voted to end "the opt out from employment and equalities legislation for staff in faith schools, except those responsible for religious education". The Liberal Democrats are calling for all faith schools to be required to teach about other beliefs in a balanced way, something that most do not currently have to do. The vote was hailed as a ‘breakthrough moment’ by Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, the Chair...

Silly blogging on my day off. (Click on the image to see it larger, or follow this link )

The motions for this year's Annual Meetings have been released. Every year I have this strange delusion that maybe there will only be a few procedural motions. Surely nothing too much to get het up about is happening in the world (that a GA motion would have much impact on) and in the denomination? Maybe we can get business done quickly and spend more time worshipping, singing, dancing, and learning. Alas no. As many as ever . Of note: A statement of understanding with the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland. I thought all of that was already the case myself. A motion asking us to change our name. I've got to say I completely support this, but at the same time I'm dreading the debate. I'll write more about that one later. What I think is a motion calling for us to have something like the Seven Principles of the UUA. Oh dear. That's going to be an energy-sapping debate. And then there's two motions calling for the appointment of a national Information...

"The Reverend Steve Dick will leave his official role with the General Assembly at the end of March 2009. To enable him to use up remaining annual leave, he will step down as Chief Executive on 2 March. Interim arrangements for leadership are being made by the General Assembly Executive Committee (EC) and will be announced soon. Steve described the reason for his departure as awareness that he is not the best person to provide the type of leadership currently sought by the EC. He will continue to support the work of the General Assembly insofar as he feels able and Steve remains deeply committed to the value of our local congregations. Steve wishes to thank all the volunteers, spiritual leaders and staff who assisted him in supporting our Unitarian and Free Christian communities during the past two years."