Reignite

I'm mainly posting these for a technical reason too boring to go into. By you might enjoy them.

Last week on the way back from a few days in the Lakes I stopped by in Kendal to visit the Quaker Tapestry . I found some inspiration in the history of George Fox and the early Quakers, as depicted in the various panels. I was struck by George Fox seeking answers to his questions until his inward revelation that "there is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition." As I pondered this I reflected on the differences between Quakers and Unitarians. Quakerism has a more definite and clear story of its beginnings - and I think significantly, Quakerism started with an experience of revelation. In fact most religious paths start with an experience of revelation, major religious traditions, like Islam, and often divisions of religious traditions like Methodism or Zen/Chan Buddhism, begin with some formative, experiential experience of revelation/truth. What does it mean that Unitarianism does not start with an experience of revelation? How does it aff...

OK, this is a weird one, folks. I was wandering around Google street view, as you do, and checking the street view of my church. I could see that is was a relatively new shot as it has our (relatively) new noticeboard on. I zoomed into the noticeboard to get a better look. I recognised that it had the temporary sign up that said, "LOVE is the doctrine of this church" - but what was weird was that everything but the first three words were blurred out. Take a look: Everything else is clear enough on the noticeboard. You see "LOVE is the..." but rest of that looks like it's been deliberately edited out like they do with everyone's faces on Google street view. I can't think for the life of me why anyone would do this. How curious. 

Rowan Williams has always seemed like he has the potential to be a great Christian leader. There's a lot of great things about him. But he has disappointed me. He spoke recently about whether he had let down GLBT people in his time as Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury. But it actually wasn't this issue that has disappointed me. It was only reading about this talk in an article recently that I realised something that happened several months ago: he has become a member of the House of Lords. I'm quite disappointed in that. A few years he spoke at the University of Manchester and his talk was, of course, excellent. He spoke about the place of the Christian community as offering a radical alternative to the mainstream society - witnessing to a different set of values than the materialism, hierarchy etc of society (this is from memory so I'm just recalling a rough impression of what he said). I got up at the end of the talk and asked a question. I said that I totally...

For every child born in Britain yesterday, I wish them a happy, long and meaningful life. I wish them the right to grow up with all the joys of childhood and a stable and happy family life. I wish them the right to privacy as a child and as an adult. I wish them the right to marry whomever they happen to fall in love with. I wish them the right to choose their own religious or spiritual path. The right to be an atheist, a Catholic, a Muslim, a Buddhist or anything else. The right to choose their own vocation, based on their own individual skills and inclinations, to contribute to the world in their own way. The right to choose their own political opinions and the right to vote. The right to choose to be a solider or an anti-war protester. The right to become the Head of State, if they have the skills for that role, and the people agree and vote them in. Is it so crazy to wish that for every child born yesterday? Isn't every child born equal? Shouldn't eve...