Response from Nasir-Ali

Mouse has just received this email from Bishop Michael Nasir-Ali, in response to his comments quoted by Iain Dale. Iain quoted Nasir-Ali as saying that he wouldn't look to the bishops for a moral lead. Cranmer picked up the quote, commenting that, "The spiritual decline and political fall of the Church of England is rooted in Bishop Michael's observation."

Here's Bishop Michael's response:


What I said was that you cannot leave giving a moral lead to the Bishops. The discussion arose because of a remark about something Harold MacMillan had said. I said first that ‘giving a moral lead’ and ‘behaving morally are not the same thing. Some (including bishops) may be called to give a lead, but everyone is expected to behave morally. Secondly, that giving a moral lead should not be left to bishops. I certainly would not leave it to them. This is, more or less, what I said to Paddy Ashdown at a pre-election breakfast some years ago. There were two bishops at the lunch giving a moral lead and I am, myself, not known to be unwilling in this respect, however modest my contribution might be.

+Michael Nazir-Ali
30 April 2009

Sounds fair enough to Mouse.

Government does something right - the water bills issue

Mouse did not see this coming. In a week when the government lost count of its humiliating climb-downs and defeats in Parliament, they actually did the right thing on one issue.

You may remember the issue of water bills for churches. A change in the way water bills are to be levied is leading to hugely increased bills for churches and other large charitable buildings. Mouse just received an email from No.10 as a signatory to the Downing Street petition on the subject, telling him that No.10 had responded to the petition. To his amazement, the response basically said that the government agreed. Crucially, they also point out that it is out of line with guidance issued by DEFRA to OFWAT, the water regulator. The response says:

We have also made it clear that increases in bills of this magnitude are not in line with Defra’s guidance on charging issued to Ofwat in 2000, or Ofwat’s more detailed 2003 guidance to the water companies.

This response gives real hope that OFWAT will ride to the rescue and force a retreat on this issue.

Now, could someone help me pick my jaw back up off this floor?

Aunties bloopers - subtitlers don't quite 'get' Christianity

OK, a bit trivial, but Mouse caught some of the coverage of the memorial service this morning marking the fallen troops in Iraq as UK forces withdraw. During the Army Chaplain's prayers the subtitles read, "Merciful Father. You have given our Son for your redemption". Oops.

Prize of a mention and link to anyone who can track down a video of it.

Bishop of Rochester - don't look to bishops for moral authority

I haven't picked this up anywhere else, but Iain Dale is quoting the Bishop of Rochester as having said, "If you want a moral lead, don't look to the bishops. I certainly wouldn't." at a round table lunch at the Centre for Policy Studies yesterday.

I suspect a few other bishops would contest that view. Iain Dale didn't dare press him further, but the Mouse is not so fearful. I've just sent him this note to give Bishop Michael the chance to clarify his comments:

Dear Bishop Michael

You are being quoted by Iain Dale as having said at a lunch for the Centre for Policy Studies yesterday, "If you want a moral lead, don't look to the bishops. I certainly wouldn't.".

Mr Dale said that he didn't press you further, but now that the comment has been made more public, I wanted to give you the chance to clarify why it is that you wouldn't look to bishops for a moral lead.

Kind regards

The Church Mouse

Lets see if he replies.

Balls to church schools

It has been well known for some time that Ed Balls does not like church schools. A year ago he launched a thinly veiled attack on 'faith schools' (in reality almost all are church schools) accusing them of using banned practices, such as interviewing pupils, to select pupils. It betrayed two things. Firstly Balls doesn't like church schools. Secondly, he is more concerned with ideology in education than in standards. Mouse thinks it a criminal waste of time attacking good schools, when so many of our young people attend failing schools.

Balls learned from the savaging he had in the media for this attack, and has since then stuck to the formulation of words that "faith schools play a key role in education and will continue to do so". It doesn't take a political genius to realise that this is a pretty flaky expression of support. It is, in fact, a statement of the obvious that church schools play a key role in education, as church schools represent a significant portion of schools in Britain. The fact that they will continue to do so is merely an admission that there are currently no plans to change that, not an indication that Balls doesn't want to.

But now we learn that Labour is using its old friend, the stealth tax, to attach church schools again, by the most cunning and covert route possible. The Times has the scoop on a new report, 'Mutual Futures', from pamphlet from Las Casas Institute at Oxford University. This report highlights how the government is requiring schools to pay 10 per cent of the costs of rebuilding if they are voluntary aided, which most church schools are. The report explains the problem as follows:

'Local Dioceses told us that once a Building Schools for the Future allocation has been made to a local authority other capital funding is hard to secure but it was accepted that Archbishop Nichols had negotiated an agreement whereby the Department of Children Schools and Families would provide 100% of capital costs. However, in the new – and compulsory – Primary Capital Programme voluntary aided schools will have to provide 10% of the capital costs for rebuilding or renewing of schools. If they fail to do so they may be forced, at the current time, into a situation where the state will fund 100% of the capital costs. If this was the case they could be forced out of their voluntary aided form and into “controlled” status. This request for major new funds contrasts very substantially with the proposed Conservative commitment to fund 100% of capital for new senior and primary Academies and to unleash new resources into capital programmes by “cutting bureaucracy” in the administration of the Building Schools for the Future fund. But how much would Mr Balls’ department be looking for in more concrete terms? Ed Balls could require £100 million from Catholic Dioceses for Compulsory Buildings Work and perhaps a further £250 million from the wider faith sector as part of the Primary Capital Programme alone. Some wealthier Dioceses may be able to foot the bill from ongoing revenues but others facing intense social need, or competing pastoral demands, could be forced to sell – or hand over to “controlled” status struggling schools earlier than they may like. In practice this means that an incentive has been built into the system to close faith schools.'

On top of that, church schools are also being clobbered with another £20 million hit through new insurance rules. The report states, 'The government has now slashed insurance cover for Catholic Schools that has been guaranteed since the 1944 Act – costing a possible further £20 million per annum.'

Mouse repeats his position on church schools, for the avoidance of any doubt. If a school is good, leave it alone and help the schools which are failing our children. The accusation that church schools create social segregation just doesn't stack up, and there is no evidence for it. In actual fact, church schools teach children an ethic of loving their neighbour and respect for the individual.

Attacking faith schools is very simply a dogmatic reason to avoid facing up to the failures of our education system. Mouse says, focus on raising standards Balls - its what you were elected to do.

Giving in a recession

Stewardship are claiming that people are giving 3% more to churches than they did last year, in spite of the recession. Christian Today swallow the story, but Mouse is a little sceptical.

The argument is based on analysis of 30,000 people with a 'Sovereign' account with Stewardship and their levels of giving. This is a very different analysis to looking at what it actually hitting the collection plates. Stewardship have selected their sample from those who are committed givers and plan their giving using their own services. The total contribution from Stewardship customers is around £24m to charities, mission organisations and churches.

The reality is that churches all round the country will be feeling the pinch this year, with members of their congregations losing their jobs and others having hours or pay cut. It is pure delusion to think that Christians and churches will somehow be immune from the effects of the recession. There is an argument that people may search for new meaning in life when the hard times come, but they are not likely to be individuals who immediately open the cheque book for a large donation, even if they are in a position to do so.

Whilst this story may do a little to publicise the services of Stewardship, they don't do much to help church leaders plan their finances for the coming year.

Methodist Church announces business Sunday

Mouse has been impressed with a few things the Methodist Church has done lately, and likes this one. Business Sunday will affirm a commitment to praying for and supporting people in business on 3 May. There are some resources to download including study materials and service guides. This should not come as a surprise from the Church of the Wesleys, who preached an ethic of 'earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can'.

This comes hot on the heels of the launch of God at Work. This is an initiative from Ken Costa, global investment banker and Churchwarden of Holy Trinity Brompton. It started with a book from Ken for Christians in the work place, and is now an Alpha-style talk and discussion course.

Mouse is glad that churches are looking to support people in the workplace. Personally, Mouse connects better with the Ken Costa approach than the Methodist Church approach, but that won't be the same for everyone, so well done Methodists.

Charles and the Pope: curious misreporting

Today the Pope received Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. The BBC have a video, and there has been plenty of coverage. Intriguingly, there have also been a couple of inaccuracies in the reports over odd details.

Andrew Brown reports, "The most interesting detail here was not visible in the photographs, but mentioned in all the copy: it was the veil that the Duchess of Cornwall had to wear to meet the pope. Protocol demands it. The pope might now condescend to meet a couple married to each other only because their adulteries put an end to their previous marriages, but a woman received by him formally must still wear a token covering over her head and face."

Except that it is very clearly visible from the photos and video, and the Duchess's face is not covered.

The Telegraph gave us a fascinating insight into the protocol under which the visit was conducted, reporting, "Under Vatican protocol, the Prince met the Pope alone before they were joined by the Duchess and finally members of the Royal Household."

However, Richard Owen reports from Rome for the BBC, "Under Vatican protocol the Prince was expected first to hold talks with the Pope before being joined by the Duchess. However, the royal couple were received together for the 15-minute audience". In fact, you can see this in the video too.

Mouse's take on the visit was that it was a pretty dull formality. In one respect it is important that the future head of the Church of England had the meeting, but the Pope is hardly going to be impressed that this position can be held by an adulterer who appears to be more interested in architecture and farming than faith. Mouse would like to see Charles speak out on his views on Christianity and affirm his future position. If he doesn't, the calls for disestablishment will grow louder and louder.

Protest at Sex and the City conference

Ekklesia report that there were protests at the 'Sex and the City' conference sponsored by Anglican Mainstream and CARE.

Mouse commented earlier in the week that the conference was a stage for an organisation called NARTH, the National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, a widely discredited organisation who promote therapy to turn gay people straight.

Around one hundred people, some Christian, were protesting outside the event holding placards quoting bible verses. More interestingly Ekklesia's reporter was not allowed access to the conference to see what was going on.

Mouse sticks by his previous analysis. An organisation claiming to be 'mainstream' should not be holding events for pseudo scientists to promote their views.

The end of the world

With incredible speed, the outbreak of swine flu has already been hailed as a sign of the end of the world. Prophezine, 'your source for Biblical prophecy and world events', are treating the story as front page news.

It seems to Mouse that they have dusted off their pre-written bird flu articles and hoped no-one would notice. It really is a great site. Mouse's favourite article is how to prepare for food shortages and empty grocery stores by purchasing a DVD series on home canning for just $39.95.

Mouse will be checking back shortly to see how long to go until rapture.

In spite of what you may hear, the latest survey from LifeWay Research showed only around 11% of Americans believe that the world will end in their lifetime. That's still a pretty big market, however, so Mouse shouldn't be surprised to see websites and products targeting those people. What amazes the Mouse is that anyone who genuinely believed that the world was ending would think that home canning was the best way to prepare.

Hat tip to Bartholomew's notes.

Susan Boyle - the phenomenon

Mouse can resist no longer. He has to post something about the incredible sensation that is Susan Boyle. If you've missed the story, you've missed one of the most extraordinary TV moments since John Sergeant's pasa doble. A frumpy looking woman in her late 40s nervously walks onto the Britain's Got Talent stage to the gentle mocking laughter of the young and trendy audience. Simon Cowell feigns interest as he asks her about her ambition to be a professional singer. And then she sings. An incredible passionate and moving performance transforms the audience reaction to shock, enjoyment and eventually love.

Susan Boyle has, without doubt, be taken to the very bosom of our nation. The video of her performance on You Tube has been viewed tens of millions of times (the version I've linked to is on around 43m views, and there are a number of others with multiple millions of views) and she's been in magazines and newspapers from the moment that show aired, and a fan site popped up almost immediately.

She has in actual fact become a global sensation with Jay Leno, host of one of the biggest shows on American TV, dressed up as Boyle and mimicked her performance.

Cranmer wrote a good piece about not judging by appearances, and Faith Central pointed out that she is one of a long line of singers who started in church choirs.

So what will this sudden fame do to Susan Boyle? The latest media coverage is of her makeover. Everyone had expected that Boyle would transform her image now that she is the centre of so much media attention. Whether it is because she is smarter than she looks, or whether its just the measure of the woman, she's managed to do the job for just £100.

Mouse makes a couple of observations. Of course, Cranmer is right. Why should anyone be remotely shocked that this woman could sing, just because of the way she looked? Mouse also notes that the speed and extent to which she has been transformed into a national heroine is an extension of the existing celebrity culture, not a repudiation of it. Britain loves the under-dog, and Ms Boyle was just that. But perhaps it has revealed the superficiality of a culture that all but writes off a talent show contestant before they have even begun to perform.

Mouse wishes Susan Boyle all the best. I don't actually think she was the most talented performer on the show, but she certainly won the most hearts.

Latest developments with the Anglican Communion

You may have wondered why the Mouse has not blogged this week on the developments in the Anglican Communion. It has been a week of revelations, leaks, statements and comment, which the Mouse has steered well clear of.

There are two reasons for this. The first is that I don't understand it. The second is that I'm not interested in it. Mouse cannot believe that it will make any difference to anyone he knows, so will leave it to others who can explain it much better than I.

Mouse's initial concern was that splits look bad to those outside the church, but since there are far more important things going on in the real world, it seems no-one outside the church is particularly interested. The most damning evidence of this was at the GAFCON Primates press conference, when only one journalist turned up.

Mouse's only observation is that this whole affair is a total waste of time. I know is naive and idealistic to think that we could just rub along like we always have and focus on growing God's church, but Mouse refuses to let go of the hope that we will do just that.

Graham Kings appointed Bishop of Sherborne

Congratulations to Graham on being appointed Bishop of Sherborne in Dorset. Sherborne is one of the oldest centres of Christian worship in Britain and is within the Diocese of Salisbury.

Dr Graham Kings is vicar of St Mary's Islington, and founder of Fulcrum. Ruth Gledhill over analyses the politics of the appointment, in terms of the current divisions in the Anglican Communion. Mouse thinks is a straightforward good appointment. Graham is a great guy, a fabulous parish priest and has a huge amount to offer to the new area he will be serving. He has embraced innovative ways of engaging with people outside the church, most recently launching an online chat room, taking questions from anyone who chooses to join each Saturday between 12.00 and 1.00pm. Mouse's only observation is that it doesn't seem to be a heavily used facility, but from small acorns ...

Top 10 Twurch of England Twitterers

I'll probably put this up roughly monthly from now on, but since I was playing with the stats and thought it was interesting, here you go. The top 10 twitterers (by number of tweets) as they stand today.

1. Bishop Alan Wilson alantlwilson
2. Bishop Nick Baines nickbaines
3. Rev David Meldrum vicardave
4. Rev Peter Ould pould
5. I still don't know who you are, but I'm assured you're a vicar goodinparts
6. Rev Phil Ritchie philritchie
7. Rev Tim Norwood timmk
8. Rev Simon Harvey SimonJHarvey
9. Rev Simon Rundell frsimon
10 . Rev Mike Camel MikeCamel

Here's the full list of Bishop and clergy twitterers. If you know of someone who's not listed, please tweet me.

Name (Twitter name)
Rt Rev Alan Wilson (alantlwilson)
Rev Alastair Cutting (alcutting)
Rev Alastair McCullom (revdal)
Rev Andrew Dunlop (tallandrew)
Rev Andrew McMullon (drew_mac)
Rev Andrew Sillis (andrewsillis)
Rev Arun Arora (revarun)
Rev Christian Selvaratnam (selvaratnam)
Rt Rev David Hamid (eurobishop)
Rev David Hodgson (dhodgson)
Rev David Keen (davemkeen)
Rev David Meldrum (vicardave)
Rev David Walsh (davidwalsh1959)
Rev David Waters (ely_dyo)
Rt Rev David Thomson (pbdt)
Rev Ellen Loudon (ellenloudon)
Rev Frances Wookey (countryvicar)
Rev Gavin Ashenden (gavinashenden)
Rev Harry Steele (edwinharry)
Rev Howard Jameson (howardjameson)
Rev Ian Spencer (ianjspencer)
Rev Jeremy Fagan (faganj)
Rev Jim Benton-Evans (revpafc)
Rev Johanna Clare (johannaclare)
Rev John Carter (johncomm)
Mst Rev John Sentamu (johnsentamu)
Rev John Walker (majiigi)
Rev Kathryn (goodinparts)
Rev Katy Francis (kathroom)
Rev Leah Vasey-Saunders (revleahvs)
Rev Lorraine Dixon (Ayodele05)
Rev Maggie Dawn (maggiedawn)
Rev Mark Beach (RugbyRector)
Rev Mark Fletcher (markkfletcher)
Rev Mark Godson (liminalspace)
Rev Matthew Woodward (FrMatthew)
Rev Michele Barzey (Afrobehn)
Rev Mike Bursell (mikecamel)
Rev Mike Resch (RevResch)
Rt Rev Nick Baines (nickbaines)
Not disclosed (submergedgate)
Rev Pam Smith (revpamsmith)
Rev Paul Walker (pgw71)
Rt Rev Pete Broadbent (pete173)
Rev Peter Ould (pould)
Rev Phil Simpson (MullaNasruddin)
Rev Phillip Ritchie (philritchie)
Rev Rachel Rosborough (revrachros)
Rev Richard Frank (richardfrank)
Rev Robin Usher (RobinUsher)
Rev Sam Norton (elizaphanian)
Rev Scott Watts (revscottwatts)
Rev Simon Harvey (simonjharvey)
Rev Simon Rundell (frsimon)
Rev Stuart Tanswell (RevStuart)
Rev Tim Norwood (timmk)
Rev Will Adam (gitte)

The difference between Williams and Sentamu

OK, there's quite a lot of differences between the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. Well actually, there are vast incalculable differences between them, but Mouse thought that nothing summed it up better than their respective activities yesterday (or at least the ones they chose to publicise on their websites).

John Sentamu was at Bishopthorpe Palace with children from the Archbishop of York Junior school celebrating St Georges day. It looked great fun with flags being waved and groups of smiling children playing on the lawns. Rowan Williams on the other hand gave a sermon at a Eucharist service at Canterbury Cathedral, and preached a celebration of St Anselm of Canterbury. Very ... dull.

Rowan may be one of the three cleverest men in the world (along with Stephen Hawkins and Stephen Fry in the Mouse's estimation), but he still hasn't quite found a way of connecting with the average parishioner in a way that Sentamu finds natural.

Friday round up

Here's my round up from the blogosphere. Ten of the best from the blogs this week:

1. Bess Twiston-Davies on faith fuelled singers (starting with the incorporable Susan Boyle)

2. Damian Thompson on the hoaxing of The Times

3. Bishop Nick Baines on the Dean of Southwark's super powers

4. Bishop David Thomson celebrates some anniversaries - George Selwyn, Women's Reader Ministry and St Anselm

5. Bishop Alan Wilson on holocaust memorial day

6. Ruth Gledhill explains the incomprehensible on the schism in the Anglican Communion

7. Cranmer celebrates St George's day

8. Christian Today summarise the mixed response to the budget from Christians (Mouse's reaction wasn't so mixed - the budget is pure fantasy economics)

9. Damian Thompson continues his scrap with Ekklesia on their stance on the farcical UN anti-racism conference, Durban II (Mouse is with Thompson on this one)

10. Dave Walker joins the dots, in his own inimitable way, on clergy pensions and bible verses

Why do down St George?

Happy St George's day.

There has been much written and said in the past few weeks about the importance of celebrating Englishness. Marking St George's day is an obvious way to do that in a concerted fashion across our nation. The most eloquent and powerful version of this line of thinking came from Archbishop John Sentamu who gave a barnstorming speach in which he encouraged the celebration of St George's day.

Step forward Ekklesia to kill the mood. Their contribution today was to call for St George's day to be 're-branded' around "English tradition of dissent and with a renewed sense of internationalism" - they believe a more accurate reading of the story of St George.

Mouse thinks this is a pretty terrible case of missing the point and kill joy-ism. It is undoubtedly true that our notions of St George are horribly inaccurate, but that really isn't the point. We should celebrate our national identity, and our national day is a great time to do it. We need to bring our nation together, and be proud of who we are. This isn't jingoistic unthinking flag waving, but an essential part of building national unity.

Mouse is not suggesting that we distort the story of St George, but there really is no need to re-visit it again and turn him into a woolly 21st century liberal multi-culturalist. The celebrations should be about England more than St George.

61 year old Archdeacon beats up the BNP

Well not literally, but The Ven Chris Liley, the Archdeacon of Lichfield, did give them a figurative left hook right on the chin.

The BNP turned up at Lichfield Cathedral in a 'Truth Bus' to take some campaign photos. No doubt this was building on their outrageous campaign using an image of Jesus in a laughable attempt to portray the BNP as a Christian party. 61 year old Chris Liley was having none of it, however. He told them to stop taking photos and to leave the grounds of the Cathedral. He is also writing to them to tell them not to use the Cathedral image in any of their literature.

He later commented, "The BNP are wrong to suggest that Jesus would vote for the BNP. I don't know who he would vote for, but his parable of the Good Samaritan was a clear example about the value we should place on people from other communities."

Mouse says, well done Chris. If only we could get the good old CofE to say the same thing ...

Budget reaction

So here's the budget. Immediate response from Christian organisations has been pretty mixed. The Methodist Church was the first to respond, and gave it a thumbs up for its announcements on jobs. Oxfam welcomed announcements on aid and climate change, but said it was a missed opportunity on UK poverty. Christian Aid said it was 'disappointed' with the announcements on climate change, but was 'delighted' about the protection of aid budgets.

But the big question, however, is how accurate were the Mouse's predictions. Well here they are:

1. The Chancellor's growth forecast will be around 0.5% above the independent consensus forecasts. This has been the case in almost every Labour budget in the past decade. Over optimistic growth forecasts have actually been the root of our borrowing problems. Every year the government over estimates growth and when it comes in lower, we pick up the shortfall in tax revenue through increased borrowing. The independent forecasts average at around -3.5% this year (although there are a significant number below that) and 0.5% next year. Look for Darling to go for around -3% this year and 1% next. Also look out for a rosy prediction of how the economy will perform after next year. That will make the case for how we will get borrowing back under control in, say 3-5 years.

Well Mouse can't quite believe how optimistic the growth forecasts are. He's gone for a temperate -3.5% this year (in the current election period) but then the forecasts take off into the stratosphere at 1.25% next year and 3.5% the year after, way above the forecasts from the IMF released only yesterday. Mouse was spot on with this prediction.

2. Well trailed announcements about cutting Whitehall waste. Headline grabbing numbers here should be treated with caution - historic cons in budget announcements include not mentioning multi-year arrangements (e.g. an announcement of £15bn grabs the headline, then we find out in the small print that it is planned over 3 years, so only £5bn this year) and announcements which had already been announced, planned and budgeted for. The most likely approach is to avoid anything that sounds like a 'cut' - just go for 'efficiency gains'. This leaves a trap door for the Tories - if they announce further 'efficiency gain' Labour will be able to say that they've already done that, and the Tories are planning 'cuts'.

Mouse was spot on again. The £15bn efficiency saving was there, but it is from 2010 - conveniently after the next election. The IFS has already looked at the figures and shown that around £3.5bn is coming from health and education budgets, but the government is spinning like crazy that this is not a cut, just an efficiency saving. Mouse notes that these 'efficiency gains' are far grater than the 'cuts' that Labour so bitterly attacked in the 2005 election campaign when the Tories proposed them.

3. Mouse predicts some green tax announcements. This will serve as a way of nudging up the overall burden of tax without getting bad press for it.

Mouse expected a little more than was announced, but there were a series of green taxes. Petrol is going up a lot (2p this year and another 1p next year).

4. Mouse predicts a blizzard of small announcements - a few £m here or there on 'real help now' for particular groups who are hardest hit by the recession. Expect some with big sounding numbers that are highly complex - there has been talk of the government providing supply chain insurance for example. They may announce this in the form of, "help worth £xbn". Of course, providing insurance is very different from providing a cash injection. The value of insurance cover may sound high, as only a small proportion of this will incur a cost to the Chancellor in the form of claims (hopefully). That makes this an attractive option for the government.

There certainly were. There was no supply chain insurance cover, but there were plenty of other schemes and initiatives. The temporary raising of the stamp duty threshold was extended and a complex car scrapping scheme was announced. The big number in a complex scheme was £2bn on youth employment. The announcement was that everyone under the age of 25 out of work for 12 months or more will be offered a job or a place on a training scheme. In addition, the government will create or support up to 250,000 jobs in deprived areas. Just how that will work is beyond the Mouse, and the reality is that it certainly won't involve putting £2bn in people's pockets. Likewise the "£1bn boost to the housing market" is another example. In actual fact that £1bn is a series of measures, from making £100m available for local authorities to build energy efficient homes, extending the stamp duty holiday, £80m on shared-equity homes, and a whole variety of other schemes.

5. A rabbit out of the hat. There is always one in a Labour budget. Expect a big headline grabbing announcement. It could be something on the cost side - like delaying the ID card scheme, or it could be one of Mouse's earlier predictions that is bigger than anyone expected.

Well we did get one. It was a big fat headline grabber that added up to very little in reality. It wasn't on the cost side, as Mouse suspected, but it was a new 50p income tax rate for people earning over £150,000. Early analysis shows that it will raise a mere £1bn (peanuts in relation to the truly horrific borrowing figures) but it sets the political dividing lines.

All in all Mouse thinks he was pretty close to the mark, and gives himself 8 out of 10 for the accuracy of his predictions.

The really frightening thing is that Darling is predicting that after 5 years we will still owe 5% of GDP in debt. This is based on projections of economic growth that are pure fantasy in their optimism. This means that sooner or later this budget will have to be ripped up and real and deep spending cuts will be brought in. Mouse thinks the real missed opportunity is the failure to fess up to the tough measures needed to sort out the nations finances.

As with all Labour budgets, you really need to follow the expert analysis of the detail. My final prediction is that there will be something extra hidden in the detail of the red book that it will take two or three days for the boffins to spot.

Announcing guest blogger

Mouse is delighted that Sarah Malik, Methodist Church Youth President, will guest blog a post explaining the Church's youth engagement strategy. Mouse has been following Sarah's blog, and is looking forward to hearing more about the major investment being made in youth engagement.

Mouse highlighted the launch of the strategy a while ago, and you can read about it on Christian Today. Mouse is a champion of grass roots engagement in the church, so is really looking forward to learning about how we can achieve that better with the youth of the church.

Check back later for Sarah's guest post.

Times hoaxed on Catholic stories ... twice

Within the space of 24 hours the Times has become the victim of two hoaxes. The first was when Ruth Gledhill was telephoned by someone claiming to be Monsignor Vincent Brady, Private Secretary to Archbishop Faustino Sainz Munoz, Papal Nuncio in the UK. The caller informed her that the Archbishop had been taken ill and that a reception he was holding that evening was to be cancelled. Ruth duly reported the story on her blog, only to find within an hour or so that it was a hoax, the Nuncio was fit and well and the reception was very much on.

The second story was run in the Times Online (and is still there at the time of writing), and was that the Pope was to give Charles and Camilla a controversial gift when they visit him. The Times reported that the Pope was to present "a “luxury facsimile” of the 1530 appeal by English peers to Pope Clement VII asking for the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon." Understandably this would have raised some eyebrows. Damian Thompson, however, reports that the Vatican has written to the Times telling them to retract the story. Sounds like another hoax.

As hoaxes go these are rather subtle ones. The existence of the Papal Nuncio's reception, while not a secret, is hardly the talk of the town, and planting an obscure story in the Times Online is a strange objective. The question for the Mouse is whether this is someone trying to embarrass the Times, or someone trying to embarrass the Catholic Church in England.

Mouse's budget predictions

Only a fool would try to predict this budget ... so here goes.

1. The Chancellor's growth forecast will be around 0.5% above the independent consensus forecasts. This has been the case in almost every Labour budget in the past decade. Over optimistic growth forecasts have actually been the root of our borrowing problems. Every year the government over estimates growth and when it comes in lower, we pick up the shortfall in tax revenue through increased borrowing. The independent forecasts average at around -3.5% this year (although there are a significant number below that) and 0.5% next year. Look for Darling to go for around -3% this year and 1% next. Also look out for a rosy prediction of how the economy will perform after next year. That will make the case for how we will get borrowing back under control in, say 3-5 years.

2. Well trailed announcements about cutting Whitehall waste. Headline grabbing numbers here should be treated with caution - historic cons in budget announcements include not mentioning multi-year arrangements (e.g. an announcement of £15bn grabs the headline, then we find out in the small print that it is planned over 3 years, so only £5bn this year) and announcements which had already been announced, planned and budgeted for. The most likely approach is to avoid anything that sounds like a 'cut' - just go for 'efficiency gains'. This leaves a trap door for the Tories - if they announce further 'efficiency gain' Labour will be able to say that they've already done that, and the Tories are planning 'cuts'.

3. Mouse predicts some green tax announcements. This will serve as a way of nudging up the overall burden of tax without getting bad press for it.

4. Mouse predicts a blizzard of small announcements - a few £m here or there on 'real help now' for particular groups who are hardest hit by the recession. Expect some with big sounding numbers that are highly complex - there has been talk of the government providing supply chain insurance for example. They may announce this in the form of, "help worth £xbn". Of course, providing insurance is very different from providing a cash injection. The value of insurance cover may sound high, as only a small proportion of this will incur a cost to the Chancellor in the form of claims (hopefully). That makes this an attractive option for the government.

5. A rabbit out of the hat. There is always one in a Labour budget. Expect a big headline grabbing announcement. It could be something on the cost side - like delaying the ID card scheme, or it could be one of Mouse's earlier predictions that is bigger than anyone expected.

That's 5 predictions. I'll mark myself out of 10 for accuracy some time after the budget is announced.

Finally, Mouse urges Christians to get more engaged with the budget. After all, this will have a crucial impact on people's jobs and social spending not just over the next year but well beyond.

Changing sexuality

Interesting piece in the Episcopal Cafe on the upcoming event 'Sex and the city: Redeeming sex today". The event is sponsored by Anglican Mainstream and Care. The problem with the event is that it is a platform for Joseph Nicolosi, one of the founders of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality in the US, described by Episcopal Cafe as 'the flat earth society for the therapeutic world'.

NARTH has been involved in a number of 'controversies' according to Truth Wins Out, and has been disowned by almost every major therapeutic organisation in the US, according to Religious Tolerance. The controversies have involved a paper from a member of NARTH's 'scientific advisory committee' which encouraged bullying of gay children in schools to 're-establish the necessary boundary' and another member of the 'scientific advisory committee' arguing that slaves were better off in enslaved in America than they were when free in Africa.

The main problem with NARTH is their promotion of 'conversion therapy'. In other words promoting people's right to request and supply therapies designed to make gay people straight - that is essentially their mission statement. You may well remember a controversy in the UK on this very subject only last month when therapists who offered this treatment were condemned on the basis that there is no scientific evidence that it worked, amongst other things. In 2006 the the American Psychological Association spoke out against NARTH stating "there is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed."

Mouse is not impressed that an organisation calling itself 'mainstream' is resorting to discredited pseudo-scientists to promote their point of view.

How generous is Barak Obama

Nice piece in Christianity Today analysing President Obama's charitable donations.

Most secular analysis of Obama's tax return centred on how much money he made, rather than how much he gave away. The CT piece shows that he gave 6.5% of his gross income to charity. However, just 0.3% of that was to Christian organisations. Those that did receive were:

* $500 to Apostolic Church of God
* $200 to Brookland Baptist Church
* $500 to Brown AME Church
* $1,000 to Catholic Relief Services
* $150 to Crusade of Mercy
* $100 to First Lutheran Church
* $5,000 to New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity
* $500 to St. Leo's Residence for Veterans
* $100 to St Luke's United Methodist Church

At a time when churches are finding it hard to raise money from their congregations, it is interesting that Obama treats church donations in the same category as other charities. His overall level of giving looks pretty good, though.

The case for church schools

A new report has been seized upon by those opposed to religion's role in education. Whilst it has said nothing negative about 'faith schools' it has said that their existence does not raise the standards of other schools in the area. Quite how this can be seen as a criticism of faith schools really is a logical contortion beyond the Mouse.

First off, Mouse should point out that the term 'faith schools' makes his stomach turn. The reality is that the vast majority of them are church schools.

It seems to Mouse to be a pretty desperate attempt to generate some bad press for church schools. The argument is that church schools create social segregation. However, no evidence of this has been identified in the report. They seem to be attacking an argument that no-one is advancing.

Anna Vignoles, co-author of the study, said: "If faith schools genuinely give parents a choice, what should happen is that with lots of faith schools there is more choice, competition with other schools and standards being driven up. We didn't find that. Even in areas with high proportions of children in faith schools, there is certainly no evidence that standards are higher."

Is there any evidence that standards in other local schools is lower? Mouse presumes not, otherwise they would have said so. The Guardian went for the headline, "Faith schools 'failing to improve standards'". What the report actually says, would lead to the far less dramatic headline, "Faith schools have no impact on the standards of other schools".

Faith schools have been under a concerted attack lately by people who believe that mixing kids up in schools leads to a kind of social utopia where people love and respect one another. In actual fact, this can only be achieved where children go to schools which teach them strong ethical values of love and respect. Now what type of schools have that as their founding ethos, I wonder...

What this report actually achieves is to divert attention from real debate on standards in education. Mouse was impressed by a piece from Dr Martin Stephen from St Paul's school in the Evening Standard. He argues that key drivers of school standards are broken - the public exam system, the national curriculum and the school inspection regime. Faith schools are doing well. Mouse says leave them alone. Now lets sort out the schools that are letting kids leave the education system without the most basic qualifications in English and maths, which leave them fighting hard against the odds for a decent job for the rest of their lives.

The Twurch is back

Thanks to Doug for fixing it. You can now see the Twitter stream for all twittering bishops and clergy in the Church of England on The Church Mouse blog.

Doug just tweeted me to admit that he didn't actually do anything! Thanks for your honesty Doug. The Twurch was actually fixed by @natefanaro.

United call to Darling on child poverty

The Chancellor has been urged to 'keep his promise' on child poverty in the coming budget by an interesting mix of religious leaders and humanists.

Mouse agrees entirely with the sentiment of the letter signed by 28 Christians, Muslims, Hindus and humanists, which calls on the Chancellor to maintain spending on key child poverty initiatives. The signatories include many leading bishops from the good old CofE (including top blogging bishop Nick Baines), Revd Dr Martyn Atkins – General Secretary of the Methodist Conference, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari – Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, Anil Bhanot – General Secretary, Hindu Council UK and Polly Toynbee, President of the British Humanist Association.

It makes a welcome change for the British Humanist Association to stop bashing religion in general and the good old CofE in particular. However, the Mouse's sceptometer is kicking in again. The BHA is massively smaller than any major faith group in Britain in terms of membership. Perhaps they have realised that they sit at a bigger table when they work with faith groups, rather than bashing them from a distance.

Mouse also had another slightly cheeky thoughts. Mouse wonders whether Polly Toynbee should spend some time at the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, to learn about how 'faith can be a force for good'.

America's evangelicals and climate change

What on earth is going on with America's evangelicals?

A fascinating piece of research from the Pew Forum shows the religious dimension of opinions on climate change. Leo Hickman does a nice piece on it in the Guardian.

The key finding is that white evangelical protestants are the most sceptical about climate change, with a staggering 31% who don't believe that the earth is warming.

Mouse has said on many occasions that we need opinion data in order to shape opinion, and hopefully now evangelical leaders in the US will see this and be shocked. The US is much better about getting polling data related to religious belief, but Mouse will keep the campaign going.

Twurch feed

Apologies for the problems with the Twurch of England bishops and clergy Twitter feed. The problem is with a third party tool that I use, so for the time being I'm waiting for them to fix it. If its not resolved soon I'll switch to another tool.

When is a split not a split?

The answer is, when its a fellowship.

If you missed it, the GAFCON primates met this week and issued a communique. It must also have been rather embarrassing for the Bishops as only one journalist turned up to the press conference. Yes, a room that could accommodate 360 people was booked in a hotel near Heathrow, and only Paul Handley from the Guardian arrived to hear what they had to say. That means all the news coverage has come from reading the communique. It was rather disastrous, therefore, that there was mass confusion over two rather different versions of the communique issued.

Still, Mouse think the reason no-one bothered to turn up, was because the outcome was so predictable there was no benefit to hearing it repeated. The primates recognised the ACNA, although they had essentially already done that back in December, and had invited the ACNA bishops to attend the meeting (but not anyone from the Episcopal church). They also repeated the claim not to be separatist in outlook or objective. The logic seems to be here that it is everyone else that is at fault, and their goal is to achieve unity by convincing everyone to agree with them. The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, being launched in London in July, is their answer to why thy are not organising a split in the Anglican communion. It is a fellowship, not a separatist movement. Well, we'll see.

Mouse also thought he'd just remind everyone who these people are, as this doesn't seem to be noted in many places.

The council is chaired by the Primate of Nigeria, Archbishop Peter Akinola. The members are Rwandan Primate, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini, Tanazania’s Archbishop Valentino Mokiwa, Archbishop Justice Akrofi of Ghana, Primate of West Africa, Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi, Primate of Kenya, Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda, Archbishop Greg Venables of the Southern Cone. The council’s secretary is Dr Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney, Australia.

Mouse's verdict: this is a disaster, albeit a highly predictable one.

Friday round up

Here's my round up from the blogosphere. Ten of the best from the blogs this week:

1. Damascus Moments on a Dead Man Walking

2. Canon Andrew White on Easter in Baghdad

3. Bishop David Thompson says Never Apologise (sort of)

4. Bess Twiston-Davies on elves

5. Cranmer on Tony Blair getting Gerry Adams into Gaza

6. Damian Thompson does not like Ekklesia ... and they patronise him right back

7. Dave Walker is rather close to the mark on Anglicans and Spring Harvest

8. The Unfinished Christian on the Eric Morecambe Bible


9. Bishop Alan on the way banking was

10. Cranmer's Curate thinks that politicians are made in the image of God

Funeral music

Cooperative Funeralcare have done a survey of music played at funerals. They surveyed 242 funeral homes and 30,000 services and found that 58% of people in England and Wales chose pop music rather than traditional hymns. The top ten pop picks are:

1 My Way - Frank Sinatra/Shirley Bassey
2 Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler/Celine Dion
3 Time To Say Goodbye - Sarah Brightman/Andrea Bocelli
4 Angels - Robbie Williams
5 Over The Rainbow - Eva Cassidy
6 You Raise Me Up - Westlife/Boyzone/Josh Grobin
7 My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion
8 I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
9 You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry and the Pacemakers
10 Unforgettable - Nat King Cole

Mouse notes the preponderance of mushy nonsense, but is not entirely surprised by the choices. Comment has focused on the continued decline of traditional hymns and the increased use in 'secular' pop songs. Obviously mention is made of the quirkier selections, such as the theme tune to 'Only Fools and Horses' or AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell'. Also of note is the fact that clergy rejected one in ten requests for songs as they were deemed inappropriate.

The top ten hymns chosen were:


1 The Lord Is My Shepherd
2 Abide With Me
3 All Things Bright And Beautiful
4 Old Rugged Cross
5 Amazing Grace
6 How Great Thou Art
7 The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended
8 Jerusalem
9 Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace
10 Morning Has Broken

Mouse thinks we can read pretty much nothing into this data, other than the fact that the Co-Op Funeralcare company are recycling their technique of generating publicity after success with this survey in 2005.

Mouse would love to see more contemporary music at funerals, if that is something that resonates for the departed and their friends and family. The development of the U2charist shows that pop music can also be used in a religious context, and we shouldn't sneer at people choosing pop music.

The likelihood is that the trend away from traditional religious funerals will continue, unless the Church can become rather more persuasive to the population about taking seriously their approach to preparing for the next life.

Atheist busses just won't go away

The Atheist Bus campaign has now been shortlisted for a 'prestigious' award, boasts the British Humanist Association. The award is for the most innovative fundraising campaign with the Institute of Fundraising National Awards.

Now far be it for me to criticise, but since when did opening a Just Giving page count as innovative? When Mouse last checked there were 6,801 charities using Just Giving, so I presume they will all share the award with the Atheist Bus campaign.

Mouse is happy to recognise that the amount raised was astonishing, and the campaign itself generated plenty of PR, but I'm more than a little surprised to hear that it was an innovative fundraising campaign.

Corrie and Christ

Coronation Street has been making a few waves in Christian circles lately, and not for the right reasons. Mouse must admit at this point that he is not a Corrie fan, however, he is conscious of how Christianity is portrayed in contemporary culture.

On Easter Sunday Ken Barlow attacked Christianity, accusing his school of indoctrinating him. Apparently the ITV discussion forums have lots of unhappy posts in them. Mouse doesn't quite have the stomach to trawl through them to validate this information, but its well believable.

There had been more a positive storyline recently, with Sophie surprising her parents and becoming a Christian at the age of 16. However, ITV have used this to generate some more controversy by announcing a story line in which she will become the soap's first lesbian character.

Mouse has two reactions to this news. Firstly, those who complain should simply stop and worry about bigger things. Unless there is a fear of a genuine protracted campaign against Christianity in the programme, there really is nothing to worry about. Jesus has lasted 2000 years of persecution so far, and the Mouse is sure he can survive a harsh word from Ken Barlow.

Secondly, Christians should make sure they understand how Christianity is portrayed better. Pretty much all the leading soaps have Christian characters (Mouse is very fond of Dot Cotton). We should embrace this, even though each of these characters is inevitably a flawed stereotype. Rather than condemn the programme makers for not presenting a rosy enough picture of Christianity, we should be grateful that the issue has been raised at all and take it from there.

New members of the Twurch of England

Mouse has found quite a few new Twittering vicars over the past week (partly by finding www.twellow.com). Please join me in welcoming the newest members of the Twurch of England:

Rev Harry Steele (edwinharry)
Rev Howard Jameson (howardjameson)
Rev David Waters (ely_dyo)
Rev Michele Barzey (Afrobehn)
Rev Phil Simpson (MullaNasruddin)
Rev Ian Spencer (ianjspencer)
Rev Jeremy Fagan (faganj)
Rev Lorraine Dixon (Ayodele05)
Rev Kathryn (goodinparts)
Rev Frances Wookey (countryvicar)
Rev Matthew Woodward (FrMatthew)
Rev Pam Smith (revpamsmith)
Rev David Hodgson (dhodgson)
Submergedgate won’t reveal his / her real name, but promises Mouse they are a CofE vicar

Mouse is looking at the best way of putting the full directory together, and will publish soon.

The biggest news story not covered by the religious media

The biggest news story of the past few days has been the attempted smear campaign by Damian McBride. If you've missed it (!?) the story is that Damian McBride, special advisor to Gordon Brown, sent emails to Derek Draper, editor of LabourList, with smear stories about senior Tories that he wanted to publish on a new website. It was pretty torrid stuff, all unfounded, that was intended simply to 'destabilise' the Conservative Party.

This has been front page stuff for days, leading the news bulletins, and yet Mouse has not seen any coverage in the religious media (except comment by Bishop David Thompson). On the face of it, there is little religious impact of the story, but Mouse thinks there are some lessons to be learned.

1. We live in a world with some terrible people in it. Jesus warned his disciples that they should be in the world, but not of it. He also warned them to be gentle and kind, yet streetwise. If we want to influence culture and society, and make an impact on public policy we need to understand these people. Mouse is frustrated when Christians involved in issues like climate change focus the debate solely on the social justice issues. Whilst this is right, it fails to get on the agenda of the decision makers, who want the profit and loss impact, or the impact on their political capital.

2. Personal attacks can be damaging to both sides. The Church, like any organisation full of people, is susceptible to factions and arguments. This has been the case since the very earliest days of the church. However, when this discussion descends to the personal level, we find ourselves at the level of Damian McBride. Before that happens we must give ourselves a swift slap in the face, and get back to the issues. Mud sticks to the person who throws it, as well as the intended target.

3. It starts from the culture of the organisation. Here we have something to teach the world. Brown is under attack for encouraging a culture in government which allowed this type of thing to develop. Too often churches don't feel like the kind of places we want them to be - missional, loving, Christ centred, forgiving, prayerful and mutually supportive. In order to be a church that loves others, we need to grow a culture of loving one another.

Mouse has noted many personal attacks lately. Whether they be on Rowan Williams, individual Bishops or even on people outside the Church. Mouse will now be checking himself very carefully before he blogs about an individual (and he certainly has done), and encourages others to do the same.4

Ghosts, Tarot and Jesus

Mouse has been saying for some time that the Church needs data on what people believe if it is to connect with them in a meaningful way. Theos have duly delivered, courtesy of a ComRes poll.


The headline stastics are attention grabbing enough. 70% of people believe in the human soul, 55% believe in heaven and 53% believe in life after death. Rejoice, say some Christians. People do believe after all. Mouse says wait just a minute.

The report continues, "Almost four in 10 (39%) of people believe in ghosts, 22% believe in astrology or horoscopes, 27% believe in reincarnation and 15% believe in fortune telling or Tarot, the research reveals."


Theos point out that this level of belief in superstition is greatly increased since a similar poll in the 1950s. It points not to an increased level of 'spirituality' but the great failure of the church. True belief has been replaced by superstition. Even though some of these superstitions superficially resemble core Christian doctrine, such as the belief in life after death or heaven, the reality is quite different.


These beliefs are superficial to the vast majority of those who hold them. The belief in a soul or heaven that does not demand that you change your life is an easy belief. It is one which comforts but does not challenge.


Christians can take a glimmer of hope from these findings. Clearly the Dawkins brigade, who believe that anything that cannot be proven in a science lab is fantasy, have not won. However, what Christians should take away is the scale of the challenge before them.

Britons turn to religion over debt worries

At least that's what the FT says.

There is certainly lots of evidence of increased demand for debt counselling and advice services provided by religious communities. However, the question is whether this is servicing existing members of those communities, or whether they are are connecting with wider communities outside the religious faithful.

Mouse thinks that for the good old CofE this is an essential aspect of the basic purpose of the church. The church should serve the community, and in the modern age that means providing these types of services. Mouse is aware of a number of initiatives to further develop these services, but there is clearly much more that could be done to promote them in local churches.

It would be a much bigger story if the FT had evidence that there was increased religious belief in the current economic climate. But lets wait for some actual evidence of that.

Will the recession end the Church's downturn?

Anecdotal evidence seems to be that this Easter was a very busy one for Churches in Britain. There seems to be the belief amongst some that the rising assertiveness of evangelical atheism is, in fact, having the paradoxical effect of raising interest in religion.

Ruth Gledhill comments in her blog, "For some reason, perhaps in some kind of 'equal and opposite' reaction to the rise of evangelical secularism in our society as witnessed by atheist buses and the Dawkins phenomenon, religion seems never to have been more prominent, and this week in The Times it has been the good news about religion that has predominated."

The Mouse would like to know whether the good old CofE will pounce on this development and commission some research to find out what's going on? If not, the Mouse may be organising a whip round to get a YouGov poll done. Mouse has commented before that the Church doesn't seem to bother with real data about what people believe. If we are to meet people where they are, we have to ask these questions.

Church pin-up boy - AN Wilson?

The Church, particularly the good old CofE, does not do pin ups well. In the cult of celebrity in which we now live, Mouse has always thought of this as a problem. There are good reasons why the Church's approach is sensible. Firstly, its desperately embarrassing when your pin up renounces his faith. Jonathan Edwards' example is a case in point. It is also seen as rather heretical to focus on flawed human individuals, where we should be looking to Christ as the ultimate example.

Mouse, however, says, "get real". Stories are powerful. Stories bring examples to life. Jesus knew that, and told stories all the time to illustrate his teaching.

Not only that, but we have no choice. People's perceptions will be shaped by stories. Whether we like it or not, the reality is that despite the phenomenal success of initiatives like the Alpha course, a 10 week introduction for Christianity which has been completed by around 13 million people worldwide, more people will have read about Jade Goody's death bed conversion to Christianity than will have been to all evangelistic initiatives in Britain added up. Mouse would not suggest for a moment that the Church should pander to celebrity culture, but we must be aware that it is the culture within which we now operate, even if we are seeking to change that.

Despite the reservations of some, Christian pin ups do exist. For too long in the UK we've made do with the likes of Cliff Richard or Cannon and Ball. Without wishing to be too hard on these good folk, if we want to appeal to the under 50s, we need some new stories to tell.

More recently we have looked for the dramatic stories to make an impact. We look to the likes of Tony Anthony who's personal story takes him from being Kung Fu world champion to violent criminal, then to prison before finally giving his life to Christ. Wow. Or we look to the likes of Kaka. He has overcome a back injury from which doctors said he would be lucky to recover sufficiently to walk again. He is now possibly the worlds greatest footballer, a world cup winner, currently playing with AC Milan. When he won the Serie A league title with AC Milan he removed his shirt to reveal a T-shirt bearing the slogan "I belong to Jesus". Double wow.

The thing is, the average man in the street simply cannot relate to these extraordinary stories. Much as it pains the Mouse, he will never be a Kung Fu world champion or a world cup winning footballer.

Step up A N Wilson, writer and biographer. He has written recently in the Daily Mail and the New Statesman about his conversion to Christianity. He spent 'most of his life' as an atheist and gradually, over time, came to believe that Jesus really is the son of God, that he died and rose again, and that anyone who believes in him will gain eternal life. Triple wow, with extra gosh on the side.

One of the most common pieces of feedback from the Alpha Course is that it is great to meet 'normal people' who are also Christians. For many people its stunning news that an intelligent and educated person has carefully considered Christianity's claims, weighed up all the evidence and concluded that its all true.

A N Wilson said, "My belief has come about in large measure because of the lives and examples of people I have known - not the famous, not saints, but friends and relations who have lived, and faced death, in the light of the Resurrection story, or in the quiet acceptance that they have a future after they die." His conversion was not sudden or dramatic, but it was carefully considered in light of all the evidence and arguments.

That's the kind of pin-up we need. Mouse says do not be afraid to tell stories like this. Lets have our pin ups in the church, but lets put the extraordinary and the remarkable alongside the average and the boring.

More Easter messages

Mouse was so impressed by the Easter day blogging that he had to provide a few more links:

1. Quem quaeritis?
2. Reduced Resurrection
3. Alleluia!!!!
4. Easter Egg Theology

Message to Rowan

Can someone tell Rowan Williams to switch his YouTube channel into a video podcast on iTunes. Mouse thinks it is rather symptomatic of the good old CofE's use of technology that Rowan's excellent videos are not available on iTunes. If they were, Mouse suspects more than 350 people would have subscribed. The advantage of YouTube, of course, is that it is easy to then re-use elsewhere on the web, so its sensible to put them there too. Still, its easy to put them in both places, and it really would be helpful to have them in iTunes.

Mouse Easter message

Happy Easter. Christ is risen. Mouse has been heartened by the excellent Easter blogging of recent days. I'm sure there will be more great stuff today, but in the mean time here are a selection of Easter blog reading. Mouse wishes all of his readers a very happy Easter.

1. Passion Play

2. He was dead

3. Tomb under an empty sky

4. Good Friday - what’s good about it?

5. Bishop David's Easter Message

6. Pascha

7. Easter. And God wants you wealthy?

8. The Methodist President, Rev Stephen Poxon's, Easter Message

9. It's Friday, but Sunday's a-Comin'!

10. Good Friday

Tony Blair's second coming

After mentioning Tony Blair's Faith Foundation yesterday, Mouse was rather surprised to hear that he had launched it only yesterday with Bill Clinton in attendance. Cranmer does a typical demolition job on Blair, accusing him of pretty rank hubris on launching his Foundation on Good Friday, fresh after lecturing the Pope on changing his 'entrenched' views on sexuality.

What baffles Mouse the most is that the Foundation has been up and running for ages. The photo-op with Bill Clinton yesterday was clearly too good to miss, so an 'official launch' was convened.

Mouse's view is that the Foundation is pretty much pointless. The aims are very worthy, but there are more organisations promoting inter-faith relations, peace and fighting poverty than you could shake a stick at. Why set up another with the aim of achieving all of it?

TB's (full time) job is supposed to be as special envoy to the Middle East. Never has this job been more crucial. So please get on and do it, Mr Blair. We weren't impressed when Gordon claimed to have saved the world. Please don't go there too.

All aboard the Twitter bandwagon

News this week that an Episcopal Church in New York is planning to produce a passion play on Twitter. This follows closely after a church in Germany plans to put the entire Bible on Twitter. Both will be impressive feats. However, Mouse thinks this is pretty crude headline grabbing and gimmickry. The Mouse is a keen Twitterer, but the benefit is about networking with people and engaging with that network. It is not a broadcast medium. The good old CofE's Twittering for Lent has been pretty good. Not because of the short instructions they've given out each day, but because whoever is behind this is actually engaging with people who reply.

Mouse's advice to anyone thinking of jumping on board the Twitter band wagon is to think hard about what you are trying to achieve. Mouse has no interest in reading the Bible in 140 character chunks - I can read the real thing much easier.

Shoe shine Bishop

Yesterday was Maundy Thursday. The day that Christians go to church and go, "errrrgh" as they think about getting their feet washed by a stranger. Many Christians think it is a beautiful act of service and are perfectly at ease with the traditional commemoration of Jesus example with his disciples. Non-Christians think it bizarre.

So Bishop Michael Doe has brought the tradition bang up to date by shining shoes at St Pancras station. Bishop Michael explained, "In Jesus’ day washing feet was a task normally reserved for servants. Traditionally, many clergy wash the feet of their parishioners on Maundy Thursday. It was felt that shoe-shining was a modern equivalent."

Mouse thinks this is a nice touch. It was also raising awareness and funds for Anglican mission agency USPG.

Blair and Pickles

Mouse has been following the news on Tony Blair's Faith Foundation for a while. He remains totally baffled as to what purpose it is seeking to serve. However, Mouse noted that Blair's Foundation issued messages wishing people a happy Easter, Pesach or Vaisakhi, depending on which faith you follow. How strange that Eric Pickles, Chairman of the Conservative Party, issued almost exactly the same message.

Mouse will file them both in the appropriate place.

Friday round up

Here's my round up from the blogosphere. Ten of the best from the blogs this week:

1. Jonathan Wynne-Jones is a total s**t - according to the Archbishop of Westminster's press secretary

2. Bishop Alan's punts at the National

3. Bishop David on why you can't measure prayer

4. Bartholomew's Notes keeps up the pressure on the BNP - even if the CofE won't

5. John Sentamu's call to celebrate Englishness impresses Ruth Gledhill

6. Ruth Gledhill on flash mob worship in Liverpool

7. Cranmer's Curate on the renewed importance of parish visiting ... really!

8. Bishop Nick Baines is proud of Clergy in the good old CofE

9. Andrew Brown reckons NHS chaplains are valuable

10. Peter Ould offers up an Easter treat with the Passion story in Facebook

Latest members of the Twurch of England

Three new additions to the Church of England Bishops and Clergy Twitter stream. They are:

Rev Mike Resch (RevResch)
Rev Mark Godson (liminalspace)
Rev Paul Walker (pgw71)

Now that the stream has been up and running a while I've been able to compile a top 5 Bishop and Clergy Twitterers by number of tweets. As they stand at the moment:

1. Bishop Alan Wilson (no surprises there)
2. Rev Dave Meldrum
3. Rev Tim Norwood
4. Rev Simon Rundell
5. Rev Richard Frank

Covenant - take the test

The Covenant Design Group has met, a new draft covenant has been published and it will be put to the meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in May.

Now the test is whether that sentence meant anything to you whatsoever. If it did, you have failed the test. You should immediately go and take a cold shower. If not, you've passed. Please shut down this post, and pretend you never read it.


So if you're still reading you are either in the know, or are too curious to obey the Mouse.

Let me start the story from the beginning. In 2004 the idea of a covenant was mooted in The Windsor Report. It was essentially a simple idea to articulate clearly the basis on which Anglicans agree and work together as a way "trust and co-operation could be rebuilt between the churches of the Anglican Communion in the wake of recent tensions".

Fast forward five years, and we now have a draft of that covenant. Mouse had been sitting on the draft for a while waiting to build up the mental and emotional strength to read it, and then I realised the point I wanted to make. It really doesn't matter. Mouse simply cannot imagine a scenario where it will have the slightest impact on the life of a single person I know. I don't believe for a second it will make a difference to the divisions in the US and elsewhere, or that it will prevent such divisions in the future.

Mouse's plea to those drafting this thing. Don't spend too much more time naval gazing and debating it. Lets just get it done and move on. There's plenty of other work to do.

Groups the Church should not wind up - No.1 Football fans

So some people are not happy that Premier League football will be played on Easter Sunday. Well if you're looking for a really quick way to irritate a few million people, having a pop at Premier League football is a pretty quick way to achieve that objective.

For most of us in the Church, however, we're looking at creative ways to engage with contemporary culture and bring Christ to people wherever they are.

Most Premier League football clubs take their commitment to their communities really seriously. Some Christians are engaging well with this dimension of football culture, with many clubs having an official club chaplain. Other prominent Christians appeal to it in a more overt way. Vin Nichols makes quite a play of the fact that he is a big Liverpool fan, for example. This is the same tactic used by politicians who wear their football loyalties very much on their sleeves.

Mouse does understand that it would be great if everyone spent Easter Sunday in Church followed by quite contemplation and prayer, but in the real world we should try to meet people where they are - not condemn them for wanting to go to the footy in a bank holiday weekend.

Christians respond to 'debaptism'

Mouse has a very bad feeling about this. Premier Radio is encouraging Christians to respond by signing a declaration that they are a Christian in their 'I am a Christian' campaign. The National Secular Society claims to have had 100,000 people download their 'debaptism' certification (at £3 a go, Mouse is quick to point out).

The difference between the two campaigns is clear. One is an organic movement that emerged from the ground up, gaining popular support along the way. The other is a top down campaign, with a specific pointless goal in mind. Actually, both goals are pointless, but responding to one pointless campaign with another seems even more pointless to the Mouse.

The same trap was fallen into by successive groups in response to the Atheist bus campaign. Mouse blogged at the time that the original atheist bus campaign raised over £150,000 in a very short space of time, and emerged organically from a blog post. Nicky Gumbel's Alpha organisation tried to organise a response, and failed to secure any significant donations. Successive christian organisations then paid for Christian messages in response to the atheist message and it got very boring very quickly.

The correct response to both campaigns is to make clear that they are mistaken. On the debaptism issue, for example, it is a fact that they were baptised. The only way to 'debaptise' someone involves the invention of a time machine. We can then be grateful that important issues of faith have been raised, and engage with people on those topics. Can we avoid lame imitations in response please?

Blair lectures the Pope in gay magazine

You really couldn't make this up.

Blair has done an interview for Attitude, a gay interest magazine. Its a fascinating interview, and Ruth Gledhill does a great piece on it. From the Mouse's perspective it seems clear that Blair does not agree with some significant aspects of Catholic teaching. We already knew the Blairs did not abide by the teaching on contraception, from the overly detailed descriptions in Cherie's autobiography. In the Attitude interview Blair says that there is a 'fear' from religious leaders to concede ground on issues like homosexuality as times change. However, he calls for a 'rethink'.

Most interestingly, however, Blair makes a clear distinction between what he calls the 'essential values of the faith' and the 'vast accumulation of doctrine and practice'. His implication is that he doesn't buy the 'doctrine and practice' stuff, but is on board with the 'essential values' part. I don't think either the Pope or Vin Nichols, the new Archbishop of Westminster, would go along with that assessment.

He also seems to say that church leaders are out of step with their congregations, arguing that "On many issues, I think the leaders of the Church and the Church will be in complete agreement. But I think on some of these issues, if you went and asked the congregation, I think you’d find that their faith is not to be found in those types of entrenched attitudes."

Well. Its no surprise to find that Blair thinks he knows better than the Pope. I'd be a little surprised if he ever gets to hear about it, but now that he's on the internet, perhaps someone will email him a link?