Green legal moves on RBS raise more questions on the Church's investment holdings

Mouse has commented at length on the good old CofE's investment strategy. The last case to highlight concerns about the ethical investment policies of the Church was the case in which Shell (Church investment of £103.7m in the 2008 accounts) was accused of being complicit in the abduction and murder of environmental campaigners. You may recall that Shell settled out of court on that one.

The latest court case seems rather more speculative. It is being brought by three environmental campaign groups on the Treasury, on the basis that they now own 70% of RBS. The three environmental groups are World Development Movement, Platform, and People & Planet, and they claim that RBS's investments in environmentally damaging energy companies is in breach of the governments own climate change policies.

"The government has spent billions on a bank with a track record of financing energy companies' dirty and destructive projects," said Julian Oram, head of policy at the World Development Movement. "We're launching this action because the Treasury has displayed a blatant disregard to the government's own commitments to tackling climate change, and its rules for spending public money."

Quite. But does Mr Oram know that according to its latest annual report, the Church Commissioners have an £8.4 million stake in the company.

Once again, Mouse repeats his position that the Church Commissioners must be much more transparent in their ethical investment policies and guidelines, and that these should be subject to wider debate.

Michael Jackson's faith

One of the stranger phenomena that has arisen since the death of Michael Jackson is the vying of religious groups to claim him as 'one of them'.

The rumours of his conversion to Islam are as widespread as they are unsubstantiated. The Telegraph ran the story back in November, so its not new, but since Jackson himself never mentioned it in public, it was filed in the skip of unprovable Michael Jackson rumours.

Mouse was much more intrigued by comments recently that Jackson had converted to Christianity in the last few days of his life. This rumour seems to originate entirely from one blog, so Mouse doesn't give it much credence. He is more intrigued at the desire of some to claim Jackson on behalf of their faith, which has been demonstrated by the speed with which this rumour has spread round the internet. In many respects, you couldn't find a worse advocate for your beliefs, whilst recognising the mega-fame is desirable in itself to many in our current celebrity obsessed culture.

We may never know the truth of Jackson's religious views, but to Mouse it makes no difference. Neither to his views on Michael Jackson, the deeply flawed yet brilliant entertainer, nor on the truth of otherwise of the world's great religions.

Update: Christianity Today are now running the 'Was MJ a Christian?' Story.

Update: Thanks to @nigecw for directing me to a denial of the Jackson became a Christian story from one of the individuals allegedly involved - suspected as much.

Equality summer camp

After reporting on the atheist summer camp being launched with the backing of Richard Dawkins, Mouse thought his readers should also have the opportunity to send their kids on the painfully PC 'equality' summer camp, called 'Our Space' being run by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The objective "is to give young people the skills, confidence and ideas to create a fairer society for all".

This camp, for 14 and 15 year olds will include outdoor activities in the Lake District combined with “modules to discuss diversity, equality and rights”.

There are only 100 spaces for this camp, so be sure to apply quickly.

Atheist Summer Camp

Richard Dawkins' latest promotional scheme for atheism is to run an atheist summer camp. The news is reported in the Telegraph with more details, such as the facts that the kids will be singing John Lennon's 'Imagine' and learning about rational scepticism.

Dave Walker, who blogs for the Church Times, as well as on his own Cartoon Church site, is sharp as ever, and points out via Twitter, that the Telegraph already covered this story back in April. Amusingly, they even use the same picture of Richard Dawkins to illustrate the story.

Mouse is stuck by two aspects of this story. The first is the way that atheists urge to rid the world of religion increasingly looks like it wants to replace it with something extremely similar. Whilst the content may be different, but the format is very similar to many Christian summer camps. How ironic that the church has been collectively scratching its head for the past 20 years wondering how it can appeal better to the youth of today, and its oldest approaches are being mimicked by those seeking to destroy the church.

Secondly, the camp has just 24 places. Whilst the goal may be to challenge the world-wide church, its a pretty unambitious start. Having said that, Dawkins knows how to generate a headline, which in reality is all this summer camp is about.

The saga of the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia

Another big hat tip to Bartholomew for the story about the real Ark of the Covenant (really). Its in Ethiopia, apparently, according to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

They had been offering to reveal the Ark, which had previously been jealously guarded. However, at the last minute the Church's Patriach, Abuna Pauolos let us all down by refusing to reveal the Ark.

He said, "I am not here to give proofs that the Ark is in Ethiopia, but I am here to say what I saw, what I know and I can attest to. I didn't say that the Ark would be revealed to the world. It is a mystery, an object of veneration.".

So there we go. It is here, but we're not going to show you. Shame.

Doctors want right to talk about faith to patients

There have been many stories lately about medical professionals being disciplined for talking about their faith with patients. The issue seems to have arisen since guidelines issued by the government warned that talking about faith may be seen as proselytising, which could in turn be seen as harassment.

Next week, however, doctors will bring a motion to the British Medical Associate conference saying that doctors should not be disciplined, as long as they handle the issue with sensitivity. The is clearly common sense, and takes the side of the majority of medical professionals who recognise that real patient care takes individuals' spiritual and emotional needs into account, as well as their clinical needs.

The problem now is that the recent cases have created a climate of fear for Christians to mention their faith in the Health Service, for fear of disciplinary action.

The solution is simply to withdraw the offending Department of Health guidelines. It is plainly wrong to claim, as the guidance does, that talking about your faith could be interpreted in law as harassment. Saying, 'I'm a Christian and this is what it means' is no more harassment than telling someone, 'I'm a Chris De Burgh fan and this is what it means'.

The driver behind this guidance was not an attempt to protect patients from aggressive evangelists prowling hospital corridors, but the fear that a few might take offence when asked, 'would you like someone to pray with you?'. What a terrible shame.

Fourth plinth communion

On Tuesday 28 July between 9.00am and 10.00am Methodist Minister Ken Chalmers will be celebrating communion from the top of the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.

The act is part of Anthony Gormley's 'One and Other' project. Mouse thinks this is a great idea. The best forms of Christian witness are where Christians are simply themselves in the presence of others. A public communion is sure to make those nearby wonder what its all about.

Ken has launched a plea for help on a project blog.

H/T Dave Walker

Friday round up

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


1. Dave Walker in the Church Times blog surveys the reactions to beer in church

2. Bess Twiston-Davies asks whether France can ban the Church of Scientology

3. Riazat Butt explains the ruling on discrimination in the JFS admission policy (better than Mouse could)

4. Andrew Brown on exorcisms

5. George Pitcher does not like Dignitas

6. Bartholomew on religion at the BBC

7. The Jubilee Centre blog on the untold story of today's youth

8. Anglican Mainstream keep us posted with developments at the ACNA

9. Heresy Corner on Sarkosy, France and the burka

10. The delay to this week's round up allowed Mouse to include a few tributes to Michael Jackson from Cranmer, Bishop Nick Baines and Bishop Alan Wilson

Friday round up to follow

Apologies for the delay folks, but Mouse has been rather busy this week. The Friday round up will follow later today.

Caritas chief is wrong on climate change tactics

At the Global Humanitarian Forum in Geneva, Anne Knight, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis is arguing that it is 'vital' to link climate change to poverty. The argument is that climate change is the fault of rich countries, but that poor countries will suffer from the effects most, and are least well equipped to deal with them.

These arguments are 100% true, and utterly useless.

Knight continued with the line, "The unpalatable truth is that there will be a price to be paid for a solution to climate change. And that price will have to be paid by the ordinary people of the developed world, who have benefited from the growth and development that is causing climate change. This means, quite simply, that high consumers will have to accept a reduced standard of living".

This is not a winning line.

The argument being made equates to little more than appealing to the better nature of global corporations and politicians. To make a difference, climate change campaigners must get on the agenda of those they are trying to convince. However, at the moment campaigners seem to develop their arguments based on what their supporters want to hear, rather than on what their opponents need to hear.

There are two very simple arguments for the two key audiences who need to be convinced:

1) politicians will reap huge political capital from being a leader in climate change action, and may even position their countries as long term winners through building sustainable economies. They can also end their dependence on oil at an ever increasing cost.

2) companies will bankrupt themselves if they fail to develop sustainable business models, but can win new customers and cut costs by cutting energy consumption.

If climate change campaigners can build a compelling case behind each of these, they will have politicians and corporations falling over themselves to be leaders in taking real action on climate change, not just branded token gestures.

Sometimes being right just isn't enough.

Faith school's admissions policy discriminatory - but don't be fooled

The appeal court has ruled that the admission policy of JFS, previously known as the Jews' Free School, in London is unlawful. This is on the basis of a case bought by the parents of a pupil who was refused admission on the basis that they were not Jewish.

So far it sounds like the liberal left will be jumping for joy at this apparent ruling to outlaw discriminatory admissions policies. But this case has a twist.

The reason the parents bought the case is because they think they are Jewish. Its just that the ceremony by which the mother (who carries the Jewish lineage to the next generation) converted to Judaism was not recognised by the local Rabbi.

The presiding judge, Lord Justice Sedley, said "It appears clear to us… that Jews constitute a racial group defined principally by ethnic origin and additionally by conversion. To discriminate against a person on the ground that he or someone else either is or is not Jewish is therefore to discriminate against him on racial grounds."

Got it? No, me neither.

The issue is that schools can discriminate on the basis of faith, once a school is over-subscribed. But they can't discriminate on the basis of race.

It seems that the court is essentially saying that the conversion should be recognised on the basis of the faith and practice of the parents, regardless of the official recognition of the ceremony. As such, the discrimination in this case is a racial one, rather than a religious one.

So, the liberal left will not yet be toasting the end of selection in education. Mouse has pointed out before, that the way to end it now would actually be to allow the over-subscribed schools in question to expand so they can accept everyone who wants to go. If they were, they would have no grounds for, or need to, reserve places for pupils based on faith.

Are American Muslims going to Germany?

Mouse noticed a couple of interesting stories about the number of Muslims in America and Germany.

The first story was that President Obama had been making a big deal about the number of Muslims in America. Faith World spotted that in his Cairo speech, Obama said that there were seven million Muslims in America. A few days later, however, he gave an interview for the Karachi newspaper Dawn in which he said there were five million Muslims in America. So, we have the mystery of two million disappearing Muslims.

Over to Germany, where Faith Central report that official estimates of the number of Muslims in the country have recently been adjusted from 3.1-3.4m to around 4m. So now we have the mystery of nearly a million Muslims appearing out of thin air.

These disturbing occurrences must be investigated. If millions of adherents of any other religions begin to either vanish or appear, Mouse would like to hear about it.

ACNA up and running - but with how many members?

Regular readers of the Mouse will probably have guessed that he is instinctively against splitting the church. That is not to say he is in favour of the increasingly liberal ways of the Episcopal Church in the US, but just that he takes seriously Christ's call to unity in his body.

So what do we make of the now official formation of the Anglican Church of North America. Its status within the Anglican Communion is far from clear even though it has now formally approved its own constitution and canons.

Mouse's gut reaction is to feel a great sense of sadness that the divisions in the Anglican Church, essentially over the second order issue of the interpretation of a handful of verses in the Bible about homosexuality, could not be resolved.

Mouse does, however, urge his readers to read Rick Warren's address to the ACNA assembly. Rick didn't even mention the debate on homosexuality. He focused on the purpose of the church and the importance of the work of evangelism and mission. It gave the Mouse hope that there could be a future for the ACNA within the Anglican Communion, and hope that each side in the debate can now reconcile themselves sufficiently to accept that the things which pull us apart are not as great as those which draw us together.

An interesting aside is the question of how many members the ACNA is claiming. Their website claims 100,000 members from 700 parishes. However, the Lead are reporting that the ACNA have already lowered that figure twice, and it now rests at 69,197. Doesn't quite have the same impact does it.

Facebook users do not like Church or the Anglican Communion

A brilliant spot from Dave Walker over on the Church Times blog. Dave noticed that it is possible to see figures for the 18.6m UK Facebook users interests through the website. He's listed out a few of the more interesting ones for Christians:

95,400 people like 'Christ'
90,860 people like 'the Bible'
77,020 people like 'Islam'
31,820 people like 'praying'
24,440 people like 'God'
15,740 people like 'prayers'
8,860 people like 'church'
6,560 people like 'Christianity'
3,740 people like 'confession'
1,820 people 'going to church'
440 people like 'Bible study'
240 people like 'Anglican Communion'

Mouse is not surprised by any of the rankings, except perhaps that Christ is more popular than God. Mouse also wonders why Jesus is not on the list at all. Nor is Mouse surprised that these numbers all dwarf into insignificance compared with the 1.2m people who listed 'sex' as an interest.

A number of churches now have Facebook pages, and use groups to communicate. Mouse is pretty sure that this tool is not being used to its full potential though. As the world of social media becomes more complex (particularly now that Twitter is increasing in popularity) Churches need to look at their strategies for on-line engagement. Some church leaders have dismissed the technology, but to do so is a huge mistake. 18.6m users in the UK cannot be ignored.

Update: Mouse has tested this himself. 131,560 people like Jesus. Mouse thought that would top the poll.

Church to run mobile post office

Mouse is impressed by an unexpected piece of investigative journalism from Bishop David Thomson. Today he tells us on his blog about the mobile post office being run by parish of St James Hemingford Grey. Bishop David says:

Following the retirement of the sub-postmaster of Hemingford Grey Post Office in 2003, the PCC on behalf of the congregation of St James Hemingford Grey, brought the village Post Office into their Parish centre. This was part of their vision to be ‘a community of faith in the community.’ Since then the Parish Centre, Post Office, cafe and other services offered in the Parish Centre have made it a popular venue for local residents and visitors. The Revd Peter Cunliffe, Vicar of Hemingford Grey, is the sub-postmaster.

Mouse is interested in this from two perspectives. Firstly, it is interesting how a local church is trying to connect and engage with its community. This is a huge commitment for a church to make, but it puts it at the centre of the community. Secondly, it is an unexpected new type of blogging for the Bishop. Well done David. Keep up the good work.

Police investigate church Easter invite

Another one for the 'head in hands' award for utter stupidity by a public servant.

The Christian Institute have put out another of their videos highlighting how the police were called in to investigate a Church's leaflet after someone complained that it was 'offensive'. Clearly the police involved disengaged their brains at this point. They pursued the case, even though the leaflet said nothing even remotely offensive, and was simply an invitation to the church's Easter service.

This follows a similar case where police threatened arrest to an outdoor preacher for homophobic comments when he said nothing about homosexuality, and had the whole thing on video to prove it.

The problem seems to be that the police in both instances took the complaints at face value and acted on them disproportionately. There seems to be a complete dedication to stamping out the offence of 'offence', whilst the crime of an overbearing police action to perfectly law abiding activity is inconsequential.

Harriet Harman recently rejected calls for a debate in Parliament about discrimination against Christians in public services. Hopefully, cases like this one will highlight the issue.

Morgan Tsvangirai booed at Southwark Cathedral

Could that really be true? Would people really boo the dissident Zimbabwean leader? Indeed they would. Tsvangirai is rapidly loosing the support of expat Zimbabweans and international leaders who believe he is failing to stand up to Mugabe now that he has a slice of power.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Tsvangirai was speaking at an event in Southwark Cathedral during which he made a plea to expat Zimbabweans to return home to help build the nation. It didn't go down well with people who had fled from Mugabe's terror and chaos. Tsvangirai's speech was repeatedly interrupted by jeers and boos as he talked about putting the past behind us, but failed to call for Mugabe to go.

For many, there can be no reconciliation in Zimbabwe until Mugabe is out of office. Tsvangirai has reconciled himself to the fact that this may not be possible in the short term, and believes he can be a force for change in a power sharing deal. Only time will tell whether he is right.

Christian giving largely holding up during recession

Giving by Christians has not reduced despite the recession. That's the finding of a ComRes poll for Premier.

Of the 512 Christians polled, 85% said their charitable giving had remained unchanged or increased since the start of the recession. 16% had increased their giving, whilst only 1% had stopped giving entirely. Anglicans were the most generous, with 91% giving more or the same since the start of the recession, with Methodists bottom of the table with 81%.

Mouse is rather surprised by this, as Christians lose their jobs at the same rate as everyone else, so it is surprising that the recession is not hitting harder. It also runs contrary to evidence from a number of Christian charities and mission agencies who are laying off staff.

Mouse advises caution to any Churches who are wondering whether their giving will go down this year. This poll is good news, but Mouse still expects Churches to be feeling the pinch.

Two thirds of teenagers don't believe in God, half have never prayed

Penguin have surveyed 1,000 teenagers aged between 13 and 18 about their views on religion to promote a new book (Killing God, by Kevin Brooks). The survey looks far more interesting than the book to Mouse.

The key findings were:

- two thirds don't believe in God

- 59% think religion 'has a negative influence on the world'

- 47% said organised religion had no place in the world

- 50% have never prayed

- 30% believe in an afterlife

If this survey is accurate (and at the moment, Mouse can't find the actual source online, so can't verify methodology etc.) Mouse thinks it throws wide open the demographic time-bomb in the church. 'A Church of England Spokesman' is quoted in the Telegraph as saying that, "Many teenagers aren't sure what they believe at that stage of their lives, as is clear from the number who said they don't know whether they believe in God. On the other hand many of these results point to the great spirituality of young people today that the Church is seeking to respond to through new forms of worship alongside traditional ones.".

Well that's a rather positive spin on things. The pessimist would say that the Church clearly has a pretty enormous job on its hands to change these young people's minds about religion. If it fails to do so, it will be trying to pay those clergy wages and pensions with fewer and fewer in the pews in future, not to mention the total failure of its key mission to win souls for Jesus.

Mouse will point once again to the work going on in the Methodist Church to engage with young people, and wonders when the good old CofE will start to take the issue as seriously and invest some serious time and money in youth engagement.

H/T A Better Hope

Bishop Backs 'toilet twinning'

Yes folks, you did read that correctly. A scheme to raise funds for sanitation in Burundi has come up with the brilliant idea of twinning your toilet with one in Burundi.

The Rt Rev Christopher Cocksworth, Bishop of Coventry, has twinned his porcelain throne and described the scheme by Leamington Spa based charity Cord as, "a brilliant idea".

Quite.

You can follow Cord on Twitter.

Fathers day blessing of beer

This year, the good old CofE tried, in its usual understated way, to bring Fathers Day into its liturgical calendar.

Fathers Day has historically been ignored, whilst Mothers Day forms a part of the church calendar. This year, the good old CofE encouraged people to 'put God in your card' on Fathers Day.

Some churches, however, seem to have gone further. St Stephen's church in Barbourne, Worcester, handed out bottles of beer to fathers during the service, whilst others have distributed bacon rolls and chocolate bars.

Naturally some have attacked the church on the basis that it encourages alcohol abuse. Don Shenker, Chief Executive of Alcohol Concern, said, "Bearing in mind the country is facing rising health harms from its high level of alcohol consumption, anyone in a position of authority or respect should perhaps think twice about promoting alcohol to the public."

However, the Rt Rev John Inge, Bishop of Worcester, said, "I don't see any other time that we can stop and remember fathers, and this is a gesture saying 'here's something that will bless you. Posies of flowers are given to mums on Mothering Sunday and we wanted to give a laddish, blokeish gift to the men. A bottle of beer hits the mark. The whole of life is to be celebrated in Church."

Mouse is with the Bishop on this one. He also notes that the gender balance in church is not on the side of the chaps (except in the higher echelons of the clergy), so anything to make the church more appealing to men is a good thing.

Tony Blair 'peace within a year' (if everyone agrees to it)

Tony Blair has stuck his neck out and said that peace in the Middle East is possible within a year (provided everyone agrees to it).

Blair's comments are being reported in various Middle Eastern news media, but have been largely ignored by western media outlets. This is probably because it is such transparent tosh.

The Middle East envoy for the quartet squeezed in some comments on the Middle East in between his highly lucrative work for investment banks and insurance companies, whilst writing his memoirs in the evenings and campaigning for the job of President of Europe at weekends. Interestingly, it is also being reported that Blair 'pleaded' with Brown to hold the Iraq enquiry in secret to prevent his hopes of landing the European President job being scuppered.

So what did Blair actually say? He said that IF Obama finds 'right partners' in Israel and Palestine, and IF everyone accepts the two state solution and IF everyone commits to the peace process on that basis, then 'a deal' is possible within a year.

So basically, he's saying that if everyone commits to peace within a year, then its possible to achieve peace within a year. Genius.

H/T to Cranmer

Kylie to become a Catholic?

There is much excited speculation amongst Catholic men that Kylie may soon be joining them at Mass. She is said to be keen on a Catholic wedding, and is considering converting to Catholicism.

Times Blog Faith Central have furthered the speculation by airing the rumours further. Mouse has no inside word. Looks like pure speculation to him. Mouse will keep you up-to-date with any further crucial developments.

Wordleing

Wordle has been around for a while, and is used to crease a visual representation of a block of text through selecting the most popular words. It is quite often used as a sidebar image in blogs, really just as an aesthetic enhancement.

Over at Faithworld, however, the tool was used as a rough and ready analyser of Ayatolla Khamenei's speech yesterday. Mouse thought this was an interesting use of the tool, and revealed the priorities through the

most frequently used words.

Mouse tried out the technique on a few of the blogs that he follows. He should start with his own, in the spirit of openness. Its quite even handed, with no major words dominating the wordle.

How about this one from Anglican Mainstream (your source of gay interest news):

Or this one from Bishop Nick Baines:

It doesn't really prove anything, but Mouse thought it was interesting.

The power of Twitter - no, not Iran

Much has been said about the part that Twitter has played in the developments in Iran since the disputed elections. Some have dubbed the protests 'the twitterevolution', as demonstraters have fed news and images to the outside world in an environment where press freedom and internet access are both being strictly controlled.

Twitter is particularly useful in this circumstance, as the protesters can post to Twitter directly from their mobile phones, bypassing the internet controls imposed by the authorities.

However, some have questioned the importance of Twitter in reality, as plenty of pictures are circulating through other media, and the nature of Twitter makes it very easy for the authorities to spread disinformation, and many false rumours have circulated on Twitter.

At the same time as this ongoing drama of global importance is unfolding, Mouse was intrigued by a blog post from Damian Thompson on an otherwise unimportant internet poll on the Daily Mail. The poll was a particularly distasteful one, asking whether gypsies should be allowed to 'jump the queue' with the NHS. What was interesting was that if you thought you could guess the result, you'd be dead wrong. The poll came out with 82% saying, yes, gypsies should be able to jump the queue.

What had happened was that the poll had been doing the rounds on Twitter, and those cheeky folk had acted on mass to subvert the poll.

So, the power of Twitter in this instance is simply to mobilise a large number of internet users in a common cause, which they could act on from comfort of their own keyboards.

Newman one step closer to sainthood

The strange Catholic process of beatification has moved along another step for Cardinal Newman.

Ruth Gledhill reports that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has approved the claim of a miracle by Newman in the healing of Deacon Jack Sullivan of his spinal disorder.

Jack Sullivan is a Deacon in the US, and it is his claim that Newman's intercessions on his behalf cured his condition that seems to have tipped the sainted scales in Newman's favour.

Mouse is a little bemused by the process.

A strange form of discrimination - marriage laws

The comedy geniuses at the British Humanist Association have called for an enquiry into 'discriminatory marriage laws in England and Wales'. Their point is that Humanist marriages are recognised in Scotland, so why not England and Wales. They put their point as follows:

Tana Wollen, BHA Head of Ceremonies, said, ‘Many non-religious couples want to form their lifelong commitment to each other based on firmly-held, shared moral principles. They want to be able to celebrate that commitment publicly with family and friends, in a way that holds meaning and significance for them, and in a place of their choice. For non-religious couples, a ceremony in religious place of worship is obviously unsuitable and marriages conducted by local authority register officers are limited in all sorts of ways: there are limits on what can be said, on how the ceremony can be arranged and the venue has to be licensed.

What a strange form of discrimination this is. The law already allows you to do precisely what they want - i.e. to have a non-religious wedding - and on equal footing with all other wedding ceremonies.

The line that current civil ceremonies are 'limited in all sorts of ways' is quite right. As are religious ceremonies, which also have 'limits on what can be said, on how the ceremony can be arranged and the venue has to be licensed'. These are good controls on marriage to ensure there is never a dispute about whether a couple are legally married or not.

Of course, this is nothing to do with discrimination. This is a lobbying effort for BHA 'accredited practitioners' to be licensed to conduct weddings in a BHA branded way. It is somewhat disingenuous to cry 'discrimination' when you are really seeking to open up a new revenue stream for your organisation.

Nice try, but Mouse is not convinced.

Religious G8 summit held

Senior representatives from all the G8 nations met in Italy yesterday ahead of the actual G8 summit in Rome. Almost 130 religious leaders were involved in the fourth summit of religious leaders from the G8 countries. What's really odd is that hardly any details are available of who was there or what was discussed, either on the official G8 website or anywhere else. Google searches throw up news only on Reuters.

Mouse wonders whether this will achieve any more than the main G8 summit. The final statement is copied below:

Appeal by the Fourth Summit of Religious Leaders on the occasion of the G8:

We, leaders of the worlds religions and spiritual traditions gathered in Rome on the eve of the G8 Summit of 2009, are united in our common commitment to justice and the protection of human life, the building of the common good and the belief on the divinely established and inviolable dignity of all people from conception to death.

We speak from the heart of the great majority of the human family who are members of religions or spiritual traditions. In a time of economic crisis when many securities are crumbling, we feel even more acutely the need for spiritual orientation. We are convinced that spiritual life and the freedom to practice it is the true guarantee for authentic freedom. A spiritual approach can touch the hunger for meaning in our contemporary society. Materialism often expresses itself in idolatrous forms and has proved powerless in the present crisis.

We carry forward important work begun in multireligious meetings held just prior to the G8 Summits, (in Moscow 2006, Cologne 2007, Sapporo 2008, Rome 2009) and building on earlier meetings in London. We have been convened by the Italian Bishops Conference, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for whose assistance we are grateful.

We greet the leaders of the nations gathered in L’Aquila and we pray for them as they exercise their heavy responsibilities to confront the challenges facing the human family today.

We commenced our meeting in L’Aquila in solidarity with those who are suffering there from the devastating earthquake and in solidarity also with all those around the world who are bearing the burdens of suffering.

We are convinced that a new moral paradigm is essential to address today’s challenges. Through the notion of shared security we can draw attention to the comprehensive character of our moral and religious concerns. We are using the term “security” in a new way. We add the word “shared” to draw attention to a fundamental moral conviction: the wellbeing of each is related to the wellbeing of others and to our environment. Shared security focuses on the fundamental inter relatedness of all persons and the environment. It includes a comprehensive respect for the interconnectedness and dignity of all life and acknowledges the fundamental fact that we all live in one world. Ultimately we are convinced that to overcome violence justice with compassion and forgiveness are necessary and possible.

Shared security is concerned with the full continuum of human relations from relationship amongst individuals to the ways that people are organized in nations and states. It follows that the security of one actor in international relations must not be detrimental to another. Those international leaders who are responsible for global decision-making must act transparently and be open to the contribution of all involved.

The current financial and economic crisis weighs most heavily upon the poor. Addressing these related crises call for a new financial pact that addresses squarely (1) the causes of the financial crisis, (2) acknowledges the need basic moral principles, (3) includes all stakeholders and (4) places at a premium the urgent need for sustained financing for development. We are convinced that, in a time of economic crisis and spiritual disorientation for the men and women of our time, religions can and must offer a decisive contribution to the search for the common good. As we confront this crisis, there is the need for the spiritual wisdom entrusted to the great world religions so as to steer an ethical path to justice and human flourishing. Concretely, as part of the reform of the finance system, we urge concerted action to close down the unregulated off shore banking system. Regarding development assistance, we urge the inclusion as partners of civil society organizations including especially religious communities and their organizations.

In continuity with previous world religious summits we continue to call for the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals. Their completion has been promised for 2015, but progress has now fallen behind. The current crisis has worsened the situation of those whom the MDG’s are designed to assist. We insist that it is an imperative for the lives of millions that the MDG’s be fulfilled on schedule and we commit ourselves to work together with the G8 leaders to that end.

Africa is already hard hit by the world financial crisis and it runs the risk of being seriously damaged in its efforts against poverty with a negative impact on the economic growth of its countries. It is our hope that the international community places Africa at the centre of policies for development, by finding new sources for financing cooperation and favoring the involvement of States and civil societies of African countries in a perspective of rebirth of the whole continent. In this same context we would like to affirm that the time has come to commit ourselves decisively to the healing of the entire continent wounded.

Seventy years from the beginning of the great tragedy for humanity that was World War II and the many subsequent conflicts, causing human suffering, injustice and poverty, we call for nations to resist making war a means of international politics and to make every effort to establish a just peace for all. We believe that the attempt to militarily dominate the sea, space, neutral territories or states creates obstacles on the way to nuclear and conventional disarmament. We also believe that conventional disarmament and efforts to ban military technologies and initiatives that could provoke a new arms race should go hand in hand with efforts to advance nuclear disarmament

We request the G8 Summit to pursue rigorous implementation of nuclear reduction and nonproliferation policies leading to the goal of total nuclear disarmament. The five acknowledged nuclear-weapon states must act on their commitments to work toward eliminating existing nuclear weapons as rapidly as possible. States with nuclear weapons that have not acknowledged them must acknowledge their possession, make similar commitments to their elimination and enter into the NPT. We press for prompt ratifications and entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and commit to take no action leading toward the reintroduction of any form of nuclear weapons testing.

We call attention to the plight of the ever growing number of “illegal” immigrants and the absence of adequate and uniform standards designed to protect them.

We urge that the full rights and dignity of people be respected and cost-sharing introduced where appropriate as states re-evaluate their comprehensive policies for legal residents and immigration. We urge attention to the fact that immigration is growing and that ecological pressure may greatly accelerate it.

We representatives of world religions and spiritual traditions gathered in these days in Rome facing the threats and the challenges of a difficult time of crisis for our societies, reaffirm our commitment to work with all people of good will, for the realization of the common good. In this context we call for the establishment of mechanisms for dialogue between religious communities, political leaders, international organisations and civil society structures.

Our method and our strength, the strength of yesterday, today and tomorrow will always and only be that of the transformation of hearts and shared action through dialogue.

Dialogue is an art that everyone must practise and cultivate within and between religions, culture, politics and especially those who have power in the world. Dialogue requires courage and enables people to see each other more clearly, enabling us to offer life and hope to new generations.

This is our renewed commitment, this is the appeal we address to the world.

We commit ourselves to meet again in Canada in June 2010.

Friday round up

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

1. Unfinished Christian on Banksy's Christ

2. Bartholomew on tall buildings as a sign of end-times

3. Heresy Corner thinks that witch-hunts ain't what they used to be

4. Bess Twiston-Davies on the Kosher Google

5. A guest blog by Anne-Marie Julyan in Ruth Gledhill's column on blood in religion

6. George Pitcher reckons David Cameron should make it harder to get married

7. Cranmer's Curate reckons no true Anglican can take part in a U2charist - really CC, what nonsense

8. Bishop Nick Baines is a humble Bishop, and Mouse admires him greatly for it, then he ponders the media

9. Bishop David Chillingworth blogs about being the first blogging primate

10. Canon Andrew White keeps inspiring us with news of a miracle treatment in Baghdad that is not available in the UK

Methodist art collection goes online

Mouse has just been browsing the Methodist art collection, now available online. For some time Mouse has been wondering where he can go for a good collection of modern Christian art, and along comes this great collection.

The 40 works, which include art works from the 1920s through to works from 2004, have toured many times in the past, but are now available online for the first time.

Mouse says its well worth checking out.

Obama the killer

Some may accuse the Mouse of delving into news trivia with this story. His response is that if you're not interested in news trivia, you're reading the wrong blog.

Barak Obama has demonstrated his power, in a show of strength that explains why people describe the US president as the most powerful man on earth. Putin adopted the same strategy by going hunting, and being photographed without his shirt revealing his muscular torso.

Obama's strategy was similar, in waiting until a fly landed on him during a TV interview. With skills equal to those of the karate kid, he swatted the fly in a show of precision power.

Bishop Pete Broadbent described this news story on Twitter as being akin to 'Hold the front page, Obama goes to the toilet'. Sorry Pete - Mouse was amused.

SSPX in new snub to Pope

Its been a while since the Mouse lost interest in SSPX (the Society for Saint Pius the Tenth).

This is the ultra conservative group who were thrown out of the Catholic Church for ordaining clergy without the Vatican's consent. It bubbled up as a story recently when the Pope decided to bring them back into the fold, despite on of their bishops being a holocaust denier.

Well, it seems that six months into their time back in the Catholic Church and they are set to ignore warnings from the Vatican and ordain 13 new priests tomorrow without permission.

A spokesman for SSPX said, "Absolutely, we're doing it. This is something the Vatican feels it has to say. Its a political statement but the reality is totally different.".

Mouse thinks this is a somewhat foolhardy approach to relations with the Vatican. The phrase, skating on thin ice comes to mind.

What do Bishops know about binge drinking? More than you would think!

The Rt Rev John Gladwin, Bishop of Chelmsford, has hit out at middle class drinkers.

The Bishop was making the point that it is rather unfair for people to criticise young people for binge drinking when they regularly drink to excess themselves. Official figures released this week show that one in four adults drink so much it puts their health at risk and that 365,000 11-15 year olds get drunk every week.

The figures are truly dreadful, and deeply worrying.

In an interesting twist, Bishop John went on to say that the issue also affected clergy. Now, no-one will be surprised to hear that some clergy have issues with alcohol - they are human beings like anyone else. But Bishop John carried on talking about Bishop Tom "its what I do" Butler, and the 'alleged' incident of his drunken antics after an embassy reception.

As far as Mouse could tell, Bishop John didn't go on to say anything incriminating, but he did say, "I like Tom [Butler] because he's a straightforward human-being like the rest of us. There can be no doubt about his shared humanity.

"I think that's why people warm to him. I guess people know that this (alcohol) is an issue for a lot of people. This is what lots of people's lives can be like. "Whatever went on, right or wrong, a bishop caught up in it and seeking to deal with it is a sign of a shared humanity."

Church in the news - The Church Mouse guide

Mouse spotted a couple of church related news stories today, and they made him think.

The first was the story of a poor church treasurer who stole £12,000 from the church in an attempt to 'woo back' her cheating husband. Tragic all round.

The second was the story of the Dean of Blackburn Cathedral who chased a young man out of the cathedral who he suspected of being a BNP thug about to disrupt a holocaust memorial service. It turned out he was there grieving the death of his mother. Oops. Tragic once again.

What got Mouse thinking was the type of church related stories that are deemed news-worthy. This follows on from the exchange of posts between Bishop Nick Baines and Ruth Gledhill of the Times. Bishop Nick posted a harshly worded criticism of Jonathan Wynne-Jones's piece in the Telegraph on the latest developments in the Church's Fresh Expressions programme. Bishop Nick thought the coverage was pretty crass, but Ruth castigated him that he should be grateful it was covered at all.

So, here's the Mouse's guide to the top 5 news-worthy church stories:

1. (Arch)Bishop says ... - stories where a Bishop or Archbishop says something controversial on a topical issue. Best deployed by the media when taking comments out of context. Specialist: Michael Nasir-Ali
2. Anglican Communion on the brink of collapse - best deployed at a major meeting of Bishops / Primates or in relation to any news story in the church on the topic of sexuality
3. Decline in number of people attending church / projections of which religious groupings will overtake good old CofE worshipers by which date - best deployed inaccurately, as there are no reliable statistics on church attendance.
4. Church does something different to reach out to the young (or other groups) - best deployed with subtle mocking overtones, often in conjunction with story 3.
5. Christian sacked / disciplined by their employer for doing or saying something Christian at work. Best deployed when the employer is a big name company or public service.

Beware anonymous bloggers - your secret is not safe

The Times has revealed the identity of the Orwell prize winning blogger Night Jack. Night Jack is a police officer who has kept a fascinating and well written blog of police activities. He has been careful not to reveal his identity in the past, principally for fear of the public and his police employers.

The Times, however, have seen fit to reveal his identity. Mouse is not impressed. No-one benefits from having a face and a name behind that blog.

The Night Jack blog has now been deleted. A great loss. The Times may sell a few more papers (unlikely actually, just based on this 'revelation'), but it seems rather sad that they should want to spoil this creation.

Tall buildings - a sign of the end of the world

Mouse was thoroughly amused by this post from Bartholomew. Apparently some Americans have juxtaposed Genesis 11:4 ('Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves"') next to the trend for increasingly tall towers in Dubai, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The fact that America has for generations built the tallest buildings in the world is clearly not relevant. Nor is it relevant that they led the world in space exploration.

Fresh expressions - trying to resist the cynicism

On 10 June Rowan Williams commissioned a group to lead the next phase of Fresh Expressions.

Mouse has tried really hard to avoid cynicism and negativity about this hugely important development for the church. But its creeping in regardless. He's particularly nervous after Bishop Nick Baines (rightly in Mouse's view) took on the naysayers pretty robustly in his blog.

Last week a new book was launched by the Fresh Expressions team of 'good practice' of fresh expressions of church, which include the U2charist (using U2 songs in communion services) and prayers for heads of major corporations in an attempt to make church relevant to the young and the un-churched.

Most of the criticism of this is from conservatives who think these fresh expressions are tacky attempts to get young bums on seats. Mouse is not of that view, and understands that fresh expressions are additions to traditional worship, not replacements for it. Mouse also thinks that innovation in worship is a good thing, as long as it helps those involved to worship God in spirit and in truth.

The Mouse's problem with the ideas in this new book (which he hasn't seen, and is purely going on press reports) is that sounds exactly like the kind of thing that a bunch of good old CofE clergy would come up with. They lack the genuine innovation and cultural relevance that would lead to something genuinely engaging for the un-churched.

What's really painful is that if you're looking for a way of engaging young people and non-Christians and bringing them into mainstream church, just take a look at the places that are already doing it really successfully. Churches like HTB and All Souls Langham Place are bursting at the seems with new converts, and have armies of young enthusiastic workers for Christ.

Yet the reaction of some in the rest of the Church is to treat them as rather unique cases which cannot be repeated.

Part of the problem with this debate is that it confuses two separate, but related issues. The first is one of church growth. This can happen in any kind of church, whether it be a traditional expression or a fresh one. The other is that of innovation in worship. This may make church more appealing for those outside it, but equally it may help connect better with the significant number within the church, who may otherwise be in danger of becoming bored and disengaged. Dave Walker touches on these issues in the Church Times blog, reviewing some of the recent coverage on the topic.

Fresh Expressions are great and Mouse wishes the team all the best. But if we think this is the answer to declining congregations and a rapidly aging church we are deluding ourselves. Church growth is the responsibility of every parish priest, not a team in Church House. The question is, if Fresh Expressions is not the answer to church growth, what is?

Religious blogging copy cats?

Mouse has noticed a couple of interesting coincidences in the religious blogging world recently.

First up the story of the Open Episcopal Church offering communion by post. First to the story was Damian Thompson in the Telegraph on 25 May. Mouse followed, accrediting Thompson, the following day, on May 26. It took a little time for Riazat Butt to follow in the Guardian on 9 June (without attribution), with Stephen Tompkins including the story in his Guardian blog and in the CiF column on the same day (linking back to Riazat Butt as the source of the story). Finally Ruth Gledhill of the Times covered the story on 12 June (with a hat tip to Riazat Butt).

Whilst pondering this, Mouse read an interesting piece about the 'Kosher Google' from Bess Twiston-Davies in the Times Faith Central blog yesterday at 5.42pm. Just 30 minutes later, it appears in Riazat Butt's blog. What an astonishing coincidence.

Either they're both blogging from the same news wire, or there's some re-cycling going on here.

Now just to be clear, there's absolutely nothing wrong with blogging on a story someone else has broken (that's pretty much all Mouse does), but it is only polite to give a hat tip where its due.

Anyone for a respectful and mature debate on sexuality? No, didn't think so.

Can you envisage the following conversation?

"Hello. I believe that homosexuality is a sin, and that it says so in the Bible".

"Oh really. I don't agree. I interpret those texts differently, and believe that homosexuality is not a sin. Lets share our views and see if we can find some common ground to agree on".

You wouldn't have thought a conversation like that would be beyond brothers in a Christian community would you? OK, I'm sure it does happen, but today Anglican Mainstream (your source of gay interest news) have published a shameful article on funding for the 'Indaba' process. This is the process of further consultation and listening within the Anglican Communion which is seeking to reach agreement on issues of sexuality.

The article (recycled from the American Anglican Council, founding members of the ACNA), complains that the donor behind the $1.5m funding, a retired Episcopal Priest, advocates same-sex blessings. It goes on to smear the whole Indaba process by associating the funder, Rev Marta Weeks, via fourth and fifth hand connections to groups she clearly wouldn't agree with.

Now Mouse has three issues with this line of argument.

1) The money has to come from somewhere and the donor can hardly be expected to have no view whatsoever. The fact that someone would give $1.5m to support the process of listening is a miracle, and should be received with thanks from anyone with an interest in the future unity of the church.

2) It is clear that it was given with no strings attached, and even if the donor did hope to have influence through the gift, it is impossible to see how this could happen.

3) Anglican Mainstream can hardly claim to be seeking an impartial debate on the subject. Today they announced that they are hosting a visit by Dr Jeffrey Satinover. Satinover is another member of the 'Scientific Advisory Committee' of NARTH, the widely discredited group of psychologists in the US who advocate therapy to change people's sexuality. Satinover is highly controversial, and has been accused of relying of flawed and misleading research for his book 'Homosexuality and the politics of truth'.

His other works include 'Cracking the Bible Code' which argues that the Bible contains secret codes which predict future events in great detail.

The real issue, however, is that articles like this one bring the Church into disrepute. Mouse understands that trust and respect have taken a beating over the past few years on this issue, but that is not an excuse for attacking Christian brothers and sisters in this way by smear and innuendo.

Update on Wiwa Vs Shell court case

Mouse commented a while ago about the questions raised by the Church of England's large holdings in Royal Dutch Shell at the same time they were going to court accused of being complicit in murder and torture. Mouse has been a little negligent, however, in failing to update his readers on the major development in the case.

Before the trial actually began, a settlement was reached with the plaintiffs for $15.5m. This was used for compensation, to set up a trust fund to benefit the Ogoni people and cover a portion of the plaintiff's legal fees.

Observers will wonder why it has taken 13 years to get to this point, and note that this is a settlement with the plaintiffs only. The Ogoni people still have many outstanding issues with Shell.

Real horeos - Kaka and Ronaldo

Football fans have been talking over the past couple of weeks about two mega-deals from mega-club Real Madrid.

Two of the worlds greatest footballers have been bought within the space of two weeks for eye-watering sums of money. The first was Kaka, bought from AC Milan for a reported £56m. The second was Christiano Ronaldo, who couldn't be prised away from Manchester United for less than a cool £80m.

Regular Mouse readers will remember Kaka. Mouse described him as "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"."

Ronaldo, on the other hand, is famed for his petulance. His reputation is one of footballing brilliance mixed with selfish immaturity. His opponents accuse him of diving and he has repeatedly irritated Manchester United fans by making it clear that he would leave the club if the right offer was made. As news of his transfer emerged he was seen partying with Paris Hilton in LA.

Over the past week, Mouse couldn't help comparing these two Real heroes, and wondering how they will get on. Mouse hopes that Kaka's approach to life will rub off on others in the footballing world.

Prince - won't have surgery due to Jehova's Witness beliefs

There are two surprises in this piece of news. The first is that Prince needs hip replacement surgery. This is rather disappointing to those of us who grew up in the 1980s when the diminutive pop star was in his prime. The second, of course, is that he is a Jehova's Witness. He is therefore refusing to have the required surgery as it would require a blood transfusion, which is forbidden by his faith.

Faith Central have the full story. It seems he is in quite a lot of pain, and has needed surgery for some time.

Celebrities with 'non-mainstream' religious beliefs are nothing new, so we shouldn't be surprised at Prince's faith. Mouse did enjoy this spoof story from NewsBiscuit about Madonna converting to Methodism, however. Wouldn't that be great?

Blogging Bishop elected Primus of Scottish Episcopal Church

Today the Rt Rev David Chillingworth was elected Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. He was the only nomination and he was supported by all the Bishops present.

Thinking Anglicans cover the election and link to the press release and Bishop David's statement, and the church itself has an audio interview with the new Primus.

What's more exciting for the Mouse is that Bishop David has his own blog. Its not one the Mouse has followed in the past, although he will now, but a quick look shows that it is personal and engaging. Mouse wishes Bishop David all the best in his new role, looks forward to reading Bishop David's thoughts on his blog.

The vicar's union and poor housing

Unite, the trade union, is lobbying the Church of England over health and safety fears for vicars in relation to the condition of vicarages.

The Union has submitted a report to the Archbishop of Canterbury urging immediate work on 6,000 vicarages to bring them into line with modern environmental and safety standards.

Mouse finds this interesting for two reasons. The first is simply for the issue itself. Clearly it is something that does require action, if clergy are being expected to live in poorly maintained housing. It is also an issue of maintaining the property portfolio in good repair to provide a legacy for future generations.

However, it is a strange situation where a trade union is lobbying the church. They certainly haven't shown much interest in the past. George Pitcher reckons that the Union claims 2,500 'faith workers' as members. Mouse's eyebrows are rather high at this point, pondering just what a 'faith worker' is, and how many of these are good old Church of England vicars.

Chris Moyles on church: I've never seen anything like it

Mouse didn't expect to be saying this at any point in his life, but every church leader should listen to this segment of Chris Moyles's Radio 1 show.

The loud mouthed Radio 1 DJ is talking about seeing a lively church service on TV. He is genuinely amazed to see a large number of people worshiping God in a lively and committed way. During the segment Moyles says, "I've never seen anything like it. It was really bright and colourful and everyone was having a great time". His view of church before was that it was boring and quiet, with people mumbling old hymns.

The service he saw was at Kingsgate Community Church in Peterborough.

Now, to give this some perspective, Mouse does not think that church leaders should throw away their liturgy and ordered worship to impress the likes of Chris Moyles, however, there is an important point about making church and worship accessible and enjoyable.

Whatever you make of it, there is certainly plenty of food for thought.

Many thanks to @rachwarwick for pointing this one out to the Mouse via Twitter. Apparently it has been doing the rounds on Facebook, but since they won't let Mouse have an account (on the grounds that I'm not a real person), I have to make do with a fan page.

Friday round up

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

1. Nick Spencer on measuring British religion

2. Bess Twiston-Davies on the Hamas dating agency

3. Ruth Gledhill on 'God is Back'

4. Riazat Butt (recent Twitter convert) on plans for an Islamic college in the US

5. George Pitcher reckons Private Eye bottled it on the F word

6. Jonathan Wynne-Jones reckons Vin Nichols is good with the media

7. Bartholomew on some of the nonsense written about the shooting in the holocaust museum

8. Bishop Nick Baines won't panic in the face of a global pandemic

9. Jonny Baker makes us think about the kingdom of God

10. Holy Weblog gives us '10 fun facts on the Rev. Wiley Drake, fundamentalist gadfly and hurler of curses'

Bishop of Southwark's response on expenses

Mouse has just received this from Bishop Tom Butler's office in response to the debate on his expenses and time in the Lords.

A spokesperson for the Bishop of Southwark says:

The Bishop of Southwark is based in Streatham, South London, and as such is one of the Bishops who is, comparatively, local to the House of Lords. Part of the Bishop of Southwark’s ‘job description’ involves him spending a good deal of time in the Lords. This has been the case with Bishop Tom and his two predecessors. Bishop Tom also has national responsibilities as Chair of the Public Affairs Unit of the Archbishop’s Council and Co-chair of the Interfaith Network for Britain and Ireland. Both of these responsibilities involves reacting to a large amount of government legislation and consultation and involves time in both meetings and helping to draft responses.

Since I said I'd publish it, there you go. But it doesn't answer the questions (1) does the amount of time he spends in the Lords (around a third of the working year) detract from his role as Bishop of the Diocese; and (2) why did he claim the full day subsistence allowance every day he was there.

If he won't tell us, I guess we'll never know.

Shrinking the footprint - progress?

An event at Lambeth Palace today, hosted by Bishop of London Richard Chartres, called on diocese and churches to take the next steps in the 'shrinking the footprint' campaign. The event marked two years of the Church's environmental campaign, calling for diocese and churches to work towards being carbon neutral.

Mouse wonders what has been achieved in that two years. Almost certainly there has been some reduction in carbon emissions from churches and diocese. There has almost certainly been an increase in awareness of the issues in the church. But are we really tackling the issue head on?

So far, the campaign has not moved much beyond acts of largely symbolic importance and awareness raising. Convincing people to change their light bulbs for low energy ones is important, but is a drop in the carbon ocean. Emissions from households makes up around 30% of total UK emissions, with the rest primarily from industry and transport. Globally speaking, the UK is a drop in the carbon ocean, representing just 2.5%.

The really thorny issues that need to be tackled is the extent to which the west is prepared to cut its industrial emissions and support the implementation of technologies in developing countries which will allow them to develop (with the corresponding increase in industrial output and transport) without increasing carbon emissions.

The Church does have a key role to play. Highlighting issues is great. Symbolic gestures are great. There may even be a tangible difference made if the Church can lead a nationwide initiative along the lines of the energy reduction and micro-generation policies favoured by David Cameron. However, this is a long way from where we are right now, and the big prize is to influence governments and businesses to take action on the global stage.

Constitutional reform - will disestablishment be back on the agenda

Gordon Brown yesterday set out proposals to kick start the process of constitutional reform. The statement set out a number of topics which will either be reformed, or will be up for debate.

There has, rightly, been much scepticism about this. It is no surprise that Gordon Brown has made an eye catching policy statement immediately after a horrific set of election results, and it is typical Brown tactics to try to 'regain the news agenda'. His lack of interest in constitutional reform in the past and the likelihood of Labour losing the next election in around a year's time, makes it unlikely that Brown will achieve much in this arena. However, it has kick started the debate again.

Amongst the Brown proposals are a discussion on introducing a written codified constitution, and resolution of the issue of membership of the House of Lords, by moving to an entirely or mostly elected second chamber.

These proposals bring the role of the Church into question. Some already question the right of one church to put 26 of its Bishops into Parliament, and a written constitution would bring into focus questions of appointment and many other aspects of the strange links between church and state in the UK.

In her great piece in her Times Blog, Ruth Gledhill discusses this with John Micklethwaite, co-author of God is Back. In this interview, Micklethwaite states that Britain is pretty much the only country outside Iran which has ordained clerics in the legislature and that over time the pressure for change will be irresistible.

Perhaps we're staring down that road now, even if we've not actually started walking down it.

Return of the political egging

Mouse reported some time ago that the great British tradition of political egging was going out of fashion. It was falling victim to the forces of globalisation, as shoe throwing was taking hold.

Well, the BNP have made sure that one British institution remains in tact. Its hard to describe in words the feeling of seeing the odious Nick Griffin dripping with egg yoke.

There has been far more comment on the BNP after they won two seats in the Euro elections than before. Mouse wonders whether they would have won so many votes if this level of disapproval had been visible before polling began. The commentators seem to have got things completely the wrong way round. They underestimated the threat before the election, and are overstating it afterwards.

We need to remember that the BNP received fewer votes in this election than in 2004. They won seats only because the Labour vote collapsed, so their share rose (fractionally - by less than 2%) as a result. Whilst it is right to say how appalling it is to be represented in Europe by skinhead thugs in suits, but we should not overstate their support.

Mouse is reminded of CS Lewis's observation of devils, and thinks it applies equally to the BNP. To paraphrase, he said that there are two equal and opposite errors that one can fall into. The first is to ignore their existence. The second is to develop an unhealthy obsession with them. They themselves are equally happy with either outcome.

Why David Cameron believes in God

This from Paul Waugh:

David Cameron held a party in his Commons office last night to thank MPs and staff for their work on the local and Euro election campaigns.

In his speech, he made two gags that will give both Labour and the Lib Dems pause for thought.

"After all the comings and goings yesterday, I woke up this morning and thought to myself: 'There must be a God - Gordon Brown is still Prime Minister!"'

Cameron also asked guests to imagine standing on Beachy Head with a Labour activist and a Lib Dem.  Which would they decide to push over the edge first? "The Labour guy....Because it's business before pleasure".