Happy Christmas

The Church Mouse wishes all readers of his blog a very happy Christmas.

By way of a gift this year, I offer you all Mark Vernon's 'A Guide of Christmas Worship for Novice Churchgoers'. Not only is it useful for those with little experience of Church, but it is also an essential read for those who have gone to church all their life, and have little understanding of what it is like to enter a church if you've never been in one before.

His tips include how to work out if you're heading into a Catholic Church or an Anglican one, whether to go up for communion or not and where to sit to allow you to follow what everyone else is doing. Great stuff.

Does the evil CofE really want to indoctrinate our children?

The Guardian is running a story based on a paper going to the next General Synod under the headline 'Church recruiting drive targets two year-olds'. The overall narrative is that there aren't any children in church any more, so new attempts will be made to recruit them by such means as running parent and toddler groups, providing information to schools and colleges and speaking out more on issues like climate change which the young are interested in.

The predictable reaction to the piece has been to debate whether this constitutes attempts to indoctrinate the young.

Mouse's reaction is that the Guardian story is a clever one, as it stirs up these fears, without actually reporting anything controversial. Only the most hard-line secularist would argue that church's should not run groups for parents and families, as huge numbers of churches already do. Only someone with a twisted sense of reality would think that providing a further education college with a "social, moral, spiritual and cultural curriculum" was an attempt to indoctrinate children with Christianity when they are not in a position to rationally defend themselves.

The reality is that the Church should hit back hard with a clear message:

1. A core tenet of Christianity is the belief that everyone has to come to their own decision and faith - the Church is simply not in the business of attempting to hood-wink, coerce, brainwash or trick anyone into Christianity.
2. The current age of aggressive secularism is denying young people (and everyone else)the opportunity to make their own minds up by insisting that religion should be kept out of the public sphere, only to be discussed in private households.
3. This is leading to more people that ever are growing up without any knowledge of the basics of Christianity. Attempts to reach them are a response to their desire to know more, and our belief that they should be in possession of the facts before they make their minds up.

All of these statements are observably true, and plenty of evidence can be amassed to support them.

It is a fact that the age profile in the good old CofE presents us with a demographic time bomb. It is right for the Church to respond by reaching out to young people, as they are not hearing the basics of Christianity anywhere else. There is absolutely nothing malevolent about it, and any attempts to imply otherwise are simply wrong.

Mouse in the media

In case you missed them, Mouse featured in both the Guardian and the Telegraph this week.

Before he went on holiday, Mouse penned a piece for the Guardian's 'Comment is Free' section. He was asked to write a short piece using the fuss over Bishop Nick Baines' new book as a spring-board. Just after Mouse started writing it, Bishop Nick slammed the media coverage, which did rather ratchet up the pressure. In fact, Mouse was very supportive of Bishop Nick, who tweeted Mouse to thank him for his support. This is the fourth piece Mouse has done for the Guardian, and this one has had far more comments than any of the others. Whilst Mouse got a little excited at this, having read them it seems that the comments thread has rather taken on a life of its own, so Mouse will not try to claim any credit for that.

On Monday, the Telegraph's Martin Beckford wrote a piece about Mouse's other project, the Twurch of England. There were a few quotes from the Mouse included, and it was great to get some publicity for this platform. Mouse genuinely thinks it is an important development to help the church engage with the rest of the world, and hopes that more clergy and bishops will take up social media tools to open up the church.

By way of a conclusion, in Mouse's Guardian piece, he suggested a couple of alterations to Christmas carols to make them more realistic. Here they are:

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Then wake every two hours for feeds

Once in royal David's city,
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her Baby,
Her traumatised husband to her said:
I'm off to the pub for a pint of mild,
To wet the head of this little Child.

And a miserable Christmas to you too

Mouse has just read the National Secular Society's 'seasonal message' from NSS President Terry Sanderson, and Ekklesia's excellent analysis of it. Please bear with me for a couple of moments while I pick my jaw up from the floor.

Thank you.

There are many outright nasty aspects to this message, which seems to be one of bad will to all who believe in anything other than Mr Sanderson's brand of secularism. We are told that "Christianity begins to show its true face again after a few decades of relative peace and quiet. Once more we can see the intolerance, bigotry and irrationality. These are the real traditions of Christianity, not the soppy sentimental stories that are fed to children in our schools." Possibly the worst section, however, is this:

Muslims from Pakistan and India, Catholics from Poland and evangelical Protestants from Africa and the Caribbean are bringing with them unpleasantly conservative religious beliefs that sometimes shock and repel the majority. They often seem primitive, hysterical, fanatical and alien, full of hatred and intolerance and crazy, senseless rules. Honour killings, violent, sometimes fatal, exorcisms, denial of medical treatment to children on the assumption that prayer will be sufficient, the treatment of women as chattels and the spouting of unvarnished hatred of non-believers, gays and Jews from the pulpits of mosques.

So there we have it. The NSS's position on immigration summed up in their own words.

Mouse was cheered up rather at the end of the message, however, as it seemed that it isn't a seasonal message at all. It is actually a call for members and donations.

The NSS’s policies are definitely in line with majority thinking and yet we are unable to get people in large numbers to join together to protect their own principles and rights. Consequently, the religious organisations have no problem raising large amounts of money, bringing together their troops when needed and bringing heavy influence to bear on politicians.

If we are to stop this minority running our lives we really are going to have to unite and make a commitment to pushing back the tide of reaction that religion brings with it. You can join the NSS online or by post with a cheque to NSS, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL.

Why not make it your New Year’s resolution to commit to your own principles and do something more than writing to internet forums about it?

Great logic there. The 50-60% of the population who claim to be Christian have become a 'minority', so should be ignored. Unfortunately, however, the NSS is unable to get people 'in large numbers' to join together', which does rather undermine the point. Still, Mouse is reassured that Mr Sanderson is struggling to find members to his organisation if this is what it is really about.

Thou really shalt not ...

Mouse simply cannot resist a very quick holiday busting blog post about Fr Tim Jones, priest of the parish of St Lawrence and St Hilda in York. He has told his congregation that for those who are desperately in need, it is OK to shoplift.

My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither.

I would ask that they do not steal from small, family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices. I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need.

Failing to heed the advice of the Mouse as given to Stephen Venner only a week ago, Fr Tim continued to keep digging when pressed on the issue, and has defended his comments. He has said that he hopes his comments will not be taken as a 'simplistic' call to make shoplifting acceptable, and has said, "I have never said it is OK to steal. It is a dreadful thing to steal."

The problem is that all of this is total nonsense. Every Christian on the planet would agree with where Fr Simon started - that it is a shocking thing when people are reduced to the point of desperation where they see no alternative to stealing. However, the Biblical response to this is not to give them advice on where and how to steal in such a way as to reduce the impact on others. It is to show generosity.

His call should have been that if you find yourself in this position, go and see your local priest, and he should rally his congregation to ensure that those who are hungry are fed. If any of us are unsure how we would respond to this call, then shame on us.

For the most serious analysis of this, see the Jubilee Centre blog. They are struggling to reconcile Fr Tim's comments with the Bible, not least a rather well known verse that went along the lines of 'do not steal'.

More news on STL / Wesley Owen

The latest press release from IBS-STL UK on the fate of their UK businesses, including Wesley Owen has been issued.

This is essentially as Mouse reported a little while ago. One interesting development will come form those looking at exactly who is behind the various acquisitions, in light of the fiasco that was the sale of SPCK. The Lords Work Trust, owner of John Ritchie Ltd, certainly looks ... errr 'interesting'.

Press Release: Carlisle December 21st 2009

The Board of Trustees and Senior Management of leading Carlisle-based Christian Charity, IBS-STL UK, formerly known as STL are pleased to announce the sale of two of its three trading divisions: Authentic Media and STL Distribution, as well as the sale of a significant number of its retail stores that comprise the third trading division: Wesley Owen. A large number of jobs have been secured as a result of the sale and the Charity’s mission of ‘Advancing the Christian Faith’ will continue.

The management team has worked closely with the Baker Tilly Corporate Finance LLP over the last month to secure the sale of all or part of the Charity’s business units. Completion of the sale agreements is expected to be finalised by the weekend with the new owners taking control immediately thereafter. This is regarded as extremely good news and ends a period of uncertainty and anxiety for many of our employees.

The sale details are as follows;

• Authentic Music based in Milton Keynes has been bought by Kingsway Communications operating from Eastbourne.
• Authentic Book Publishing and 8 Wesley Owen Stores (Bath Birmingham, Bristol, Bromley, Coleraine, Derby, Glasgow and York ) have been sold to Koorong, which is owned by the Bootes family. Based in Sydney, Koorong has 18 stores operating successfully throughout Australia. It has purchased all of the Authentic and Paternoster intellectual property and author contracts, the freehold properties in Glasgow and York, the Wesley Owen trading name, and the domain name, wesleyowen.com. They plan to continue to operate from the Milton Keynes area.
• STL Distribution has been purchased by John Ritchie Ltd a rapidly expanding book publisher and distributor based in Kilmarnock, Scotland. John Ritchie Ltd has purchased all of the Carlisle properties and intends to retain Carlisle as a major base of operation. The business will continue to trade as STL Distribution. John Ritchie Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Lord’s Work Trust which has substantial resources and supports Christian outreach and projects around the world. All profits from the business are returned to the Trust.
• A further 6 Wesley Owen stores (Bolton, Cambridge, Coventry, Guildford, Kingston and Stockport) have been acquired by CLC International (UK) whose head office is in Alresford, Hampshire, and whose stores operate as CLC Bookshops.
• There are ongoing discussions with a number of local groups interested in retaining their local Christian Bookshop. This may take some time to progress. In the meantime the administrators are continuing to trade from each of the remaining 26 stores. The administrators are keen to secure future trading from as many of these premises as possible and would welcome any expressions of interest.

In each case the new owners will purchase the assets of the parts of the business; no one is taking over responsibility for the IBS-STL UK charity which regrettably will be put into Administration for an orderly wind down.

Commenting on the sales, Keith Danby Chief Executive said, “I am delighted with the developments. I could not have imagined 5 weeks ago such a positive outcome. All along we have had three goals in mind; the continuity of the distribution of Christian resources, safeguarding as many jobs as possible, and finding purchasers who would invest in the businesses and take them to a new level. We believe all of the purchasers fit these aspirations and we wish them every success going forward.”

Danby went on to pay tribute to all the staff, saying, “this has been a very difficult time for all of our staff around the country. Some have worked for the Charity for almost 20 years. They are dedicated, hardworking and passionate about the mission of the Charity. It has been a very difficult year for everyone and the uncertainty of the last month has created extraordinary anxiety for people with families, financial commitments and obligations yet they have continued to fight for the survival of the company and done their very best to keep going.”

Michael Fitch, Chairman of the Board of Trustees also stated his delight, “the work of Authentic, STL Distribution and Wesley Owen is very important in advancing the Christian faith in the UK and we are delighted that this work will continue under the ownership of these high calibre operators. I want to also thank all of the employees for their hard work under difficult circumstances”.

Ken Munro, CEO of John Ritchie Ltd, emphasised the importance of continuity in the existing business and his confidence with regard to the future prospects of the newly extended group. “Our immediate goal is to quickly return the business to the levels of service and stability that STL Distribution customers have enjoyed over many years. We will achieve this building on the existing team and infra-structure as the foundation of our future success”. He added “I am confident that this significant acquisition for John Ritchie Ltd will ultimately support and strengthen the CBC trade in the UK, and trust that the future prosperity of the business will make a significant contribution to the on-going mission and objectives of our parent Trust”.

Russell Cash, Partner at Baker Tilly Restructuring & Recovery in Manchester, said, “We are delighted that such a successful outcome has been achieved. We have worked closely with a number of people within the business over several weeks and have been impressed with the commitment and attitude displayed by everybody we have encountered. I am particularly pleased that so many jobs have been preserved and I wish everybody connected all the very best for the future”

“The sales which have been secured are to parties who are well placed, and extremely keen, to continue to operate the business within the traditional core values adopted by IBS-STL over many years.

“Whilst 14 of the retail outlets are now being operated by CLC and Koorong, we are keen to explore interest in the remaining 26 stores with a view to securing a future in the medium to long term. Each of the stores are currently continuing to trade under our control”

Phil Burnham, CLC’s National Director, said, “CLC’s acquisition of these bookshops, whilst presenting us with a number of challenges in the short term, also give us the opportunity to further fulfil our purpose statement. We are committed to keeping these six Christian witness and resource centres open on the high street. In the light of so many bookshop closures throughout this year CLC considered it necessary to act. While on the one hand I wish that we at CLC could have done more, to have done nothing would have filled us with remorse. We continue to pray for our colleagues in the trade and at IBS-STL, each affected to a greater or lesser degree by the recent unfortunate events”.

Ends

Sunday round up

Apologies to those who have missed the Friday round up this week. However, Mouse has been enjoying his holiday, and has tried to stay off the computer.

In place of the normal round up, Mouse will just offer up a few links to some of the bigger stories from this week:

1. The deeply disappointing failure to get the deal we were looking for from the Copenhagen climate change conference

2. Iain Dale reckons there is one rule for Christians, and comments on the madness of the sacking of a Christian teacher for offering to pray with the parents of a sick child

3. Eurobishop David Hamid gives his view on the final version of the Anglican Covenant. Mouse thinks it strange that there has not been more comment on this important development in the blogosphere. Perhaps people are just weary of the snail-like progress in recent months / years.

4. The future of Christian bookshops and publishing in the UK is a great big question-mark. Mouse earlier directed readers to Phil Groom's excellent blog on the subject, and offers up now wannabepriest's thoughts on the subject.

5. The legal ruling on the Jewish Free School's admission policies has caused even more debate. Mouse repeats just one last time that this ruling does not affect religious admissions. It was a pretty odd case, where it was the definition of what it is to be Jewish that was in question - not in any way whether the schools was entitled to have religious admissions policies. Ruth Gledhill gives her take on it, in her usual well researched and clearly thought through way.

Christmas gloom

Mouse's holiday has not been improved by two pieces of news.

The first is the news that the Copenhagen climate change summit has essentially failed. True, there has been an 'accord' produced which included the US, China, India and South Africa. There is some comfort in that. Mouse managed to catch President Obama on CNN, and he made the good point that there isn't much benefit from a legally binding agreement, as there really is no way to enforce that (as evidenced by Kyoto). Obama also talked positively about how he would continue to work for a further deal in the future which was not achievable at this point in time. Still, it is a tragedy that 15,000 people and all world leaders who count could not manage to agree on a deal.

The second piece of news, is the rumour mill kicking round that Wesley Owen may now be in administration. Apparently this has leaked out of one of the store's Facebook page. The terrible news seems to be that 26 stores have entered administration and 14 have been sold. This is not entirely a surprise outcome, but it is dreadful news. For up-to-date news on this, Mouse suggests you follow Phil Groom's blog until Mouse returns from holiday and can stick closer to the situation.

In order to cheer Mouse up, please post items of good news in the comments.

Final version of the Anglican Covenant issued

Mouse has not read it, as he is on holiday. His only observation is that its great to see Rowan Williams using a bit of video technology to explain what its about.

One for the stats

Mouse have been overwhelmed by statistics while away. In the spirit of actually taking a holiday, he won't be trawling through them all, but will instead commend the excellent blog post by Bishop Nick Baines and this one by David Keen on various church related statistics.

Holiday

Mouse is now off on his Christmas holiday. Blogging will be sporadic (at best).

Mouse would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has read, commented on, contributed to or linked to his blog, or supported it in any other way. He wishes everyone a very happy Christmas.

National Secular Society news - sort of

Matt Wardman has a great piece in the Wardman Wire about the National Secular Society's news service. The NSS's website has section with links to news stories which may be of interest to their readers. However, they change the headlines to suit their own perspective. The example Matt Wardman uses is the story covered by the Mouse that English Heritage forecast the bill for repairs and maintenance of English Cathedrals will be £100m over the next decade. In the NSS's news feed, however, this became "Churches want £100m from the taxpayer to repair buildings". Matt points out that in just 10 words they've made some pretty big factual errors. This came from English Heritage, not the church, and there is no suggestion that this money would or should come from the taxpayer.

Their website is full of this stuff, however. One that irritated Mouse particularly was the story about Alpha running in schools. The headline - "Fundamentalist Alpha Course infiltrating more schools", and continues that the course is "drawing in children to its particular brand of literalist religious dogma" including "intolerant religious teaching". What a ridiculous thing to say about the Alpha course. It is open to anyone to go along and see what is being said, and to accuse anything originating from the Church of England as 'fundamentalist' is laughable. The fact that the course is supported and run by all major Christian denominations world-wide shows that it is not 'sinister' as the NSS believe. Not only that, but they only mention in passing that the course is being run in Church schools. As if they shouldn't teach Christianity.

The irony of all this is that there are many Christians who would happily engage with the debate over the separation of church and state (the raison d'etre for the NSS). There are even many within the Anglican church would already support many aspects of this (Mouse has already said that Bishops should come out of the Lords, for example). But this approach to the debate from the NSS simply puts Christians' backs up, and makes us think that they're not the ones we should be talking to.

Iran - after the Twitter revolution, freedom is still a long way off

There was a pretty big fuss about the 'Twitter revolution' in Iran after controversial elections resulted in the biggest street protests since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The protests were dealt with by the regime using violence, backed up with a news and media blackout. The blackout was broken by Twitter, which allowed news to get to a mass audience in minutes via SMS messages.

However, the news inevitably moved on and we don't hear much about Iran now, although the story has continued. The protesters have refused to give in. The opposition still refuses to accept the results of the election and street protests are continuing.

An example of the tactics used by the regime comes with the latest news that the government has accused protesters of breaking the law by insulting the founder of the Islamic state Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The accusation comes from footage of someone tearing up a poster during a protest. The regime claim it was an image of Imam Khomeini, and hence the law was broken. They are now demanding that the perpetrator be handed over for punishment.

The opposition claim that the footage has been doctored, but the western reader will think this is hardly the point. It seems such a shame when the media agenda moves on before the situation has really changed. Lets see if we can keep

+++ Copenhagen negotiations 'suspended'. Developing countries withdraw. +++

The BBC is reporting that the climate change negotiations have been suspended. No doubt this comes off the back of news that Gordon Brown was due to head there early to make sure progress is made.

More will follow.

Bishop praises Taliban

If Rowan Williams doesn't want Christians to be treated like oddities, he should do something when one of his bishops says something patently stupid.

As is always the case with this type of media storm, the bishop in question, Rt Rev Stephen Venner, was trying to make a sensible point. His argument was that demonising the whole of the Taliban is not a sensible strategy to win the peace, as the whole of Afghanistan will be needed to help build a peaceful future for the country.

However, the actual words that came out of his mouth will undoubtedly be seized upon by all sides to point to how out of touch the Church of England is.

We’ve been too simplistic in our attitude towards the Taliban. There’s a large number of things that the Taliban say and stand for which none of us in the West could approve, but simply to say therefore that everything they do is bad is not helping the situation. The Taliban can perhaps be admired for their conviction to their faith and their sense of loyalty to each other.

Oh dear, oh dear. Imagine if a member of parliament had said that. The Daily Mail would think Christmas had come early, the Sun would no doubt be canvassing the opinions of those who had lost relatives from the Taliban's use of road-side bombs to target those involved in reconstruction efforts. Already one Telegraph reporter says that Bishop Venner 'owes an apology to the victims of 9/11'.

The action needed is simple. Rt Rev Venner should issue a statement immediately clarifying that he does not admire the Taliban, and that with the benefit of hindsight he realises that his comments were wrong. He can then try again to make his point.

Update: Bishop Venner has issued a statement. Mouse is pleased he has done this so quickly, although it falls a little short of Mouse's suggested statement, in that it fails to admit that he made a mistake with his previous comments, but its better than nothing.

Another update: Bishop Venner has been on the BBC saying sorry. Well done.

Vetting and barring rules relaxed - effectively excludes church volunteers

The government has climbed down in the face of pressure from schools and voluntary groups and diluted the vetting rules for those working with children.

Mouse made his position clear some time ago that it is madness to try to vet a quarter of the adult population on the basis that they occasionally meet a child. The announcement form Children's Secretary, Ed Balls, is that the rules will now only apply to those who come into contact with the same children on a weekly basis. Previously the vetting and barring scheme was to cover anyone who comes into contact with children once a month.

As far as churches go, this will be a huge relief, effectively excluding those who volunteer in Sunday Schools or youth groups on a rota system, and only including those who lead groups every week.

This is a much more sensible approach, and Mouse welcomes the climb down.

Mouse would add, however, that he was surprised by the comments in response to his last post, where the majority were actually in favour of the scheme.

Rowan unloads both barrels on the government

The headline is a corker. 'Labour treats us like oddballs'. Perhaps he has found a little more courage to speak out as it becomes increasingly clear that the next Prime Minister will be an Anglican believer, but whatever the reason he has picked this moment to tell it straight.

He sets out his critique in his own way, saying that the government treats religion as a 'problem' rather than an integral aspect of our society. He claims that the government fail to understand that faith is 'in the bloodstream' of a large number of people, and he argues that this has the effect of 'de-normalising' faith, making those who hold it seem like 'oddities'.

It is often said that Rowan lacks the courage of his convictions, but Mouse has been impressed on two notable occasions before this one. The first was when he preached about the immorality of the Iraq war with the Queen and Tony Blair sat in the pews. The second was when he went to Rome in the immediate wake of the Pope's offer to disaffected Anglicans and told the Catholic Church that they are wrong on women priests, but he still loved them and wanted unity.

Bishop Nick has said the coverage of this interview has been a bit dodgy, and Theo Hobson reckons he's winging about nothing. Mouse thinks he's spot on, and suggests you listen for yourself and make your own mind up.

What's your Christmas message to your parish / area / diocese and how are you telling them?

Mouse has been impressed with the development of the micro-blogging bishops in the Bristol Diocese. Bishop Mike Hill and Bishop Lee Rayfield post regular updates, which are well worth a read.

So it was great to see both bishops have also posted a video Christmas message on YouTube and on the Diocesan website. Bishop Mike has done this before, but Mouse suspects the introduction of Twitter, microblogging and this is due to the work of the Diocesan New Media Officer, Sam Cavender. Mouse wonders how many other Diocese are as forward looking as to have this kind of role which allows real cultural engagement.

Church statistics - can someone create a database please

Another batch of church statistics has been released. The latest published statistics include data on finance, clergy numbers and attendance. The attendance statistics have already been released, but are now published in a slightly more usable way.

David Keen has already spent some time going through the numbers - the mouse will need a little more time (and energy) before he trawls the information, but has a couple of observations.

Firstly, he is still appalled that it has taken almost two years to compile the most basic of data. This basic data on finance and attendance is for the year 2007. Quite how anyone is making decisions without this information really does baffle the Mouse. Clergy numbers are somewhat easier to compile so we have 2008 numbers there, but that has still taken a year to publish.

Secondly, it has yet again been published in an almost unusable format. Why on earth could this not be published in Excel tables for download? Mouse asked for this last time some stats were published and was told that it was not available in this format. Mouse simply cannot believe that this was pulled together in anything other than Excel, so why wouldn't you make it available in that format. It is the only format that is ubiquitous, but allows easy analysis. It simply means that to do anything with the data you have to copy and paste it into your own spreadsheet and muck around with the format before you can even sort it.

It seems to Mouse that the church has not realised the importance and power of this data. The dominant narrative in the media is of a declining church. Yet some of the statistics challenge that idea. For example, more clergy were ordained in 2008 than for almost 15 years (possibly longer, but the stats don't go back that far in this publication!); giving in 2007 was up around 4% in real terms on 2006; church electoral rolls have been broadly flat for almost 15 years.

So here's Mouse's suggestion to make a big efficiency gain and improve on the quality of data the church has.

In this day and age it would be the easiest thing in the world to ask parishes and diocese to upload their data onto a central database through the web. Parish finances should be uploaded electronically to a central source (using a common template). Since all PCCs prepare their accounts in April there is no reason why a consolidated picture would not be available in, say, May or June of the same year.

Most, if not all, Diocese also have a congregational count system which operates every year - this should be done on-line to provide a central database. All this data could be combined easily with various government statistics to provide genuine insight into what's going on in the church. Of course if we were to really grasp the nettle with this one, we would ask parishes to move their paper based service records on-line, to provide a really detailed view.

Not only would these developments help with the data management job and provide invaluable information into the development of the church, but it would also save huge amounts of time in paperwork.

To give an illustration of just how bad things are in some places, in Mouse's own Diocese the congregational count system operates for the month of October each year. We are sent a form (just a single copy, by the way), and we do our best to fill it in and send it back. We haven't sent ours back yet, so I'm guessing many others haven't. We never see anything back from the Diocese in terms of what they have done with this information. We have no idea whether the Diocese is growing or shrinking. We have no idea how we are doing compared with nearby parishes.

So here's Mouse's offer to the good old CofE. Mouse will gladly build a website for them to do these tasks, on the condition that they promise to use it.

Landmark case of Christian couple cleared of insulting Islam

Well, not quite. They've been cleared of public order offenses relating to religious hatred. However, the implication is broader than it seems.

Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang had been prosecuted for their alleged crimes after an argument with a guest in their hotel who was a Muslim convert. The guest, Ericka Tazi, told the court that Mr Vogelenzang had called the prophet Muhammad a murderer and a warlord and compared him with Saddam Hussein and Hitler. She also claimed that the couple had called her a terrorist.

The first question really is whether any of these things could ever have been considered a crime. On the face of it, and we must always assume that there is more to the story than we read in the papers, there does not seem to be the faintest hint of a crime, even if we assume that everything Mrs Tazi said was true (which the judge did not believe). Mrs Tazi had clearly been offended, undoubtedly very deeply. However, this is not a crime.

The second question is whether it should have been brought to trial. It seems the basis on which it was thrown out was that there were no witnesses and no evidence. It was simply the word of a single aggrieved individual. Things have gone seriously wrong when the police and the CPS think this has a reasonable chance of achieving a conviction.

This has been the culmination of a trend towards making offense and offense, however, now that the judge has thrown this case out Mouse has hopes that this will be the last straw. This has been a waste of police time and public money, and has put a huge strain on Mr and Mrs Vogelenzang. Lets hope they are the last to have to go through this ordeal.

Friday round up

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

1. The Church Times blog find a fabulous new website all about twittering bishops and clergy (and so do Maggi Dawn, Phil Ritchie and the Benedictine Nuns - oh, and Peter Ould is very proud of it)

2. Cranmer's Curate wonders what a Christian Top Gear would look like

3. Bishop Tim Ellis leads the way on Uganda's homosexuality bill (and pretty soon Rick Warren followed)

4. Bartholomew on Max Weber and the Protestant work ethic

5. Bishop Alan Wilson reckons there are two ways to win an argument

6. Tall Skinny Kiwi has the best ever rapture film posters

7. FaithWorld congratulate Obama on the Nobel Theology Prize

8. Rev David Keen wonders what reception Mary and Joseph would have got in Britain 2009 compared with Bethlehem 3AD

9. Cranmer on the Christian hoteliers cleared of religious hatred

10. Andrew Brown on Rick Warren's letter to Uganda's Christians

Who expected an easy ride at Copenhagen

Mouse was starting to get a little overconfident about the chances of a really good deal on climate change at Copenhagen. So he should not be surprised to hear that there has been a pretty big argument going on there.

The Guardian received a leaked document from the talks that the UN's top climate diplomat, Yvo de Boer, described as 'an informal paper ahead of the conference given to a number of people for the purposes of consultations'. It is understood that the document was a discussion draft for the proposed agreement which had been prepared by a group thought to include the US and Denmark.

The problem with the document is that it would be a terrible deal for developing countries. Lumumba Di-Aping, the Sudanese chairman of a group of 132 developing countries, said, "This text destroys both the UN convention on climate change and the Kyoto protocol. This is aimed at producing a new treaty, a new legal initiative that throws away the basis of [differing] obligations between the poorest and most wealthy nations in the world".

The leaked document has been roundly condemned by development agencies.

We should not be surprised that the road to a deal at Copenhagen is a little bumpy, and there is still plenty of time left to get things back on track. But we must keep the pressure up.

If you'd like to keep bang up to date, Mouse recommends Operation Noah or Christian Aid.

'Nothing but sex please, we're vicars'

Mouse would like to offer his public thanks to Richard Morrison for his article 'Nothing but sex please, we're vicars' in The Times.

His article sums up what so many both inside and outside the church feel about what seems like an obsession with issues of sexuality. He raises many questions that Mouse has heard over and over again. No doubt, there are many who will argue with much of what Morrison says, but Mouse challenges anyone to argue with his conclusion.

The tragedy for the Church is that it is missing a huge opportunity. There are millions of young people out there who are disaffected from mainstream politics but equally dissatisfied with the mindless consumerism and callous selfishness of modern life. You can see that from the numbers flocking to espouse green causes, or to work for charities this Christmas. With so many youngsters thinking deeply about what’s right and wrong for the world, this should be a golden age for Christianity — the most revolutionary of religions. But while the Church renders itself a laughing-stock over sex, it hasn’t got a hope of converting the young. At the moment some leading clerics come across as befrocked weirdos with one-track minds. And I’m not talking about their belief in God.

Introducing the Twurch of England website

Introducing the Twurch of England website

Regular readers of the Mouse will know that for some time he has been keeping track on Archbishops, Bishops and Clergy on twitter through his Twurch of England Twitter stream. Mouse finds this a fascinating way to engage with the church. It is rather like having a permanent invitation to listen in on someone's conversation and join in whenever you want. In fact, that's exactly what it is.

Mouse currently follows around 70 people in this Twitter stream, including one Archbishop (John Sentamu) and nine bishops (Alan Wilson, David Hamid, David Rossdale, David Tomson, Lee Rayfield, Mike Hill, Nick Baines, Pete Broadbent and Steven Croft). Mouse provides his readers with an occasional top 10 tweeters in the Twurch, based on statistics from Twitter Gradr.

Then Mouse had an idea.

The thing about the sidebar widget is that it is not very engaging. It does not really let you get involved in the conversation - the exact opposite of Twitter. So Mouse recruited vicar, tweeter and geek Rev Peter Ould to help build something a little more fun.

The Twurch of England website now allows you to follow the conversation in real time and log-in to twitter and get involved. The site has a blog, where Mouse will offer up his periodic stats and other views on what the Twurch is discussing, but also hopes that it will be an 'open blog', where the majority of posts will come from others who want to discuss how the church is engaging with those outside it. You can grab the side-bar widget for your own blog / website too.

The Twurch of England is, of course, on twitter itself. Please do get in touch if you know of any more clergy or bishops who should be included in the list. For the time being it will be just clergy and bishops, but in future may expand (e.g. to ordinands).

Mouse was delighted that the good old CofE even seemed keen on the idea:

The Church of England is happy that this site is available as a hub for people seeking to engage with the church and its various tweeters. [CofE spokesman]

The blog kicks off with a guest post from one of the Twurch's most active tweeters, Bishop Alan Wilson on ten reasons why he tweets.

Finally, before you respond with theological questions about a church that only contains clergy, that is not the idea at all. The Twurch is open to everyone to engage with, its only the twitter livestream which is limited, as this is an interesting way of engaging with the church.

Comments, suggestions, ideas all very welcome.

Another gay bishop in America

The inevitable next step for the Episcopal Church has come in the form of the election of another partnered homosexual priest as bishop. This was inevitable since the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which voted to ignore the calls from Rowan Williams and others for a moratorium on the ordination of partnered gay bishops.

The next inevitable step was the media frenzy, saying that the Anglican Communion cannot possibly stay together. Others have highlighted the difference in reaction from Rowan Williams between the election of Rev Mary Glasspool to the office of Suffragan Bishop of Los Angeles to the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill, which will impose draconian new criminal penalties on those convicted of simply being gay.

Mouse simply asks one question, however. Can anyone tell me exactly how the Anglican Communion will split? The Episcopal Church clearly don't want to leave, and Mouse can't see any other national churches leaving en masse in protest. So that just leaves everyone shouting at each other demanding that 'something be done'. Unless Mouse is missing something?

Archbishop of York welcomes fairtrade Kit Kat

Archbishop John Sentamu has welcomed the launch of the fairtrade Kit Kat from Nestle. He visited the factory to oversee the production of the first of the new batch. A couple of interesting things here. On his website he says:

I can remember 2 years ago saying that Nestle should make their chocolate Fairtrade, and many people in York stood up to support the campaign for Fairtrade justice. So when I heard that Nestle was making Kit Kat Fairtrade, I simply said 'Wow!'. It goes to show that people can make a difference.

The fact that Nestle have listened to local campaigners and invested considerable time, effort and financial support to make this Fairtrade biscuit a reality is fantastic news.

I have visited the workers at the co-operative in the Ivory Coast who will benefit from Kit Kat four-finger bar becoming Fairtrade, and I know that this is a real step forward in giving them the justice, recognition and pay they deserve.

The next step is to make all other produce Fairtrade where possible – in particular my own favourite, the Yorkie!"

This will depend largely on the Ivory Coast producing the large quantity and quality needed for Nestle to deliver the product. Nestle must be congratulated in going beyond the profit margin.

In the Ivory Coast, Nestle has invested heavily in a research centre for delivering millions of high quality cocoa trees, which also has the potential to develop millet, sorghum, cassava and coffee. This is breath-taking for all concerned. Fairtrade Yorkie – here we come!

The Archbishop's support will no doubt surprise many who are still boycotting and campaigning against Nestle over the issue of marketing baby milk formula in Africa.

However, it is no surprise that the Archbishop has announced that he is a Yorkie eater. The most manly of chocolate bars is exactly what we should have expected from Archbishop John. Whether we should read something into Yorkie's marketing slogan 'its not for girls' is not yet clear.

Copenhagen kick-off & climate data

The British public gave its verdict on what should be done at Copenhagen in style with The Wave. It was a rather polite demonstration, and it was a bit weird that the government essentially agreed with everything the demonstrators were asking for, but it did give them the mandate to go to Copenhagen and demand a good deal.

Mouse feels that this really is a historic moment for the world. Despite those who persistently deny that climate change is happening, and are doing their best to sew the seeds of doubt ahead of this conference, we've seen world leaders fall into line. The latest news that Obama has re-scheduled his visit so that he can come at the end rather than earlier in the conference shows that he expects to be there taking credit for the deal at the end and is a big boost. The question is starting to move from whether a deal can be done, to what kind of deal can be done.

A final note for those who think that the temperatures are falling, the Met Office has announced that it will release its climate data to counter that claim, and to make some of the science more transparent. The reality, however, is that the evidence does not come from one or two guys in a single institution, but from dozens, if not hundreds, of scientists.

Fair trade Kit Kats

Ekklesia are reporting that Nestle are set to announce from tomorrow that the four finger Kit Kat is set to receive fair trade certification from January 2010. This has been in progress for some time, so would not be a surprise.

In many respects this is great news, and follows on from Cadbury's move to gain fair trade certification for Dairy Milk earlier in the year. However, for many it will feel like desperately slow progress. Why on earth would the four finger bar qualify, but not the two finger variety?

Mouse will comment more if / when the announcement comes.

God probably agrees with me ... and you ... and you?

Heresy Corner always provides thoughtful, well written and original content. One piece that caught his imagination a little while ago was a piece about some research from the University of Chicago which shows that religious people tend to believe that God would agree with them. Here's some of the Heresiarch's commentary.

There were seven studies in all. Four involved surveys in which people were invited to give their opinions about various moral questions, along with what they imagined other people (such as Bill Gates, George Bush or the "Average American") would think about the same issue, and what God would think about it. For most people there was a strong correlation between what they believed and what they thought God believed. But respondents had a more "objective" assessment of what other human beings believed. In other words, they were prepared to entertain the thought that they disagreed with the former president, but not that they disagreed with the Almighty. Hardly rocket science, you might think. After all, it's how US foreign policy was formulated for eight years of this past decade.

In two further studies, the scientists "directly manipulated people’s own beliefs" by, for example, asking them to make a presentation about capital punishment in front of a video camera, "an exercise known to affect people’s reported beliefs." Asking people to think seriously about something hardly amounts to manipulating their beliefs, I wouldn't have thought, but in any case the researchers concluded that "inferences about God’s beliefs tracked their own beliefs." People who started off believing in capital punishment but after a few hours' intense thought changed their mind felt that God endorsed their new opinion just as strongly as he had endorsed their previous one.

In many ways this is nor surprising. After all, everyone clearly believes they are right when they hold an opinion - that's exactly what an opinion is. So for religious people, it is hardly surprising that they would believe that it was in line with God's opinion.

However, Mouse cannot help feeling deeply uncomfortable with it. The reason comes in the report's conclusion. Most religious people think they form their opinions based on God's. This research shows that most people actually work the other way round and predict God's views based on their own.

Undoubtedly a challenge for us all.

The Heresiarch points out the two dangers of religious belief - fanaticism and neurosis. The answer to avoiding these two extremes probably starts with some self awareness, and this research really helps.

Buyer for Wesley Owen?

IBS-STL UK, the organisation which owns the Wesley Owen bookstores, has put out an update on the sale of their businesses in the UK. It makes interesting reading, but the encouraging thing is that they state, "I can confirm that the sales process is now underway, with the help of Baker Tilly. We have received a number of offers covering all aspects of the business and have now selected our preferred bidders who are currently undertaking financial and operational due diligence. This is likely to take us into the week commencing 14th December by which time we should be able to conclude the sales process."

The vital part of that is that the offers are 'covering all aspects of the business'. This is very encouraging. Book selling in the UK is a tough market for anyone, evidenced not just by STL's experience, but also by Borders going into administration. Some had thought that Wesley Owen's chances of redemption were low, but it seems there is hope.

The next step is due diligence. This is where potential buyers go through the books of the company to decide whether they think they can turn it round.

I'm sure everyone involved would value your prayers. Mouse got a sense of the feeling of those involved when he received this anonymous email from a member of staff at Wesley Owen:

Can anyone say positive things about Wesley Owen? Yes mistakes have been made, but Jesus says 'he who is without sin cast the first stone'

We all need to be focussing on the mission of the shops and the real people whose lives will be affected by job losses! Please pray that God can turn this around somehow!

Without STL or Wesley Owen, there will be a lot of searching people who will not be able to get the resources that they need to be able to grow in their faith. If STL goes, the whole network of Christian bookshops will be prone to disappearing.

Where will you go to get your books/music?
STL also supply Amazon, so don't rely on them!

Staff member

Quite right.

British Humanist Association's new friends - the Chinese Government

Mouse was rather surprised to read just how chuffed the BHA were in their celebrations of being visited by representatives from the Chinese government. Here's their statement.

The British Humanist Association’s (BHA) Andrew Copson and Naomi Phillips welcomed delegates from the State Nationalities Affairs Commission, People’s Republic of China, to Conway Hall, London, yesterday, as part of the delegation’s training on UK religious, non-religious and ethnic group affairs. The delegation was particularly keen to meet with the BHA, to learn about the BHA’s role in promoting freedom and fairness in terms of religion and belief.

Delegates were particularly interested in the diversity of British society, and how a culture of respect for - and celebration of - that diversity has developed.

Andrew Copson, BHA Director of Education and Public Affairs, said, ‘We were pleased to meet with Chinese state delegates to the UK and to give a presentation covering the BHA’s work in promoting equality, freedom of belief and fairness in the context of British society more generally. We were keen to emphasise the importance of the human rights legal framework in the UK which underpins our equality laws, while at the same time drawing attention to the continuing, anomalous and unjust privileges in law for religion.’

Call me an old stick in the mud if you like, but China is not the best place to go for 'freedom and fairness in religion and belief'. It is a place where religion is regulated by the state, and worshiping in ways that are not approved by the state is a criminal offence. Still, Christianity is booming in the country anyway, and the government is finding itself unable to contain the movement of the Holy Spirit.

So what on earth would they want to talk to the BHA about? And more to the point what would the BHA want to talk to them for? Mouse is pleased that Andrew Copson drew attention to the importance of human rights, as this is not something the Chinese are really on board with. However, Mouse cannot help feeling a little uneasy at strange development.

What's going on at faith schools?

The release of the latest set of school league tables predictably showed that faith schools topped the lists. Mouse will not enter the argument over whether this is simply due to the background of the pupils or not, as the recent Theos report has already said that there simply enough reliable evidence on this.

What did interest Mouse, however, was a tiny comment in the Telegraph's report on the subject.

According to the latest figures, some 268 schools achieved perfect results as all pupils reached the level for their age group in English, mathematics and science. The number was down significantly on the 329 primaries hitting the target in 2008.

Figures show faith schools made up 166 of the total this year – almost two-thirds – compared with around four in 10 just three years ago.

What has happened in the past three years that has led to this change? Mouse will have to see if he can find some research on this. Please do comment if you know the answer.

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 how to slim with Jesus

2. Grumpy Bishop Nick Baines on the media reaction to his Christmas book

3. The Ugley Vicar on why the decline in clergy is not inevitable

4. Bishop Alan Wilson on the Church's new media future

5. Ruth Gledhill on Rowan Williams' efforts on the Ugandan homosexuality bill

6. Andrew Brown asks 'who are the creationists?'

7. Tall Skinny Kiwi on how to speak about the emerging church without sounding like a moron (still not sure Mouse could manage it, though)

8. Rev David Keen on street pastors

9. Dave Walker provides some Christmas cheer at the Cartoon Church

10. Thinking Anglicans provide some Advent Opinions

English Heritage - Cathedrals need £100m

The headline in the Times (£100m needed to keep English cathedrals standing) is a little misleading, as the English Heritage review of the fabric of England's cathedrals is actually really upbeat. The summary is that the first review, done in 1991, showed that cathedrals were in a shocking state and in dire need of serious amounts of work. Since then £250m has been spent on them, and they're now in much better nick, with most of the really serious stuff had been dealt with.

However, it was still rather a jolt to see that English Heritage recommending a further £100m be spent on England's cathedrals to get deal with the next wave of repairs. There are a number of cathedrals which still need significant and costly repairs. The report identifies six cathedrals which need major works done: Canterbury - £16m, York - £8m, Lincoln - £13m or more, Salisbury - £15m, Chichester - £10m, Winchester - £4m.

Mouse has commented before on how English Heritage themselves have withdrawn their funding of cathedral repairs, and cathedrals receive no direct funding from government. Almost all of their repair and maintenance work is self funded. It seems a great shame that the secularising forces of the world do not recognise or value a rich cultural heritage if it happens to be a Christian one.

It would be a desperate shame if the next review that English Heritage do shows that the cathedrals didn't get the money they were after and are once again crumbling.

What is DigiMission? Guest blog post from Anna Moyle from the Evangelical Alliance

Mouse wasn't able to make it to the interesting sounding Digimission conference yesterday, so asked about for someone to guest post on it. A couple more views will follow shortly, but here's an 'official' summary of the event from Anna Moyle. Anna works in the Evangelical Alliance (www.eauk.org) press office and coordinates Slipstream, a suite of resources for leaders www.eauk.org/slipstream), and was one of the organisers of the event.

Many thanks to Anna for putting this together.

DigiMission: How technology shapes faith, church and mission

Small-world theory, digital connectors, intimate anonymity, blogging in your pyjamas – the digital age has brought with it a new language and new ways of communicating, as well as unique challenges for the church.

These topics and more were discussed at DigiMission, an Evangelical Alliance event on 1st December in London. The event explored different ways digital technology influences faith and mission – starting with the people attending the event. The 50 people physically present were quadrupled in number by those who logged on to watch the live broadcast online, with an average of 40 viewers at any one time. Many others following along on Twitter as various attendees updated their Twitter pages with soundbites and key ideas from the various talks.

The four physical speakers – Maggi Dawn from Cambridge University, Jonny Baker from Church Mission Society, Mark Meynell from All Souls Church and Krish Kandiah from the Evangelical Alliance – were joined by blogger Adrian Warnock over video in the morning. In the afternoon, American author Shane Hipps gave a talk over live online video from his home in Arizona, about the ideas behind his recent book, Flickering Pixels (http://tinyurl.com/nx9r9l), and fielded questions through a chatroom from both attendees in London and those watching online from around the UK.

While each speaker had a different take on how the church should use the digital space, the running theme throughout the day was the importance of both developing Christian community within the new context and using the existing technological structures to “get the message out.”

Jonny Baker challenged us to seek out digitally-minded “connectors” in each church to connect up various “small worlds” which otherwise might not be aware of each other’s existence. Maggi Dawn spoke powerfully about how she sees her blogging as very relational – as a published author she takes a very different approach to blog-writing than she does to book-writing. She quipped, “I am the vicar of my blog,” and noted that people stumble upon her blog when through occasional entries on topics that she doesn’t normally cover but are of interest to a wide variety of people.

Both Krish Kandiah and Mark Meynell encouraged us to avoid creating “online Christian ghettos” but to use mediums that already exist to produce really good content and redeem the digital space for the kingdom of God. Adrian Warnock took a similar line and pointed out that there are many ways to communicate online – some will prefer microblogging tools such as Twitter, while others prefer social networking sites like Facebook. He said that it is important for Christians to be present in all those spaces, and that they are also good for bringing together various wings of the church. Krish also pointed to a new Evangelical Alliance initiative called Biblefresh (www.biblefresh.com) which will be promoting Bible engagement using a variety of creative digital platforms.

One of the highlights of the event was Shane Hipps’ online streaming video talk about the various paradoxes of the digital age: both tribal and individualistic, empathetic and distant, intimate and anonymous. Digital media is very useful for creating connections but it cannot replace, and it must work alongside, close physical community – it is not the best medium for that, he argued. The digital age tends to separate those who are close and bring together those who are at a distance. Why does nobody consider online parenting or online marriage? Those relationships require real physical intimacy that the digital world cannot replicate.

No doubt some in the church will be more sympathetic with Shane’s emphasis on maintaining authentic physical community and using technology intelligently alongside of it, while others might consider his perspective as too timid and will advocate more for the potential of online communities. Whatever the views, the key lesson coming out of the day is that it is important for the church to be present in the digital world but also to keep up the conversation about the best ways to go about doing just that.

A Slipstream podcast as well as talks coming out of the event will be available on Thursday 3 December on the Slipstream website: www.eauk.org/slipstream

You can find attendees’ updates by searching for #digimission on Twitter.

You can watch some clips from the day here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/digimission

What to make of The Manhattan Declaration

The more conservative Christian blogs have been discussing the Manhattan Declaration for a little while now. For those who have not seen this, it is a statement made by a mix of Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical leaders in the US. The very summary version is as follows:

A CALL OF CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE

Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.

We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them.

These truths are:

• the sanctity of human life
• the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
• the rights of conscience and religious liberty.

Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Cranmer likes it. Anglican Mainstream love it (judging by the fact that they've posted 13 articles on it in 10 days). Clayboy finds it 'somewhat bizarre', however. At the time of writing almost 210,000 people have signed the declaration, yet it seems to be dividing opinion amongst evangelicals in the US.

Mouse will set out now that he will not be signing the declaration. From this side of the Atlantic, Mouse finds it odd that these three issues would be selected as worthy of a united Christian declaration.

Just for those who do not speak American, Mouse should point out that 'sanctity of human life' is code for 'anti-abortion' (with a bit of 'anti-euthanasia' and 'anti-assisted suicide' thrown in), 'dignity of marriage' is code for 'no gay marriage' and 'rights of religious conscience and liberty' is code for 'speaking against homosexuality'.

These have been totemic issues for the American religious right for some time, and it is undoubtedly the actions of a Democrat in the White House that is the trigger for this particular action.

Mouse starts from the point of asking what are the biggest issues facing the world, and Christians in particular, today. Mouse's answer would start with the need to spread the good news of the Gospel to those who not heard of believed it before. After that, he would go on to global poverty, hunger, injustice, war and climate change. These are all things that the Bible is concerned with and tells us to fight against. Unfortunately, none of these things are mentioned in the Declaration. Many who wonder where the US church are on climate change, for example, will be dismayed that they have managed to get together on these issues, but not to tell Obama to Seal the Deal in Copenhagen.

Now, many would say that it is simply not the point of the declaration, and rather than talk about what it is not concerned with, we should discuss what it is concerned with. The problem with this is that it is concerned with an extremely narrow range of issues, which will divide many faithful Christians in some areas.

Whilst there are many who Mouse has utmost respect for who have signed this declaration, and have done so to take a stand on issues that are hugely important for them. However, there are others, who Mouse has utmost respect for who could not sign this document.

Mouse sees this as fundamentally an internal American political move, so no doubt those behind the Declaration will not mind in the least that Mouse is not on board. However, he would be concerned if the American right were allowed to define the agenda for the rest of us.

Robbie WIlliams theology - its not that complicated

Mouse has been prodded into making a comment that he had intended to make some time ago. With the release of Robbie Williams' latest single 'bodies' there was much debate on Christian blogs about the theology behind it.

David Keen provides a helpful summary of a large quantity of the commentary. Opinion ranges from those who attempt in vain to find the deeper meaning behind Williams' discussion of whether 'Jesus really died for me' to those who think the religious language is purely there for shock value.

Mouse will simply point out that this is hardly the first time Williams has talked about Jesus. On his first album the song 'Jesus in a camper van' caused barely a murmur from the Christian community. Yet it contains lyrics such as "Jesus in a camper van. He said 'sorry to leave you, but I've done all I can'. I suppose even the Son of God gets it hard sometimes. Especially when he goes around saying 'I am the way'".

Other Robbie songs with Christian overtones include 'Sin Sin Sin' (with the lovely pun "hate the sin, not the singer"), 'better man' (featuring Augustine's prayer 'make me pure, but not yet'), and of course 'Angels'.

We know that Williams was raised a Catholic, and clearly some of the words have stuck, but beyond that Mouse feels the search for meaning is ultimately futile. Mouse remembers seeing Williams interviewed about the meaning behind his song Angels. His answer - it means nothing. It is simply a collection of words that sound nice when sung. Now clearly this is not true for many, as the song is the fourth most requested song for funerals. Some are finding meaning in it. However, that meaning was not intended by the lyricist.

Mouse suspects the same is true for his latest song Bodies. The words are simply words that sound good when sung. Or not.

God gave me the sunshine, Then showed me my lifeline, I was told it was all mine, Then I got laid on a ley line, What a day, what a day, And your Jesus really died for me, Then Jesus really tried for me.

Bodies

SPCK / SSG - action needed by creditors

Mouse has been asked to highlight this notice from last week's Bookseller magazine. If you're owed money by SSG / SPCK, you've got until 16 December to make a claim.

-----------------------------------
ST STEPHEN THE GREAT CHARITABLE TRUST

This charity has been in the press over recent years as a result of
concerns expressed over its operations. In April 2009 the Charity
Commission appointed Peter Gotham of Begbies Traynor as Interim
Manager to take over its running - other than with respect to its
religious mission in the churches it controls.

This objective was made more complicated by virtue of the fact that
since July 2007 the shops previously operated by the charity were
managed instead by other companies appointed by the Trustees.

The Interim Manager has now completed his initial work, has retaken
possession of most shops, and is moving towards meeting valid claims
on the charity’s assets. In order to do this he has instructed agents
to put various of the Trust’s properties on sale.

He is now advertising for creditors’ claims incurred before 1 July
2007 in order to ensure that no valid claims go unmet. (Any claims
incurred after 1 July 2007 will be the responsibility of the various
companies engaged by the Trustees.)

Creditors who believe that they have a valid claim against the
Trustees of St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust incurred before 1
July 2007, should write to the Interim Manager at Begbies Traynor
(Central) LLP, 32 Cornhill, London EC3V 3BT under ref S8703 before the
close of business on 16 December 2009.

Presented by: Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP
Presenter’s Reference: S8703/PJG/NGA/BRS"
-------------------------------

Ice rink in church

Mouse has seen a few gimmicks to get people into church in his time, but this is one of the more ambitious. Rev Stuart Cradduck has installed an ice rink in St George's, Whyke in Chichester. Rev Cradduck said, "It has been an amazing success. Normally our church would have been closed for these four days and with the ice rink and festival we've had 4,500 through our doors. I want people to know that church isn't just a boring thing. We want to show people that it's a place to celebrate life."

Interesting to note that Rev Cradduck says that church isn't "just" boring. Are we to assume, therefore, that it is boring for 11 and a half months of the year, but great fun when we put an ice rink in there? To be fair, taking a look at St George's website shows that it seems to be a pretty active church, trying hard to connect with its community. Still, Mouse wonders what people outside the church make of this kind of thing. Clearly 4,500 people thought it was worth coming along to. But the description in the Sun of 'Barmy Rev Cruddack' may point to another perception of these publicity stunts.