Advertising on The Church Mouse blog?

The eagle eyed amongst those of you who actually visit this blog, rather than read it via an RSS reader / Facebook or something else, may have spotted what can only be described as an advert in the left hand sidebar.  Mouse would like to explain.

In the history of this blog its Profit and Loss account runs as follows:

Income - £0
Expenditure - £0

The reason for this is twofold.  Firstly, Mouse has not used the cheap money making schemes available online, as that really isn't the point of this blog.  It costs nothing to write Mouse's thoughts down, so to eek out a few quid a year at the cost of irritating ads really isn't worth it for Mouse.

Every now and then, however, Mouse does mention a commercial product which he thinks would be of interest to those who visit this blog.  For this he has never received a financial reward, and has never sought one.

So to the advert.  Is it a new money making scheme for the Mouse?  No.  Mouse is not being rewarded financially for supporting his friend.  This is simply a great project, run by a couple of Christians formerly of CMS, and Mouse is delighted to endorse it.  Dave Pollendine has blogged about Mouse's support for his Down To Earth project.  It is a drama project that he has been taking to Cathedrals, Churches and Schools to raise awareness of climate change.  Do check it out.

Eric Pickles on NSS council prayers campaign

Mouse commented before on the campaign by the National Secular Society to take on the religious zealots in the hotbed of fundamentalism at Bideford Council.  They have instructed lawyers to initiate a judicial review of whether their practice of saying prayers before council meetings is lawful.

Mouse thinks this is rather petty, particularly since it is entirely up to the council itself whether to say prayers or not, and it recently decided that it would like to.

The latest developments from the NSS is that they have instructed their lawyers to go to the High Court to seek a judicial review, and they are looking for a 'fighting fund' to pay for the case.  Mouse suggests there are better things to do with your money.

The NSS will now find themselves with at least one formidable opponent in the form of Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles.  Cranmer provides the quotes.

While I cannot comment on a specific court case, the new Government recognises and respects the role that faith communities play in our society.

Prayers are an important part of the religious and cultural fabric of the British nation.

While the decision on whether to hold prayers is a matter for local councils, I want to ensure that they continue to have the freedom to do so.

Well said Mr Pickles.

Mouse would also just like to point out the basis of the NSS claim that council prayers are illegal.  They claim it is contrary to Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.  This is rather amusing if you actually read the article, as it says that freedom to express religion should only be restricted under very limited circumstances.  Here it is for reference:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.

Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Presumably they are arguing that it impinges on the freedom of those who don't want to pray.  Mouse suggest that the ECHR was not written with the intention of protecting Bideford Councillors, and that they are perfectly free to not pray if they don't want to.  Mouse thinks they've got no chance.

The Orange Digital Campaign Awards (NOT) #orangedigitalawards

Mouse has been tagged in a meme by political blogger Matt Wardman.  Matt was a little irritated that the Orange Digital Campaign Awards are being decided by a group of London based political bloggers without the chance for nominations or votes by ordinary folk like us.  So Matt is seeking nominations on a wider basis for his own version of the awards.

The award is for the best online campaign during the election.

From Mouse's perspective (being a London based blogger himself), a few campaigns come to mind.  From the religio-political sphere there were a couple of significant campaigns.  The Westminster 2010 Declaration did an astonishing piece of work to set out the views of all candidates compared with their views.  Whilst Mouse was not a big fan of the declaration itself, the work was undeniably impressive.

A similar approach was taken by Steve Chalke's Faithworks declaration.  This campaign sought to persuade candidates and parties in the election that faith groups could play an important part in delivering services to individuals and communities.  Steve Chalke pulled of somewhat of a coup by getting interviews with all three major party leaders in the run up to the election, giving them the platform to address Christian communities directly.

So Mouse would nominate those two campaigns.  Mouse is sure that there are some great campaigns from individual candidates, but for his constituency candidates only one had any personal presence online, which included a Twitter account used only 6 times before the election campaign started.

I now tag:

David Keen
Phil Ritchie
Mark Meynell
Clayboy

Here are the rules for the meme:

1. Nominate the best example of digital campaigning known to you.
2. Link back to Matt's post or comment there, so he can add it to the list.
3. Start your title “Orange Digital Campaigning Awards (NOT)”, including the hashtag #orangedigitalawards.
4. Tag some others who can help us find the best online campaigning.

Guest post: Church Commissioners "sleight of hand" hides pension problems

Mouse has blogged before on the high risk investment strategy of the Church Commissioners, who manage the good old CofE's historic £5bn fund, which acts not only as the pension fund for clergy who served per-1998, but also supports mission.  He has criticised their reliance on high risk investments in shares and property, which resulted in a near 30% drop in the value of the fund during the financial crash.

This week the Church Commissioners published their 2009 annual report, and trumpeted above average returns, which allowed them to maintain funding to parishes for mission, despite the financial crash.  It all sounded great.

However, writing exclusively for the Church Mouse, independent pensions consultant John Ralfe shows how the small print in the report reveals that it was actually a smart piece of financial engineering which made this possible.

John Ralfe is an independent pension consultant and formerly head of corporate finance at Boots. Also see his February 2010 article in the Financial Times "The Church's reckless investment gamble".



The Church Commissioners have just published their 2009 annual report and trumpet proudly that their investments have made above average returns in 2009, allowing them to continue making annual grants to hard-pressed Anglican parishes and dioceses.


This self-congratulation, however, is undeserved. Grants can continue at the current level only because of an actuarial sleight-of-hand, which does not reflect well on the Commissioners.


Most of the Commissioners’ assets are used to pay clergy pensions earned up to 1998, and the official value of clergy pension liabilities is used to decide how much the Commissioners can afford to pay in annual grants to parishes.


Unlike companies, the Commissioners are not required to show clergy pension liabilities on their balance sheet, discounted at a corporate bond rate. At December 2009, however, the Commissioners’ actuaries valued clergy pension liabilities at £1.6bn, or 33% of the £4.8bn investment assets.


But this value of pension liabilities is based on a discount rate of 4.3% after inflation, significantly weaker than that required by UK accounting standards or The Pensions Regulator.


It is also much weaker than the discount rate of 1.9% after inflation used to value the pensions of the Commissioners’ own staff. Applying this discount rate to clergy pensions increases the liabilities by around 30% to £2.1bn or 45% of investment assets.


By materially understating clergy pension liabilities, the Commissioners are, in turn, overstating the amounts which can be paid to parishes through annual grants.


Meanwhile, the Commissioners are making a huge bet on equities and property, with only 2% of assets held in bonds to match pension liabilities. Just to pay the £100m pensions already in payment requires the Commissioners’ to hold £2bn of bonds or 40% of their assets.


Both the Church Commissioners and the Church’s Pension Board, which has publicly refused to disclose its investment advice, suffer from a fundamental lack of transparency and accountability, which risks storing-up major financial problems for the Church’s future.

Loneliness on the rise

A report by mental health charity The Mental Health Foundation has revealed the increase in loneliness in Britain.  Loneliness is on the rise.

The report, called The Lonely Society,  shows the effect of many of the social trends of the past few decades.  People living further from family, disconnected from communities and more households occupied by one person, partly caused by the doubling of the divorce rate in the past 50 years.

The picture painted is one where widespread feelings of loneliness have led to depression across age and demographics, with one in ten people saying they often feel lonely and only one in five people saying that they never feel lonely.

Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said: "Changes to the way we live are putting an increasing number of people at risk of loneliness, which can lead to health problems if chronic. People who find themselves feeling lonely should not have to feel uncomfortable talking about it or asking for help. By raising awareness of the subject we hope to tackle the stigma attached to loneliness and help individuals who are feeling lonely to connect with others."

NSPCC head of child protection awareness, Christopher Cloke, said: "Last year ChildLine received nearly 10,000 calls from children saying they felt lonely – an increase of 60% from five years ago. Loneliness has always been a part of some children's lives but it is deeply worrying that more children are contacting us about this. In the worst cases children became so desperate that they self-harm or even contemplate suicide."

This sounds very much like a challenge to the Church.  Lets not forget that the Church is not a building or an institution, but the community of Christ's people.  Communities should not be lonely places.

H/T Significant Truths

Tracking God's mood - now available online

Many thanks to eChurch Christian Blog for spotting one of the funniest Christian(ish) websites Mouse has seen for quite some time.

almightytweets.com is a facility to allow anyone to track God's mood according to the actions that his followers believe they are telling them to do.  The website tracks tweets which include 'God told me/us', then uses the data gathered from site users views on these tweets to plot God's mood on a simple scale from Bad God - Smiteful - Benevolent - Good God.  I think we can all agree on the scientific accuracy of this methodology.

The website is there to promote a book which is a collection of the absurd and disturbing things that people have done then used the excuse that 'God told me to'.

Friday round up

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

1. Urban Pastor on getting blokes into church

2. Dave Bish asks, 'Jesus would follow me on Twitter, right?'

3. Church Times blog picks up John Sentamu's comments on Wal-Mart low prices (Mouse pointed out that the CofE has £14m invested in Wal-Mart)

4. Cranmer reckons N.T. Wright doesn't like the CRB regime

5. Faith Central on TV ads for abortion

6. Bishop Nick Baines on the Sandford St. Martin Awards (which he presented) and Roger Bolton's rather controversial comments on the BBC's approach to religion

7. Damian Thompson is picking up some anxieties over the Papal visit to the UK - 'Some' Mr Thompson!?

8. David Keen wants Britain to believe in something

9. Kouya wants friends, not partners

10. The Jubilee Centre blog on synthetic life

BREAKING: Rowan Williams' Pentecost letter - TEC told to stand down

This one may take some picking apart, and Mouse doesn't have time to do that right now, but according to the Anglican Communion News Service, it seems that Rowan Williams' Pentecost Letter to the Anglican Communion has delivered the news that,

members of provinces that are in breach of the three moratoria requested by the Instruments of the Communion should no longer participate in the formal ecumenical dialogues in which the Anglican Communion is engaged. Secondly, that members of these provinces currently serving on the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (a body that examines issues of doctrine and authority) should, for the time being, no longer have full membership, but retain the status of consultants.

It looks like this is the formal reprimand to the The Episcopal Church in the US that traditionalists have been asking for, in response to what they see as broken commitments to stop appointing partnered gay Bishops.  Mouse suspects that it won't go far enough for those who are screaming out that the TEC are heretics, and that this move will make virtually no difference to the Church 'on the ground'.

The full letter and commentary are on the ACNS website.

Mouse will update later in the day.

'There definitely is a God' - most complained about slogan

"There's probably no God" = 392 complaints

"There definitely is a God" = 1,204 complaints

Does this prove that Christians are three times more tolerant than atheists?

The Advertising Standards Agency reveal in their annual report that they decided not to investigate any of the 1,596 complaints related to either advert.  Interestingly the reason for not investigating the complaints about the Christian Party's 'There definitely is a God' adverts was on the basis that it is an advert for a political party, which is exempt from the ASA, as Mouse commented earlier.  It would be deemed political interference for an independent body to point out that politicians have lied in their advertising.  This advert received more complaints than any other.

The 'There's probably no God' slogan was looked at and the ASA agreed with complaints that said that their claim could not be proven, but did not investigate further after the Council decided that it was 'upbeat rather than hostile or offensive in tone'.

So all this goes to prove that 1,596 people had rather too much time on their hands, and caused some expense that they really shouldn't have.

The Church Mouse reader survey

Mouse would like to know a little more about his readers, to find out more about who is reading this blog and to see what you like and dislike about it.  He has been inspired by Iain Dale's annual effort to see how he can improve his blog, and Mouse would like to do the same.  The survey will remain open until enough people have completed it, and Mouse will publish the results.

There are only ten questions, and it will take just a few seconds to complete, and bless you for taking the time to do so.

Click HERE to complete the survey

Vatican to open archives on Pius XII - did they listen to the Mouse?

Well, its not very likely it is, but still Mouse did suggest that it would be helpful for them to open up their archives to historians, and it seems that this will come to pass.

Ruth Gledhill reports on a speach by Cardinal Walter Kasper at Liverpool Hope University in which he promised that the Vatican archives on the wartime record of Pope Pius XII would be opened up to historians within six years.  Pope Pius XII has been controversial, with some arguing that he did little to stand up to Nazi anti-sematism, and Pope Benedict's attempts to speed up the process of the beatification of Pope Pius XII has brought the issue to the fore.

Perhaps the Vatican is becoming a little more PR conscious in these difficult times for the Catholic Church, but Mouse's reaction is to ask why on earth are they going to wait six years for this move?  Surely it would be the easiest thing in the world to simply do tomorrow?  And why announce it in an obscure lecture by a Cardinal, rather than through more official channels?  All very odd.

Tom Butler on Thought For The Day - outrage at the idea of changing your mind

Mouse did not hear former Bishop of Southwark, Tom Butler's, Thought For The Day slot yesterday morning on Radio 4 (available here for the next week).  His piece was centred around new Equalities Secretary Theresa May who argued that she had 'changed her mind' on homosexuality when challenged on her voting record on gay equality.

However, Mouse did not miss the reaction.  Naturally Anglican Mainstream (your source for Gay interest news) published a couple of articles on the subject.

David Phillips of the Church Society and Mary Brown from the Third Province Movement were quick off the blocks to condemn Bishop Tom for saying that he, like Theresa May, had changed his mind.  Vic the Vicar is not impressed either, but Mouse is.  It takes a big man to say he has changed his mind, without the pressure of an embarrassing record to defend.  The timing is interesting, however, as Bishop Tom retired from Southwark just over a month ago.

You can argue over the validity of the analogies that Bishop Tom uses to explain his point, but that is not particularly helpful at this point in time.  He was not submitting a theological thesis for peer review with this slot, simply giving a three minute snippet designed to challenge and provoke thought.  That is has done.

Yet Mouse is surprised that this contribution has drawn such a hostile response.  The reaction has been so negative from some quarters, even though Bishop Tom's comments beg more questions than they answer.  Can the Third Province Movement really be 'appalled' by someone saying they had changed their mind, even though he didn't have time to explain what his views have changed from or to?

Mouse hopes that Bishop Tom will outline his views further soon, and that a more measured debate can follow.

Bleak prediction of church membership from leading church statistitian

Christian Today report on the trends in church attendance highlighted by top church statistician Peter Brierley.  Peter is the former head of Christian Research, and apparently spoke at the Pentecost Festival telling those present that all main denominations, except Pentecostals, would decline in the next decade, with the good old CofE leading the plunge.

Some of the startling nuggets in there are:

- in 2000 there were 3.5m churchgoers, there are 2.9m today
- current trends will put this number at 2.6m by 2015 and 2.3m by 2020
- 60% of Britons are not church members, but this rises to 80% for under 15s and 75% for 15-29 year-olds
- 59% of all churches in England have no members between the ages of 15 and 19

All very worrying.

Peter also points to one of the causes of decline.  In 1990 there were 120,000 conversions and 60,000 deaths, however in 2009 there were only 80,000 conversions and 120,000 deaths.

So is the answer as simple as 'evangelism'.  Well, yes.

One final fascinating nugget for those clergy amongst Mouse's readers, is that Brierley claims research has shown that clergy tend to attract congregations of roughly the same age as themselves.  Quite how cause and effect are separated here, Mouse does not know, but that does raise an interesting question of how more young clergy could be encouraged.  In Mouse's view this is essential.

World cup prayers from the good old CofE

In what is sure to be seen as a pretty desperate attempt to appear relevant, the good old CofE has published prayers for the World Cup.  To their credit, they have included a prayer for people not interested in football.  The prayers were written by top blogging bishop Nick Baines.  Like most folk from Liverpool Bishop Nick knows a thing or two about the beautiful game, but Mouse doesn't quite understand why the prayers don't simply ask the Lord to help England win.


Prayers for all those involved in the World Cup
Lord of all the nations, who played the cosmos into being,
guide, guard and protect all who work or play in the World Cup.
May all find in this competition a source of celebration,
an experience of common humanity and
a growing attitude of generous sportsmanship to others.
Amen.


God of the nations, who has always called his people to be a blessing for the world, bless all who take part in the World Cup.
Smile on South Africa in her hosting,
on the nations represented in competition and
on those who travel to join in the party.
Amen.

A prayer for those simply not interested

Lord, as all around are gripped with World Cup fever,
bless us with understanding,
strengthen us with patience and
grant us the gift of sympathy if needed.
Amen.

Synthetic life

News that scientists have created 'synthetic life' from a few bottles of chemicals has generated some interesting comment from religious perspectives.  On the face of it, the advance in human achievement seems to touch on the creative order in a way which was previously only the domain of God.

So lets have a little look and see what we think.

First of all, the claim that this new life was created from nothing is not quite how it was.  From what Mouse can gather, Dr Venter and his team actually used a yeast cell and re-programmed it using synthetic DNA.  Perhaps it is splitting hairs, so to speak, to point out that yeast is already a living micro-organism.  Clayboy also points to the fact that this 'synthetic' life is only possible through the use of the equipment produced out of nature.  Still, Mouse would not want to take away from this dramatic scientific advance.  It is remarkable.

Andrew Brown argues that the scientists were driven not just by the corporation which paid for the research, but also by an atheism which sought to demonstrate that life is merely a mechanical response to a set of instructions which are contained within our DNA like computer code.

If this really is what 20 scientists have dedicated 10 years to (and spent $40m on), they really shouldn't have bothered.  Understanding more about life doesn't make it any less remarkable.  Explaining how colour is perceived by the eye and the brain does not make Van Gough's paintings less stunning or a summer sun-set less magnificent.

Of course, there are many obvious ethical questions and some which are not so obvious.  For an excellent commentary on the ethics of the development, Matt James from BioCentre has blogged at the Jubilee Centre blog.  However, ethical issues are not the same as theological issues.

The atheist call that this development has finally done away with God is another re-hash of the argument that has been used a thousand times before for every major medical and scientific advance. Everything from big-bang theory, to space travel, to IVF treatment and at each point in between has been used as evidence that man has finally advanced far enough to not need God any more.  Yet all of this simply proves that 'your wisdom is not my wisdom'.

New government's policies on faith schools

This new government is causing some trouble for those who were hoping to stick it in a box with a pre-written label.  Before the election is was very easy when it came to faith schools.  Conservatives like them and want more, Liberal Democrats don't and don't.  So the coalition has forced a compromise on this which has caused some confusion amongst those who comment on these matters.

The policy announced is rather vague which probably accounts for the divergence of views.  Here is the entirety of the Coalition Agreement's commentary on faith schools:

We will ensure that all new Academies follow an inclusive admissions policy. We will work with faith groups to enable more faith schools and facilitate inclusive admissions policies in as many of these schools as possible.

Mouse reads this as containing three specific policies, which mustn't be confused.  The first is that all new Academies must have an inclusive admission policy.  The second is a commitment to enable more faith schools, and the third is a much weaker commitment to inclusive admission policies in these new faith schools.

The wording is subtle.

Ekklesia, who are co-founders of the Accord Coalition which campaigns for inclusive admissions and employment policies in faith schools, have called the policy a 'breath of fresh air'.  The British Humanist Association have expressed 'surprise and disappointment', however, as the policy of new faith schools is too much for them, although they give a 'cautious welcome' to plans for inclusive admissions in new academies.

From Mouse's perspective the policy looks like a fudge.  If inclusive admissions is what the coalition wants, why will it only apply to new academies.  Most faith schools are actually primary schools, which are left out of this.  The commitment for them is only that the government will 'facilitate inclusive admissions policies in as many of these schools as possible'.  In other words, it won't be mandatory.

Mouse suspects that this policy will result in very little change for faith schools.  Certainly those already in existence won't be required to change, and only new academies will have any new mandatory requirements.

The MPs oath - who decided not to swear their oaths 'by Almighty God'

Cranmer has an interesting little piece on the oaths MPs swear when they take their seats.  Part of the oath includes the option to either swear 'by Almighty God' or simply to 'affirm'.  Cranmer lists the front-benchers who opted to remove God from their oath and simply 'affirm' it.

On the Government side, only Nick Clegg and Oliver Letwin opted for the God-free oath.  However, on the opposition side, David Miliband, Alistair Darling, Harriett Harman, Alan Johnson, Hilary Benn, Yvette Cooper, Bob Ainsworth and John Denham all 'affirmed' their oaths without reference to a deity.

Of course, this doesn't really mean anything in particular, but it is interesting.

Friday round up

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

1. Jubilee Centre blog on the new government's policies on faith schools

2. Cranmer on which cabinet and shadow cabinet ministers took their oaths 'by Almighty God' and which merely 'affirmed' their oath

3. Ruth Gledhill on the impending paywall which will cut her wisdom off from those unwilling to pay

4. FaithCentral on Europe Vs the Burqa

5. The Ugley Vicar launches a 'Fans of the 39 Articles' Facebook group

6. Bishop Alan Wilson wonders why our Christianity is so immature

7. Bishop David Thomson on the Trumpington Bible

8. Tall Skinny Kiwi makes sure we know our history of Fresh Expressions

9. Clayboy thinks Liberty has lost the plot

10. The Benedictine Nuns of East Hendred on Bankok

Top 20 twittering bishops and clergy in the CofE

Mouse has compiled this month's list of the top 20 twittering bishops and clergy in the good old CofE, or what we call the Twurch of England.  There are now over 100 members of the Twurch including one Archbishop and 10 bishops.

This month there were a huge number of Twurch members ranking in the high 80s, just off the top 20, so Mouse expects the top 20 to become more volatile in the coming months.  Congratulations to Simon Rundell and Jeremy Parsons for making their debuts in the top 20.

As always, if you know anyone who is not listed over at the Twurch of England, then do let Mouse know.

Name	Twitter name	Grade
1. Mst Rev John Sentamu	johnsentamu	99.4
2. Rt Rev Alan Wilson	alantlwilson	97.8
3. Rev Maggi Dawn	maggidawn	97.2
4. Rev Alastair McCollum	revdal	96.2
5. Rt Rev Pete Broadbent	pete173	96.2
6. Rt Rev Nick Baines	nickbaines	95.7
7. Rev Paul Walker	paulwalker71	95.2
8. Rev Peter Ould	pould	95.2
9. Rev David Alexander	stopsleyvicar	95
10. Rev Frances Wookey	countryvicar	95
11. Rev David Keen	davidmkeen	94
12. Rev James Ogley	riggwelter	94
13. Rev David Meldrum	vicardave	94
14. Rev Evan Cockshaw	pastorev	93
15. Rev Arun Arora	revarun	93
16. Rev Kathryn Fleming	goodinparts	93
17. Rev Simon Rundell	frsimon	93
18. Rev Phillip Ritchie	philritchie	93
19. Rev Robb Sutherland	changingworship	93
20. Rev Jeremy Parsons	jdap	92

Update: Mouse should have mentioned that, as always, the ratings were driven by Twitter Grader.

London Central - a £40m investment in the future, or disgraceful vanity project?

Mouse was delighted to read about the Diocese of London's plans for London Central in the Church Times this week.  It is something that Mouse has heard about for a while, but hasn't been able to garner enough information.

The report in the Church Ties mset out how London diocese is reviewing proposals for a new mission centre in the middle of the regeneration project at King's Cross called London Central.  According to the Church Times, London Deaneries have been told that £200,000 is needed to fund the initial exploratory stage of the development for a five storey 48,000 sq ft building.

The proposal is essentially to put a new mission centre in a prime location.  The initial talks were announced in November 2009, when the Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres, said, “London Central represents a unique opportunity for the Church to invest in this great world city’s future. King’s Cross is witnessing one of the most ambitious regeneration projects ever seen. Here we have the chance to be at the heart of London’s evolution, ensuring that the Church continues to adapt and advance to meet Londoners’ changing and growing needs.”

The press release in November set out the vision at the time:

The ground floor would be the main platform for mission. Key contributors to the new mission opportunities are being drawn into the design stage. The intention is to provide space both for a significant place of Christian worship – “open all hours” and assembly facilities which will permit more informal styles of missionary outreach, evangelism and hospitality.

Floors one and two would provide an opportunity for relocating the Diocesan Offices in a way that would aim at being cost neutral but would increase the visibility and the efficiency of our campaign team.

Floors three and four would form a valuable part of our income generating property portfolio. Commercial investments have played a key role in financing the mission of the Diocese. We believe that the King’s Cross site would in any case offer a good investment opportunity and one which would justify adjustments to our portfolio in order to take advantage of such a high quality development.

After an open and competitive process the Church Commissioners have allocated to the Diocese £500,000 from a fund designed to support missionary outreach in new communities. This will provide some start up capital for the mission and ministry aspect of the scheme.

This scheme appears to be highly controversial amongst London clergy, however.  Mouse first heard about it from a vicar within the diocese who considered it a vanity project with very little going for it.  Further, there is grave concern about how the funds will be raised for this, with the fear that other properties will be sold off to fund it, which could have major implications for parishes.

Whilst the opportunity for a major 'mission centre' sounds exciting, this is only the first floor of the building.  Two other floors will become new diocesan offices, and two others simply an investment.

Mouse is rather dismayed, however, that there is not more information publicly available on this.  Mouse has asked the Diocese for an update following the Church Times article which stated that major decision were in the process of being made, yet has heard nothing.  There is nothing available on the diocesan website, and information is very hard to come by.

Mouse spotted this extremely potted summary in a report on the Bishops Council on the London Diocese website:

We also had a very exciting presentation from Philip North and Joanna Jepson on the missionary possibilities opened up by the new development at King’s Cross. There will be: 2000 new dwellings; 6500 students and university staff; 4.9 million sq ft of office space; and tens of millions of journeys passing through what will become one of Europe’s premier transport and communications hubs.

The presentation was part of our proactive intention under the London Challenge to engage as a Diocese with the developments and the new populations within our borders. It was followed by a discussion which looked at the proposals for a mission base at the heart of the new King’s Cross.

The Council decided that, although the development and ownership of a whole office block is not feasible in light of present financial circumstances, it is still necessary to undertake further work on how we might road-test some of the mission ideas in the vision laid out by Philip and Joanna.

The discussion was informed by the Diocesan Strategy Policy, which aims at supporting Christian ministry in areas of high deprivation, whilst also focussing our attention on opportunities in areas of significant development.

This seems to imply that the original plan has been scaled down, but further work will continue.

Top 10 lies

Mouse has heard a number of preachers claim that the most common lie to be told in Church is 'I'm fine'.  Well new research shows the top lies told by men and women.  This is not specific to Christians, but Mouse suspects that Christians are guilty of many of these just as much as anyone else.

Another interesting point from the research is that men lie far more than women.  The survey of 3,000 people, commissioned for the Science Museum, found that men lie around three times per day, whilst women tell just two fibs per day.  Around 85% of people thought that there is such a thing as an acceptable lie.

MEN'S TOP 10 LIES
1. I didn't have that much to drink
2. Nothing's wrong, I'm fine
3. I had no signal
4. It wasn't that expensive
5. I'm on my way
6. I'm stuck in traffic
7. No, your bum doesn't look big in that
8. Sorry, I missed your call
9. You've lost weight
10. It's just what I've always wanted

WOMEN'S TOP 10 LIES
1. Nothing's wrong, I'm fine
2. I don't know where it is, I haven't touched it
3. It wasn't that expensive
4. I didn't have that much to drink
5. I've got a headache
6. It was in the sale
7. I'm on my way
8. Oh, I've had this ages
9. No, I didn't throw it away
10. It's just what I've always wanted

New Bishop for Urban Life and Faith

Mouse welcomes the appointment of Rt Rev Christopher Chessun as the new Bishop for Urban Life and Faith.  The brief is (still) to implement the Faithful Cities report from 2006, with some specifics:

Apart from his territorial duties as an Area Bishop in the Diocese of Southwark, his early responsibilities as Urban Bishop in the Diocese included chairing the Southwark Diocese’s Urban Umbrella and helping to co-ordinate the Diocesan response to the Faithful Cities Report (twenty-one years on from the watershed Faith in the City Report).

Now Mouse wouldn't want to be disparaging about this important work, but he cannot help wondering whether these initiatives are making an impact.  And if they are, shouldn't they be ratcheted up a gear and much more invested in them?

This is exactly the kind of work that gets young Christians excited, and pushes on so many hot buttons for key issues in our country today.  Southwark Diocese covers the whole of South London, which includes areas with huge social problems, some of the most deprived areas in Europe and major crime issues with drugs, guns and knives.  Its great that the church is there, but lets be honest, we don't read about the Bishop for Urban Life and Faith when we read about the latest teenage gun murder in our papers.

This work is not glamorous and need not be high profile per se, but there is no reason why the voice of the church is not much louder in this situation.  After all, the Church reaches into Southwark communities in a way that the state does not and cannot.

If we compare the good old CofE's work with that of, say Street Pastors, who are operating high profile and well received services in the very same communities, we see not only a different approach, but also a difference in the way the ministry is perceived.

So there you go Bishop Christopher.  You have a challenge on your hands.  All the best.

Mary Glasspool, lesbian bishop, and more interesting developments

Mouse did not really want to define Mary Glasspool as the lesbian bishop, but that is how she will now forever be known.  Mouse did not really want to comment on it further, as nothing new has happened.  The Episcopal Church in America consecrated partnered homosexual Gene Robinson as bishop seven years ago.  Since then, their position has not changed.  Last year the told everyone that their position had not changed, and put the rest of the Anglican Communion on notice that they would have no qualms in consecrating further partnered homosexuals as bishops.  Mary Glasspool was elected Bishop of Los Angeles last year, and last week was finally consecrated as bishop.  So what's changed with this latest consecration?  Nevertheless, there has been quite a bit of interest.

What is more interesting is the comments by Michael Perham, Bishop of Gloucester, who has come out in favour of Bishop James Jones's line on issues of sexuality.  Essentially they have both now argued that it is a second order issue, and should not define who we are as Christians or Anglicans.

At the same time, Ruth Gledhill from the Times has articulated pretty much the same argument.

In other words, the infighting over homosexuality means that for the 77 million Anglicans worldwide, more important than the Resurrection, the Crucifixion, the Virgin Birth and the Trinity is what one person does in bed with another.

Mouse agrees (in fact, he said this some time ago).

More on the Men & Church survey - details not in the main media coverage

A number of people commented on Mouse's take on the survey which said that men feel more comfortable in a women's underwear shop than in church, with some commenters questioning whether this was a 'propa' survey.

So Mouse got in touch with Christian Research, and they were kind enough to forward on some more information.  Mouse can let you know that it was a survey of 1003 men from a nationally representative sample, performed online.  The survey asked lots of very interesting questions, and not just the ones which were used in the media.  Whilst Mouse is no expert, it looks very much like a robust piece of research, albeit one which was primarily designed to create publicity for Sorted Magazine.

Mouse highlights a couple of other findings which were not covered in the rest of the media coverage Mouse has seen.

The first question is simply asking how comfortable the guys would feel in church.  The results show that people get more comfortable with age, reflecting no doubt both an increased maturity, but also an increased level of Christian affiliation with age.  Mouse has included the breakdown of religious affiliation at the bottom.

The really remarkable question, however, is when those who self identified as Christians were asked how comfortable they felt in Church.  The numbers barely moved.  Amongst those under the age of 35, only 15% would feel 'very comfortable' in church.

Now if we can't create a church in which Christians feel comfortable, we really do have some serious questions to ask about how we expect anyone else to feel comfortable there.

Many thanks to Christian Research for the extra information.

CofE Vs BBC (yet again)

If the media are to be believed, there is a fight on between the BBC and the good old CofE.  The CofE believes that the BBC doesn't 'get' religion in general or Christianity in particular, and is out to cut religion out of its output.

This story is being recycled yet again by the latest intervention from the good old CofE in response to the BBC Trust consultation.  The response is a long one, and is actually very wide-ranging, but the news stories have picked up on the piece where the Church's submission focused on the need to avoid any cuts to religious broadcasting.

What is remarkable from this is how at odds the news coverage is from the actual submission.  The good old CofE appear to be making the reasonable argument that balanced religious broadcasting plays an important role in fulfilling the BBC's charter obligations around citizenship and civil society, so should not be cut.  There is no accusation that this has happened, and the submission actually acknowledges that there has been an increase in religious output from the BBC in recent years.

Yet we get the headline "Church of England is losing faith in the BBC, says bishop" from the Guardian. Mouse cannot find anything to back this up.  Oh well, its a good headline.

Here is the relevant section from the CofE submission so you can form your own view.

1.5 ‘Getting religion’
Unsurprisingly, the Church of England is particularly concerned with ensuring that appropriate resources are allocated towards ensuring high-quality provision of content that reflects and explores religion. At its recent meeting, the General Synod passed a motion to: “Express its deep concern about the overall reduction in religious broadcasting across British television in recent years, and call upon mainstream broadcasters to nurture and develop the expertise to create and commission high quality religious content across the full range of their output, particularly material that imaginatively marks major festivals and portrays acts of worship”.


1.6 The Synod’s debate included acknowledgement that BBC TV’s religious output has risen in recent years (especially on BBC Four). Given the caveat in the review that “some programme budgets cannot be reduced much further (if at all) without damaging quality” (p.14), we are concerned that religious broadcasting is one such area where output could not sustain further cuts without serious deterioration of the BBC’s proud record of providing engaging content. Our concern about the quality and quantity of religious content provided by the BBC is not just about self-interest for the Churches, but about holding the BBC to account for one aspect of its public purposes: the requirement to “sustain citizenship and civil society”, which requires a properly informed society, aware of the factors motivating people and giving their lives purpose.


1.7 As we stated in our submission to the BBC Trust in December 2009 on your service review of BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four: “The importance of religion in the public sphere, and its particular importance on the lives of many under-reported and under-represented groups in the UK, demands the highest quality of programming that in turn requires the availability of high-level expertise and understanding, both for the production of specific ‘Religion and Ethics’ output but also as an in-house resource for other departments.


“In relation to religious programmes, concerns exist about the extent to which the BBC is committed to ensuring that it has a sufficient amount of in-house expertise and the resources to guarantee the long term quality of its religious output. Retaining and nurturing a core team of specialists is absolutely crucial to maintaining the current stable of regular programmes and developing innovative new formats.”


1.8 We reiterate that the implied benefits of having a more mobile and flexible workforce outlined in the Director-General’s proposals (p51) need to be balanced not only against the human and social costs of operating in such a work environment, but also the importance of retaining sufficient in-house knowledge and skills in a range of specific ‘knowledge’ areas.

CofE look for Media Vicar for new BBC site

A couple of the newspapers are carrying the news that the CofE is looking for a vicar for the BBC.  The reports all seem a little wide of the mark, as the actual job on offer is Chaplain to Media City, which is rather broader than the proposed BBC site, but certainly does include it.

The angle the newspapers are carrying is that the BBC is looking for a vicar to help with the trauma of relocation to Manchester for 1,500 of its London staff.  Mouse can understand that newspapers need an angle, but the Mail article in particular looks rather scant of fact.  It looks like the BBC are hiring a vicar, which they are not, and it looks like it is just for the BBC, which is it not.  

Here's what the job is actually about:

MediaCityUK is a new media hub for the UK that will operate on the national and international stage. The site currently houses the UK’s biggest HD film stage and is home to the North West Film Office. In 2011 the University of Salford will open a building in the development and by 2012 the BBC will have five buildings and key departments based there, including Children’s Television, Religion and Ethics, Five Live, Panorama, BBC Sport, File on 4
and BBC Learning,

The Anchor project is the umbrella name for the Media City chaplaincy and will be based initially in an office at Media City HQ. During the three-year life of the appointment, the Chaplain/Anchor Coordinator will have to:
- Establish The Anchor as a space where volunteers, staff and residents can shape community, spirituality and mission.
- Position the Anchor as the place where the mainstream churches are seen to provide needs of media professionals.
- Establish The Anchor as the place where the business community can find support, make connections, new partnerships, and consider the needs of the wider community.
- Build meaningful relationships with schools, academies and especially the Chaplaincy team from the University of Salford.

Sound like a really interesting challenge, if you're that way inclined, but doesn't sound an awful lot like counseling traumatised BBC workers.

How many Reform churches withhold their parish share?

The threat from Reform over women bishops was pretty stark.  It said in plain terms that women should not be bishops, and if the proposals for women bishops are accepted, Reform churches would withhold funds from diocese and advise their congregations to train for ministry outside the formal structures of the CofE.

In order to back this up, some numbers were thrown around.  The 100 clergy who signed the letter claimed to have contributed £38m to their diocese over the past 10 years, giving an indication of the amount of money which could be at stake.

However, the letter does not mention whether all of these churches currently pay their parish shares in full or not.  One signatory on the letter is Rev Dobbie of Holy Trinity Lyonsdown.  Rev Dobbie was very vocal in unilaterally withholding the parish share from Holy Trinity Lyonsdown after Jeffrey John was appointed as Dean of St Albans in 2004.

Another signatory is Rev Vaughan Roberts of St Ebbe's, Oxford.  The Churchwarden from that church wrote to the Church Times to explain that they only contribute to the diocese to a level they consider to be covering their costs, as they didn't want to "subsidise ministry that has departed from the teaching of scripture".

Have these parishes resumed paying their quotas in full?  Mouse wonders how many other signatories withhold part or all of their parish share.  It just seems a bit off to threaten to withhold funds from the diocese when you don't actually contribute to the diocese at the moment.

Friday round up

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

1. Gary's rather sad blog on Fresh Expressions of Labour

2. Phil Ritchie has a recently found Jeremy Paxman interview with Jesus

3. Faith Central with 10 ways a pagan PC might spend their holidays

4. George Pitcher on Cameron's Christianity and Clegg's Atheism

5. Heresy Corner has a guest post in defence (sort of) of Evan Harris, in response to George Pitcher's celebrations of Harris's demise

6. Clayboy on the strange decline and fall of the English God

7. Maggi Dawn on Greenbelt and Peter Tatchell

8. eChurch Christian Blog on the new war between science and religion

9. Kouya Chronicle on the dangers of short term mission trips

10. The Church Times blog on the accident involving a lorry load of 'Holy Socks' (to declare an interest, Mouse was given a pair of Holy Socks for his birthday this year, and highly commends them)

Talks between Church of Scotland, Scottish Episcopal Church and the good old CofE

Earlier in the week Ekklesia report on moves between the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church of Scotland forging closer ties with the Church of England.  Mouse knows pretty much nothing about these churches, but it sounds like encouraging news, albeit not earth shattering.

It may sound paradoxical in a time when there are grave fears for the unity of the Anglican Communion, but Mouse hopes that greater unity can be found.  Mouse has commented previously that he would like to have seen far more on the potential to bring the Church of England and the Methodist Church together, but the hope is still there.

DIocesan finance report published (two years late)

Ruth Gledhill at the Times (soon to be behind a paywall) highlights the report by accountants Mazars on the financial situations of 42 diocese in the good old CofE.  The report is largely a benchmarking report, intended to give diocese information about where they sit compared with others on various measures so they have some ideas about how to improve.

For financial geeks, its a fascinating read.

The conclusion is that overall, the church just about covers its costs by the skin of its teeth.  In many respects this is a healthy condition to be in, but this masks the fact that around a quarter of dioceses were running deficits, which is less healthy.

Mouse cannot help wondering, however, why we are reading a report based on the 2008 accounts of each diocese.  Whilst it is fascinating, it would be an awful lot more fascinating if we were reading about 2009 numbers.  The report states that it will be updated when 2009 numbers are available, but Mouse is pretty fed up with only having information which is two years old to study from the good old CofE.  Its membership statistics usually take over a year to compile, for example.

Reform on Women Bishops proposals - more threats

If you haven't already seen it, here is Reform's initial response.  Just as Bishop Pete Broadbent predicted,  the proposals don't do the job for them.  They've gone for the increasingly popular campaign tactic of a round robin letter, this one has been signed by 100 incumbents, calling for amendments to the legislation.

Mouse is not impressed that once again Reform is attempting to hold a gun to the Church of England's head.  Just as they have done in the past, this letter threatens to push people for ministry training 'outside the formal structures of the Church of England' and to stop paying parish shares.  The letter states:

Many of our congregation will inevitably start asking questions about their own place within the Church of England if they see us encouraging people into training for alternative ministries. This will come into sharp focus when the issue of succession to an incumbency arises. Since we cannot take an oath of canonical obedience to a female bishop, we are unlikely to be appointed to future incumbencies. We see nothing but difficulty facing us. In these circumstances we will have to discuss with our congregations how to foster and protect the ministry they wish to receive. This may well generate a need for the creation of new independent charitable trusts whose purpose will be to finance our future ministries, when the need arises.

These twin developments will need to be financed from current congregational giving. This will inevitably put a severe strain on our ability to continue to contribute financially to Diocesan funds. Where we are unable to contribute as before some will see this as a form of retaliation. However, that could not be further from the truth. We long to contribute to the well being of the Church of England. Over the last ten years we have encouraged 286 people into the ordained ministry, 120 of whom were under the age of 30. We have together contributed a gross figure of over £38 million to Diocesan funds.

This is a pretty nasty tactic as far as Mouse is concerned - if you don't do what we say, we'll stop sending people for ordination and stop giving you money.  The last Reform threat on this subject was made by 50 incumbents who claimed to have encouraged 180 ordinands and paid £22m to diocesan funds.  It would be rather cheeky to point out that this means the remaining 50 parishes appear to only be contributing half as much as the first 50.

So lets just look at this new threat.  100 parishes giving £38m over 10 years - that is just £38,000 per parish per year.  At that rate they are hardly covering the costs of a stipend and accomodation (unfortunately Mouse is not clever enough to take account of inflation, and doesn't know the basis of Reform's £38m, so this is a pretty rough figure).  286 ordinands is a lot, but that is just 28 or 29 per year.  In the context that between around 550 clergy were ordained last year alone, and with over 20,000 current clergy in the CofE, it is not an earth shattering number, even if every one of those who were 'encouraged' by Reform parishes decided to leave the CofE which is a pretty dubious assumption.

But this is not the point.  If the aim is to call for a loving response to those who have a genuinely held theological objection to the proposals, making this type of threat is hardly the way to win friends and influence people.  Gone are any suggestions as to how an accommodation could be made, and just the demand that woman cannot be bishops.




11th May 2010
Reform Initial Response To Revision Committee Report


The Revision Committee’s report on Women in the Episcopate published on 8th May “provides no adequate framework for recognition of our future ministry in the Church of England and so could lead to a serious squeezing of the pipeline for future ordinands” said Revd Rod Thomas, Reform chairman today.


He continued: “It is very disappointing that the Committee, despite a lengthy discussion of the implications of these decisions, has voted to give no adequate statutory provision to those who cannot accept the oversight of a female bishop on Scriptural grounds.


“We very much hope that amendments will be made at July’s General Synod so that we are able to vote on a piece of legislation that seeks to include rather than exclude our ministries now and in the future.”


As evidence of the strength of feeling concerning this innovation, 100 Reform clergy have signed a letter sent to every bishop in advance of the House of Bishops’ meeting next week. This follows a similar letter signed by 50 of the clergy sent in February, and sets out why “the consecration of women bishops would be a mistake and would raise for us great difficulties of conscience and practice, as well as being wrong for our Church as a whole.”


A major practical consequence highlighted by the letter is the pipeline of future ordinands. The 100 churches represented by the letter have sent 286 men into ministry in the Church of England over the last 10 years, of whom 120 were under the age of 30. But these numbers would be seriously squeezed in the future, with Reform clergy encouraging young men to undertake training for ministries outside the Church of England’s formal structures, although within an Anglican tradition.
-Ends-
To read the letter sent to all the bishops, link: http://www.reform.org.uk/pages/press/media/incumbentsletter5.5.10.php

Clergy meeting on the ordinariate

Intriguing.  This invitation has been sent out to those who signed up as 'Friends of the Ordinariate', set up by members of Forward in Faith.  It is interesting for many reasons, not least because the invitation has come from The Federation of Catholic Priests, a little known FiF affiliated grouping, and not FiF itself or the Catholic Church.

It is interesting that the address comes from Malcolm McMahon, a senior figure within the Catholic Church, as the Bishop of Nottingham.  It has been said often that the Catholic Bishops in England and Wales are not too keen on the Ordinariate.  Perhaps Malcolm McMahon is more keen than others.

The timing it not surprising at all - it is during the General Synod of the Church of England, during which the crucial vote on women Bishops will take place.

Mouse commented earlier that the Friends of the Ordinariate had been remarkably quiet.  Perhaps they are beginning to organise.  However, Mouse cannot help wondering why FiF is not issuing this type of invitation, or any of the 'flying bishops' who have indicated pretty clearly that they intend to join the Catholic Church themselves.  Could it be the case that there is simply not enough support?

New survey - men more comfortable in ladies underwear shop than in church

In the run up to the Christian Resources Exhibition, Sorted Magazine and Christian Vision for Men have done a survey on how men feel about being in Church.

Headlines are:

Two out of three confessed to feeling ill at ease in a pew, while only one in two said the same of a ladies underwear shop.

Hymns are the biggest headache. Some 67 per cent of men do not feel comfortable singing in church. While almost eight out of 10 are happy to croon in the shower – and 53 per cent chant cheerily at football matches – just one in three willingly opens a hymn book at a religious service.

The greatest challenge is making church accessible to young men. The survey reveals that nearly 60 per cent of 18 to 24-year-old men do not consider themselves Christians – compared with just one in four of those aged 55-64, and one in six of those 65 or older.

This is a recurring theme for Sorted Magazine who previously brought you the top 10 macho hymns for blokes.  So a few observations:

1. This is no surprise and is not new, but does bring the issue into focus.
2. We don't have comparable figures for women, so we don't know whether they feel equally uncomfortable in church or whether there is something particular here for men.
3. The Church does not seem to be doing anything about this.  Fresh expressions might be the answer for some, but surely we need to address the issue in mainstream churches as well.

Mouse remembers hearing about a group of ordinands who were given the task during their training of going into a bookmakers as a group and placing a bet.  After they had done so they were asked how they felt while in there.  Not surprisingly they all felt rather out of place, as none of them had ever been in a bookies before.  Everyone stared at them, and they felt out of place as they meekly asked for help in filling out the betting slip.  The point was rather obvious, that this is exactly how people feel coming into a church for the first time, yet there seems to be very little going on to address it.

Official Methodist Church iPhone app launched

At the risk of sounding like an advert for iPhone apps, here's another worthy of attention.  The Methodist Church of Great Britain has launched an app.

It certainly looks interesting, and a great way of connecting with people.  If you search the app store for 'church' you'll find a number of apps for large US churches, but this is the first one Mouse is aware of for an a denomination, and the first of note in the UK.  One feature that looks particularly interesting is the daily Bible studies.

The obvious question for us Anglicans is whether the good old CofE will manage to replicate it.  Surely in the spirit of ecumenism some sharing could go on here?  If either church is looking for topical religious news commentary, you know where the Mouse is ...

Here's the blurb from the Methodist Church website:


Methodist app now available on App Store


The Methodist Church today announced the launch of their first app for iPhone and iPod touch. The Methodist App enables people to view daily bible studies, prayers and news from the Church.


Toby Scott, Director of Communications and Campaigns, said: “In today’s society our lives are busier, fuller and more distracted than ever before. We hope this app will offer Christians from all backgrounds a little spiritual oasis in the midst of their busy lives. This is only the start for how we’ll use these technologies, but already this is something that people will find useful and inspiring.”


The Methodist App features include:


- Daily audio and written Bible studies, featuring a different author each week


- Prayer of the day


- The latest news stories from the Methodist Church in Britain


- Topical podcasts from Methodist Web Radio


- The latest tweets from the Church’s Twitter feeds


The Methodist App is available now for free from the App Store or at http://www.itunes.com/appstore

Peter Owen Jones's simple life

Mouse wanted to comment on Peter Owen Jones's BBC program How to Live a Simple Life before it becomes old news and we get into the second of the three part series.

The first comment Mouse would make is that those who have argued that Christianity is being marginalised on the BBC must be eating their words by now.  2010 has seen some great religious broadcasting, not least with the epic History of Christianity by Dairmaid MacCulloch.  This latest mini-series is not strictly a religious program in itself, but it features a priest emulating the life of St Francis of Assisi, so it is pretty religious.

Having said that, Mouse's first observation on the program itself is that Peter Owen Jones's commentary on his experience of living without money is centred on secular themes.  He discusses the impact it has on his relationships and his sense of self in relation to money, but he does not mention the spiritual effect it has on him or in his relationship with God.  He must have thought about this, so it has either been edited out or he has been told not to be too spiritual in his commentary.  Either way it seems a loss to Mouse.

Mouse was struck with the inherent flaws in the thesis, though.  For example, Owen Jones lives without money only on the basis that he first moves his family out, so that they can continue as before, that he has a free house which comes with his vicar's job and that he is able to have a large plot of land available to grow enough vegetables for him to be largely self-sufficient.  Nevertheless, this isn't really the point.  The purpose of the exercise is to show what effect the pursuit of material wealth had on Peter Owen Jones, even though he had already given up the 'rat race' to become a priest.

One of the more startling moments for Mouse was when Peter Owen Jones drove to the coast (about half an hours drive away) to catch some shrimp.  He casually notes that the cost of petrol in this exercise is probably more than a packet of shrimp would cost in the supermarket.  Mouse is sure he is right, but that does beg the question of how that can possibly be the case.  Mouse would have liked to see the issues of sustainable living explored more in the program.

The biggest lesson of the program was that Owen Jones's relationships changed when he became reliant on others.  He humbled himself, being willing to do whatever work they needed, so that they would give him some food in return.  Modern society would say that this would cause them to look down on him, doing menial work in exchange for scraps of food, yet this is not the case.  He has time to talk to them, and his relationships grown.  And this is a Biblical approach to community.  If only Peter Owen Jones had simply said so.  Overall, the first episode was an entertaining program, and Mouse will be tuning in this week.

Bishop Pete Broadbent on the draft measures to allow women bishops

Mouse asked Bishop Pete Broadbent, a member of the Church of England's Revision Committee which has recently published the draft legislation to pave the way for women bishops, to comment on the Committee's report.  Mouse is grateful for Bishop Pete for his response in the comments to Mouse's original post on the subject.  Mouse thought they were important, so has copied them below.

For some other reactions Thinking Anglicans has a round up from the press.  You can also read WATCH's (Women And The Church) response, which is a warm initial welcome, and Forward in Faith's response, which is wholly negative.  In addition, three FiF members of the Revision Committee have posted their criticisms.

Christian election candidates did not do very well & Christian blogs getting political

It is somewhat of an understatement to say that Christian candidates did not do very well at the election.  eChurch Christian blog has a full list of Christian candidates, or more precisely those standing under an overtly Christian banner) and their results.  Few received more than 1,000 votes, and without having checked it looks like they all lost their deposits.

Vic the Vicar posted some thoughts on this, and he is very right in saying that there is no single Christian political perspective, which means it is difficult (and from Mouse's perspective pointless) to try to campaign on this basis. Nick Spencer, of the Christian think tank Theos, has written a good explanation of the voting habits of Christians, under the title 'There is no Christian vote', which puts the whole thing in perspective.

Mouse would, however, like to return to a subject on which he posted during the election campaign.  Mouse asked why religious blogs were commenting on the election more than atheist / secularist blogs.  Since then he has read a couple of things which triggered some thoughts.  A commenter on this blog ('Senator') posted this under the last Wikio rankings that Mouse posted:

Sadly it seems that the majority of these blogs are not, in fact, religious but political. Over here in the States, the Episcopal church is floundering not because of disagreements on homosexuality but because we have left actual faith in favor of looking to politics for salvation.

Now, this commenter may not have been aware that there was an election going on in the UK, but nevertheless, he/she raises an interesting question.

Secondly, Mouse read an excellent post on the Quaerentia blog about politics becoming a false idol.  Thus Mouse has become concerned.  When Mouse started blogging, the Christian blogosphere was largely made up of either individuals posting personal theological reflections or people and groups representing particular 'wings' of the Church, such as those relating to matters of sexuality in the Church.  Whilst those are still around, there are more blogs which Mouse would describe as news and commentary.  It is mostly these which have recently been paying far more attention to political coverage, and Mouse feels that all of us in the Christian blogosphere are in danger of letting our content get dangerously out of balance.

Campaign against council prayers seeks judicial review

For quite some time the National Secular Society has been campaigning against the common practice of local councils saying prayers before council sessions begin.  Mouse always thought this was rather inconsequential in the grand scheme of things and was rather surprised that the NSS was putting so much time and effort into something that is totally invisible to all but those who actually serve as council members.  What's more, council members can end the practice themselves if they want to, simply by a vote of the council, so if they manage to convince council members to do so then good for them.  Its frankly no skin off my nose, so to speak.

However, this week the campaign was taken to a new level.  The NSS have asked for a judicial review of Bideford Council.  The Mayor has written in the Guardian that this will be a colossal waste of time for the town, and points out that the council has twice voted to retain the practice in recent times.

The argument being used by the NSS is that the practice is against the human rights legislation.  However, it seems odd that Bideford Council has been singled out, as it is common practice for almost all councils, and Bideford is a rather small one.  Perhaps that was the point - to pick on a small council which cannot fund a proper defence first, in order to establish the precedent.

Almost inevitably, Lord Carey has now entered the fray, defending the practice of saying prayers.

It strikes Mouse that this is a waste of everyone's time.  If an elected council wants to say prayers, then Mouse doesn't see why they should be stopped.  Parliament says prayers every day it sits, and the practice has continued since 1558.  Clearly it should not be compulsory, and anyone who does not want to take part should not feel that they are a second class member.  To be fair to the NSS, they have said that council members should be able to pray before sessions if they want, just that they should go to a separate room to do so.

However, this puts the whole issue in perspective.  The sum total of this campaign and judicial review is to force a few minutes of prayer to be said in a different room.  Surely no-one intended human rights legislation to be used for this.

The NSS really should find something better to do with their time, and Lord Carey shouldn't let them bother him.

Nazir-Ali's sons attacked in racist assault

Mouse missed this one yesterday, with all the fuss over Nick Clegg's political speed-dating.  The former Bishop of Rochester's two sons were chased and attacked by a gang shouting racist abuse last Saturday night.  They were chased from a kebab shop and assaulted early in the evening.

They suffered only minor injuries before the gang ran off.  No doubt they are badly shaken by the incident, however.  Mouse wishes them all the best.

+++ Revision Committee report on women bishops published +++

The 144 page report is now available on the CofE website ahead of the debate on it at the July session of General Synod.  This includes the legislation that will pave the way for women bishops.

Mouse will post more when he's read it, but in the mean time wonders whether the timing of publication is coincidental or not.  Today is a pretty good day to keep things out of the papers.

Ruth Gledhill posted on it yesterday and provided these key points, and tells us that the proposed legislation would allow for the admission of women to the episcopate in four years time:

- Authority will remain with the diocesan bishop.

- Any request by a traditionalist parish for oversight from a male bishop will have to come from the parish itself, not an individual priest. To enable such a request to go forward, a parish will have to vote with more than two-thirds of the parochial church council present and in favour.

- The care that will be delegated to the male bishop by a female bishop will be sacramental provision and pastoral care.

- Any other arrangements will be included in a code of practice that has yet to be drafted. This will be drawn up by the house of bishops. But it will be a statutory code, as it is referred to in the measure itself, although the body of the code is not in the measure.

The big question in the media will be whether this is satisfactory for those who oppose women bishops or whether they will decide the time is right to take up the Pope's offer of a new home in the Catholic Church.

May (=April) Wikio religious blog rankings

The latest  Wikio blog rankings are up, and Mouse is delighted to offer up those religious blogs (wholly or in part) who feature in the top 250 or so.  This month religious blogs faced a squeeze from the political blogs who have largely had an election bounce, and the craft blogs who have continued their seemingly unstoppable rise.

 The only significant riser is John Smeaton's blog.  Bishop Alan's blog rose enough to feature in this list for the first time, although Mouse is not sure where he was last month.  Mouse was up a couple of spots, but almost everyone else was down.  I expect that will continue next month with the election really taking over.


30. Archbishop Cranmer
85. Heresy Corner
149. St. Aidan to Abbey Manor
154. The Church Mouse blog
169. What Does The Prayer Really Say
175. The Hermeneutic of Continuity
176. John Smeaton, SPUC Director
179. Islam in Europe
182. Clayboy
190. Thinking Anglicans
199. Bartholomew's Notes on Religion
206. Of course, I could be wrong...
225. The Ugley Vicar
237. New Humanist
239. Bishop Alan's Blog
266. An Exercise in the Fundamentals of Orthodoxy

Greenbelt boycott bid over Peter Tatchell invitation

Well Mouse did predict this one.  He expected the reaction to Peter Tatchell's attendance at Greenbelt to be more sever than last year's reaction to Gene Robinson's attendance.  So he was not remotely surprised to hear that the call had gone out to boycott Greenbelt.

Once again Anglican Mainstream (your source of gay interest news) are at the centre of the fuss, ignoring Mouse's advice not to make a fuss about Tatchell's presence at Greenbelt.  Mouse can't help thinking that their campaign will ultimately be self-defeating, as Greenbelt's attendance is sure to be unaffected by this call, making it look all the more irrelevant.

Nevertheless, Mouse remains puzzled as to why Tatchell would be remotely interested in attending a Christian arts festival, particularly when he has spoken so clearly about his own atheism and dislike for religion.  Still, if he wants to go and people want to hear him - let him go.

Friday round up

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

1. Quaerentia on politics as a false idol

2. Bartholomew keeps digging on Philippa Stroud (and seems to be the only one interested in the facts)

3. The Ugley Vicar has a very Anglican election prayer

4. The Jubilee Centre on the Stoxx Christian Share Index

5. FaithWorld on Belgium's Burqa ban

6. Church Times blog on women bishops - the news seems to be that there is no news

7. David Keen has lots of opinion polls, which may or may not have been made up

8. Ruth Gledhill on Florence Nightingale

9. Faith Central on the latest Templeton Prize winner

10. Bishop Nick Baines on Catholics becoming Anglicans

General Election news - amusing typo information

Since today is election day, Mouse thought he couldn't entirely let the day go by without mentioning it at all, so here's a crucial story for Christians in this election from yesterday's Evening Standard:

The devil is in the spelling
Bless. The Christian Party has erected a massive billboard at the end of my road advertising one William Thompson's credentials as a potential Mayor of Hackney.

I would imagine the billboard has taken a pretty hefty chunk out of their marketing budget — which must make it particularly galling that they have spelt Mr Thompson's name wrongly. Poor Willaim is learning that proof-readers work in mysterious ways.

Mouse does have sympathy.  One of the first election leaflets he received in his highly marginal seat was from the incumbent Labour MP, who mis-spelt the name of Mouse's Borough on the first page.  Oops.  A few days later said MP came knocking on doors down the road, and despite us opening the door and chatting to one of his minions was given a 'sorry we missed you' leaflet.  Presumably they had just pulped a few thousand of the typo-flyers and that was all they had.

Baptist Assembly news

Last year, Mouse had a mole at the Baptist Assembly reporting on news from the annual gathering of Baptist people.  This year, he was without an ear on the ground, so will simply point to another blog where you can pick up the news.  The best coverage that Mouse has seen is over at the Nah Then blog and the Sideway Glance blog.

If you were there and have something to report, please do get in touch.

The Church and Social Media on the web

Mouse has posted before on the Church and social media, and in the midst of all sorts of distractions in Britain he has been brought back to the subject byThe Tall Skinny Kiwi.  TSK has posted a fantastic video from Darren Rowse, who is well known in the blogging world from his ProBlogger blog.  Darren is also a Christian who's early days in blogging were in the Christian blogosphere.

Darren talks intelligently about the Church and social media.  He talks about how people do genuinely find community online, and how huge numbers of people go online for social interaction.  His theory is that the Church can use the internet and social media to both build up the body of Christ itself, and for mission.  To many this is self evident, however, sometimes it really helps when someone else can articulate a point with clarity and passion.

So Mouse commends it to you.


Surprise Guest Message for TransFORM from TransFORM on Vimeo.

Nifty free Bible iPhone app

If you are not an iPhone or iPod Touch user, you can click away now.  Otherwise, you may be interested in a new Bible application.

Mouse gets sent quite a lot of stuff with the request to mention it on his blog, and it mostly gets filed in the trash can.  However, this one was more interesting.  The Wave Study Bible is a Bible application, but with a couple of very nifty features.  Mostly notably, it provides you with multiple simultaneous versions of the Bible, so you can compare translations at the swipe of a finger.  You get four versions out of the can with the option to buy more.

Mouse also found the search function very handy, as it does full word / phrase lookup as well as traditional book / chapter / verse lookup, so you can see where any word appears in any version of the Bible you have on your iPhone.  Neat eh.

Mouse will declare now that he is not being paid to promote this product (as he was accused last time he mentioned an interesting iPhone app on this blog), although the vendors of this product did offer Mouse a free eBook which he doesn't really want.