PETA - make the Bible more inclusive for animals

Somewhat unbelievably, PETA in the US have said that the Bible should be re-worded to make it more inclusive for animals.  They have called on Bible translators to describe animals as 'him' or 'her' rather than 'it'.  Bruce Friedrich, PETA's vice president for policy, told CNN:

Language matters. Calling an animal 'it' denies them something. They are beloved by God. They glorify God. God’s covenant is with humans and animals. God cares about animals. I would think that’s a rather unanimous opinion among biblical scholars today, where that might not have been the case 200 years ago.

The call has come in response to the development of 'gender inclusive' language in latest version of the NIV Bible translation, released last month.  The Committee on Bible Translation have explained that the change in the latest version reflects the original intention, as well as our current use of gender specific terms.  

In general, much more often than not ... "People” and "humans” (and "human beings”) were widely used for Greek and Hebrew masculine forms referring to both men and women. ... "Ancestors” was regularly preferred to "forefathers” unless a specific, limited reference to the patriarchs or to another all-male group is intended.

And so, PETA have figured that if language can be gender inclusive, why not inclusive for animals too.

Whilst it is clear that God cares for his creation, Mouse reckons this is a bit of a stretch.

This has all led to a fascinating debate on a couple of secularist websites.  The New Humanist blog and Heresy Corner (both well worth bookmarking) have covered the story.  Heresy Corner questions whether God really does love animals, given the number of animals which are slaughtered in the Bible.

Mouse reckons the most interesting part of this comes in some of the surrounding detail given by CNN.  They outline how Bruce Friedrich is a Catholic, and believes that the Bible encourages vegetanariasm.  This seems pretty directly contrary to both Christ's eating of fish and Peter's vision in which God tells him to eat all kinds of animals.  So this looks to Mouse like a demonstration of how we can project our own opinions and beliefs into the way we interpret the Bible.

"New find" of 1st century texts?

Mouse read about this story a week or so ago, but now that the BBC have hit upon the story, it seems to have gone global.  The news is that 70 small lead tablets, bound together with wire, have been found and appear to be texts dating from the time of Jesus.

Just so Mouse's views are clear early on, he is pretty skeptical about their authenticity.

Mouse first spotted the story in the Jewish Chronicle on 3 March.  Some details of the story quoted by the BBC are different, such as the reference to 20 codices, rather than the 70 stated in the BBC report, but the overall message is clearly the same.  Except that the BBC, and many other later reports, appear to have left out the heavy criticism of the find from important sources.  The problem with this story seems to be that in each re-telling, the critical bits are left out and some additional piece of speculation is added in.

According to the Jewish Chronicle report:

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), however, has dismissed the idea that the books are of any value. Experts who examined some of them, it said, "absolutely doubted their authenticity". According to the IAA, the books are a "mixture of incompatible periods and styles without any connection or logic. Such forged motifs can be found in their thousands in the antiquities markets of Jordan and elsewhere in the Middle East."

Professor Andre Lemaire, an expert in ancient inscriptions from the Sorbonne, was also dubious, saying the writing on some of the codices he had seen made no sense and it was "a question apparently of sophisticated fakes".

From what Mouse can gather, the writing is pretty much unintelligible, with the exception of odd words, which is what we are pinning our hopes on.  Those odd words include what appear to be references to known 1st century events.  So we're assuming that it is first century.

What is clear to Mouse is that we don't have the first clue what these texts say.  Suggestions currently flying about, such as the idea that they might tell us about the 'lost years' of Christ between his birth and his time of active ministry, are pure speculation without any basis whatsoever.  Mouse discounts them entirely.

We must remember that this find is potentially very valuable, and most people involved have a vested interest somehow.

It would be absolutely wonderful if this does turn out to be a genuine find, but forgeries are far more common than the real thing.  The Jewish Chronicle report gives some context to this:

Last October a marathon five-year trial ended in Israel of two dealers accused of faking an inscription on an ossuary (stone coffin) to suggest that it might have once held the remains of James, the brother of Jesus Christ. The judge has still to announce a verdict and the 12,000 pages of conflicting evidence demonstrate how difficult it can be to determine what is genuine or not.

Mouse certainly doesn't like the logic of some commenters on this.  Some reports, for example, have heavily quoted Margaret Barker, a former president of the Society for Old testament Study with a renowned knowledge of early Christian studies.   She has given a generally positive view of the find, yet we find out that she has formed her views entirely based on photographs of the find.  From the Daily Mail:

She has had access to photgraphs taken of the codices and scrolls, and is wary of confirming their authenticity.

But she said if the material is genuine then the books could be 'vital and unique' evidence of the earliest Christians.

'If they are a forgery, what are they are forgery of?' she said.' Most fakes are drawn from existing material, but there is nothing like this that I have seen.'

Mouse should jolly well hope she is 'wary of confirming their authenticity' if she is basing her assessment entirely on photographs.  As for the tantalising quote asking 'what are they a forgery of', Mouse can only point out that one could apply that logic to any number of relics, from the Turin Shroud on.  The trick is often actually to take an artefact from the era and add an inscription which turns it into a Biblical artefact.  Since it is virtually impossible to tell when an engraving is made, it is very hard to tell whether it is genuine or not.

Still, lets hope this latest find can be decoded quickly, and we get a better view as to its authenticity.

Manchester Cathedral shows its Spirit - lessons for the rest of the Church

The Daily Mail published an article yesterday about an alleged 'row' in the Church of England.  The news spread round twitter pretty fast, however, that it was a storm in a tea cup.

The article centred on the Spirit of Life festival, an event being put on by Manchester Cathedral with a new age feel to it.  The Mail reported that it will be throwing open the cathedral doors to tarot readers and chrystal healers.

There were, however, more than one problem with the report.

The first was that it was breaking a new story, so there certainly hadn't been a row up to that point.  When you read on, it was clear that the report of a Spirit of Life event at Manchester Cathedral was being spun as 'certain to anger traditionalists' - i.e. it hasn't yet, but it will when they have read this.  Mouse hasn't yet found any outraged responses, and the Mail couldn't muster up a single quote from any of these traditionalists who were sure to be angered.

The second problem was rather more substantial.  It was not very accurate.

There certainly is going to be a Spirit of Life festival in Manchester.  This follows on from Manchester Diocese's appearance at the Mind, Body and Spirit Fair in Manchester last year, when they represented Christianity with a stall called ... The Spirit of Life.

There is no doubt whatsoever that this was authentically Christian, although there was a certain cultural context to it.  So, for example, they set their Bible study sessions around a Jesus Deck, which is a deck of cards with Bible passages on it.  Visitors to the stall draw a card, then discuss the Bible passage on it.  Mouse guesses that this was a way of making Bible study accessible to new age-type folk.

Manchester Diocese were, to their great credit, very quick to respond to the Mail's report.

Contrary to media reports, the Spirit of Life is a Christian festival offering a balanced programme of different spiritual traditions including Taize, choral evensong and contemporary spiritualities. There are workshops which will discuss spiritualities outside the Christian tradition. There will be no tarot card reading or fortune telling at the event. All contributors are Christians and have undergone a rigorous application process.

With about 25 workshops and stalls covering poetry, Franciscan spirituality, arts and crafts, healing, icons, angels, meditation, personality profiling, music and blessings, labyrinths, dream interpretation, Christian symbolism of gem stones, tarot and Celtic saints, prayer bead making, choral evensong, foot and hand massage, Jesus Deck readings, Taize chants and, finally, fire breathing!

All of these events will aim to convey something of the Christ we follow as Christian people.

Canon Evangelist, Tony Hardy, says, "This event is not a gimmick but mission in the way Christians have long been doing it - being present within culture, coming alongside people, offering them Jesus Christ. We hope to attract hundreds of people who would not normally be interested in a church event".

The Bishop of Manchester said, “The Spirit of Life event is a chance to discover and explore old and new Christian spiritual traditions from living in community to praying with icons, from healing to bead making, from Franciscan spirituality to contemporary music and movement. Practitioners from all over the country will be on hand to offer their experience of how God speaks to us today through the cultural language and practices so common in mind, body, spirit fairs.”

To be fair to the Mail, you can see where they got their story from.  Even the statement denying that there will be tarot readings goes on to list tarot as one of the workshops available.  Nevertheless, Mouse is prepared to accept the Bishop of Manchester at his word, that this of about Christian spiritual traditions.

The buzz that Mouse has picked up has very much been one of a mocking nature, directed towards the Daily Mail.  In part, this is no doubt due to the natural antipathy of web-dwellers towards right wing tabloid, but also due to the rapid rebuttal given by Manchester Diocese.

So the lesson here is to make sure you're on top of the buzz and respond straight away.  It has effectively squashed the story entirely.

Saturday round up

Many apologies to regular Mouse readers who were expecting a Friday round up yesterday.  By way of recompense, here's my Saturday round up.  Ten of the best from the blogs this week:

1. Psephizo has one of the best reviews of the BBC2 fluff on the Bible

2. The Church Sofa on church making you fat

3. Bishop Nick Baines on the Big Society and big questions

4. FaithWorld on the Vatican opening a public dialogue with atheists

5. Bishop Alan Wilson says don't pick the fastest lemming

6. Ed West suspects a BBC conspiracy to get the number of Christians down in the census (Mouse doesn't reckon they're that clever)

7. Phil Ritchie wonders if he is religious

8. Clayboy on whether a Christian can value atheism

9. Jubilee Centre blog on intervention in Libya

10. Richard Littledale has a cracking discussion about tweeting from the pew

Pole-dancing for Jesus

A little bit of Friday madness.  Words simply fail.

Priest threatened with defrocking for taking up Islam for Lent

The award for possibly the most bizarre idea for a Lenten fast goes to Rev Steve Lawler, part-time rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church (that's in the United States of America).  He decided to take up the rituals of Islam for Lent.

What was no doubt a well intentioned attempt to show some real empathy with a much mis-understood minority, Rev Steve Lawler started by praying to Allah five times a day.

Two days in, however, and the bishop has instructed him to stop.

"He can't be both a Christian and a Muslim," said Bishop George Wayne Smith of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. "If he chooses to practice as a Muslim, then he would, by default, give up his Christian identity and priesthood in the church."

There is no doubt a fine line here.  There is nothing wrong with reading the scriptures of other faiths, for example, to learn about their beliefs.  However, despite the noble intentions, Mouse thinks that Rev Steve's attempts to garner some publicity has got the better of his common sense.

Say what for who? The CofE's interweb prayers

Sorry, that should be Say One For Me.  This is, of course, a reference to the Church of England's Lent initiative to get us all praying.

The idea is pretty simple - post your prayers on a website, and someone will join in and pray for you.  This is the second outing for the Lent initiative, having appeared for the Easter period last year.

Mouse has some mixed views of the site.  Let's start with the big picture, that it is a jolly good thing for the church to promote prayer.  The interweb provides a rich tool for engaging with people and introducing virtual praying communities.  However ...

Mouse doesn't think it is helpful to know only that "various communities" will pray for me once I've submitted my prayers.  I'd like to know who these various communities are, but the website doesn't tell me.

And wouldn't it be nice if these "various communities" logged on to let us know how they got on.

Since the site doesn't ask for your name, most people haven't supplied it, which does rather make it difficult to pray for someone.  Mouse was left praying for "whoever left this prayer at 7.39am this morning" which feels a little impersonal.

Still, it is good to get people praying, and Mouse is glad to see a Facebook page connected with the site this year, which does allow a little more engagement and interaction, even if few have taken up that opportunity so far.

Perhaps one problem in getting more engagement is the fact that this site only exists during Lent, which does make it rather hard to build community.

One interesting aspect, however, is that we get to see what people are asking for prayer for.  Since it is largely anonymous, we can only assume that these are the things that people really do want prayer for most.

The good old CofE have put out some information analysing the first 300 prayers posted on the site:

Those posting prayers at www.sayoneforme.org, the Church of England’s web-based prayer service for Lent, are valuing happiness for the world and others more than money – analysis of the first 300 prayers reveals. Just two per cent of prayers have brought money-worries before God, whereas 19 per cent have prayed for the world (over a third of them for Japan), 14 per cent for healing for others, 10 per cent for family, and nine per cent for spiritual development.

The Bishop of Dudley, the Rt Revd David Walker, said: “It is beautiful to see people pray for the people and the world around them – and they quite naturally see beyond the realms of their own needs.”

The other main subjects for the prayers are: saying thanks to God (seven per cent), work worries (four per cent), the Church (four per cent), marriage (two per cent), and healing for self (two per cent).

There are many more questions that could be asked before we try to interpret these results too much, but since we won't ever know who posted the prayers we can only speculate on who has done so and why.

It is certainly interesting that most people have prayed for others, but surely the most interesting thing is how little money seems to have featured.  Perhaps the recent disaster in Japan has affected some of the prayers submitted, yet the relative proportions are fascinating.

Oh, and Mouse can also reveal who prays for you - the answer is the communities of St Mary’s Abbey, West Malling; St Peter’s Community, Woking; and The Sisters of Bethany, Southsea. The prayers are also being prayed at the retreat centre Launde Abbey, Leicester and placed on the altar at a number of cathedrals and at Westminster Abbey during church services.

Why they wouldn't just put that on the website, we can only speculate.

Major boost to Gift Aid in the budget

Mouse won't attempt to over the entirety of yesterday's budget announcement.  Other are better placed to do that.  In fact, some were so well qualified they could do so almost before the chancellor had finished speaking.

However, all those in the charity sector must take a look at the changes announced in the Gift Aid scheme and in the tax breaks given to those who leave charitable legacies in their wills.

In short, charities will be able to claim Gift Aid on £5,000 per year of donations without submitting gift aid declarations.  In effect, this means that the government will be changing the first £5,000 into a matched giving scheme.  This is great news for churches, who will now be able to claim gift aid on the loose change dropped in the collection plate without filling in the forms.

Other changes to Gift Aid include the introduction of an online system for submitting Gift Aid returns - something long overdue.

Most of the changes to Gift Aid will come in 2013.

What may turn out to be a much bigger reform is the change designed to encourage people to leave charitable legacies in their will.  The reform will mean that when people leave a legacy of 10% of their estate, the inheritance tax on the remainder of their estate will be reduced from 40% to 36%.

This may take a little more effort to explain to people, but it is quite a big incentive to leave a legacy, as a large part of the legacy will simply be transferred from the government to the charity.

Special appeal: Have you seen the Bishop of Burnley's mitre?

Mouse thought he would lend a hand to the poor Bishop of Burnley, the Rt Rev John Goddard, who has lost his mitre.  It seems that it fell off when he was visiting a church, but he can't remember which church it fell off in, so is now praying hard for its safe return.

And it is not just any mitre.  It is his favourite mitre, and the one he uses for special occasions, including confirmations. The Bishop told his local paper:

I am particularly anxious to get this one back as it was used in special services when people are confirmed.  I have had it for ten years and I would really like to have it for another ten years.

So come on Mouse readers.  Please check your lost property boxes and rummage round the vestries of Burnley to see if we can help Bishop John get his pointy hat back.  Apparently Bishop John also regularly visits churches in London, so it could be there too, helpfully narrowing the field of search, but according to the Lancashire Telegraph, Bishop John is convinced it is in Lancashire.

Mouse is off now to check the ecclesiastical significance of this incident.

Mathematicians predict religion will become extinct in secularised nations

dx/dt= yPyx(x, ux) - xPyx(x, ux)

And thus the mathematicians demonstrate that religion will become extinct in the most secularised nations of the world.

Mouse also reckons it proves that mathematicians should stick to what they know.  In the paper which sets out this mathematical formula, and predicts the extinction of religion in a number of already largely secular countries, there are two key assumptions:

1. where being a member of a religion is less attractive than not being a member, membership will decline further

2. if the rate of decline continues, then eventually there will be no-one left

The team of researchers took census data stretching back as far as a century from countries in which the census queried religious affiliation: Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland.

Mouse isn't quite so pessimistic, however.

The first problem is that the 100 years of census data analysed in this study is not adequate for the task at hand.  Since religious belief has existed in virtually all societies since the dawn of humanity, the past 50 years can barely be considered statistically significant.

In addition, the nine countries included in the model were specifically pre-selected as countries likely to fit in with the expected results (i.e. those already known to be increasingly secularising).  It is noticable that they are all developed countries where the dominant religion is Christianity.  So it seems we have the twin problems of inadequate data which has been pre-selected to fit the model.

The truth of the history of Christianity is that there have been seasons when the Church has seemed in terminal decline, followed by seasons of revival.  When we expand our horizons a little, we see that we are currently experiencing a time of unprecedented growth in worldwide Christianity.

Methodist President to live on £1 per day to highlight poverty issues

Mouse is very impressed by this initiative from the Methodist Relief and Development Fund as part of the Live Below the Line campaign (itself part of the Global Poverty Project).    The idea is pretty simple - between the 2nd and 6th of May, the MRDF is asking people to see if they can live below the global poverty line, with a budget of £5 for all their meals for five days.

The Live Below the Line initiative is backed by a number of Christian organisations, including Christian Aid and the Salvation Army, and the President of the Methodist Conference, Alison Tomlin, will bravely be taking part this May.

Mouse has copied the release from the Methodist Church below this nifty advert for the campaign.



The Methodist Relief and Development Fund (MRDF) is challenging people throughout the UK to ‘live below the line’ – and spend just £1 a day on food and drink for a working week. The President of the Methodist Church, Revd Alison Tomlin, and the strategic leaders of the Methodist Church have already committed to take part: Revd Dr Martyn Atkins; John Ellis; Christine Elliott and Mark Wakelin 

It is hoped that between 2 and 6 May thousands of people will try living below the global poverty line, with a budget of just £5 for all of their meals over five days. They will ask their friends and families to sponsor them and funds raised will be used to help some of the world’s most vulnerable people to work their way out of poverty. 1.4 billion people globally live on less than £1 a day. 

MRDF is one of the charity partners in the Live Below the Line initiative, which is being organised by educational group, the Global Poverty Project. Last year, Live Below the Line in Australia raised over £320,000. 

Revd Alison Tomlin, President of the Methodist Church, said: ‘I’m committed to continuing to working with and for those who face extreme poverty in any country. I think it would be good for me to experience a tiny part of what it can be like. Of course, it is easy for people like me who have choices, but in this way we can express our determination to stand alongside those in need.’ 

To sign up to take part in Live Below the Line with MRDF, or to download a free PowerPoint to show in your church to introduce the initiative, please visit www.mrdf.org.uk/live or call 020 7467 5132. 

Anna Rogers of MRDF lived ‘below the line’ for a week in February. You can read more about how she got on at www.mrdf.org.uk/live.

New poll from BHA - over 50% are Christian, but only half of them believe in a resurrected Christ

Surprisingly interesting stuff from the British Humanist Association, provided you strip away the nonsense from the press release.

The BHA commissioned a YouGov poll asking just four questions, with the aim of showing that people aren't religious, even if they say they are in the census.  The first question is the same as the census question on religion, so we can expect the census results to be similar to this poll, in which 53% described themselves as Christian and 7% from other religions.  39% said they have no religion.

The next question was, "Are you religious".  Mouse will ignore this question, as it is laughably loaded.  Whenever Mouse posts on this topic, the comments fill up with people saying that they are committed Christians, but would not want to call themselves "religious".  Some often wonder whether Jesus would have called himself "religious", with the implication that he probably wouldn't.  Still, you'll see if you click the link that 65% said they are not religious, 29% said they are and the rest don't know.

The third question was most interesting for Mouse.  It asked those who said they are Christians, "Do you believe that Jesus Christ was a real person who  died and came back to life, and was the son of God?".  In response 48% said they do believe this, 25% don't know and 27% do not believe it.

The final question was about attendance at a place of worship. The full results were:

Within the last week	9%
Within the last month	6%
Within the last 6 months	10%
Within the last year	6%
Over a year ago	43%
Never	20%
Don't know	6%

So what do we learn?

Well firstly, Mouse would point out this is a very limited set of questions to draw any conclusions.  The early view on the question used in the census gives us a heads up on the likely result, which if this is accurate will show a significant dip on those describing themselves as Christian, from 71% in 2001.

It is interesting that the BHA have acknowledged Mouse's criticism of their past discussion on this, and accepted that we need to look at religious belief, practice and identity to get an understanding of religion in Britain, however, asking one question for each is a rather low budget attempt at assessing them.

Mouse does find the fact that half of Christians don't seem to accept the resurrection of Christ as interesting.  Since this is rather a foundational concept for Christianity, we need to unpack this more.  Mouse suspects the BHA went for this issue rather than, "Do you believe in a God" or even "Do you believe Jesus was the son of God", as they guessed it would get a lower result, as it is a more complex and challenging topic.

In terms of religious practice, attending a place of worship is a rather limited view of that.  It would have been more helpful to ask about prayer and Bible reading as well, which we know from other surveys have much higher levels of participation.  Church has a lot of baggage for many people, and we don't learn much from the BHA sponsored survey by asking about religious attendance.

However, we do learn something.  Church attendance statistics just count the people, and don't tell us whether it is the same people attending each week, or whether it is four times the number of people attending once per month.  This breakdown, which actually mirrors closely previous surveys, does show us that there are a lot of people who attend church infrequently.  Mouse reckons this is a positive sign, as it shows that higher numbers of people engage with Church in some way than the weekly or monthly attendance statistics show.

So half a cheer for the BHA?  Well, I don't for a moment believe that this "new" evidence shows the census question is flawed, as the BHA maintain, but at least it provides something interesting and up-to-date to discuss.

Galactic waste of money as EU rules on crucifixes in the classroom

So the two year court battle has concluded at the highest court in Europe.  And it has concluded, that you can hang a cross in the state classroom after all.  So no change there then.

The judgement, which reversed an earlier ruling, essentially says that you can have a cross on the wall without indoctrinating pupils.  Mouse considers this a slap down to those who have pursued this case for so long, invoking human rights legislation to attempt to stop the Italian school system from displaying the cross in school buildings.

The reaction has been instant and widespread, with the NSS, BHA and New Humanist are amongst those who responded almost instantly.  Cranmer weighed in on the religious side, and all the mainstream media have reported the development.

Mouse considers it a disgraceful abuse of human rights legislation that this case has been allowed to go on for so long.

Here's what was at issue:

The applicant alleged in her own name and on behalf of her children that displaying the sign of the cross in the state-school the latter attended constituted interference incompatible with her right to ensure that they receive education and teaching in conformity with her religious and philosophical convictions within the meaning of Article 2 of Protocol No. 1, which provides:

“No person shall be denied the right to education. In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions.”

The applicant further alleged that displaying the sign of the cross also infringed her freedom of belief and religion, protected by Article 9 of the Convention, which provides:

“1.  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.


2.  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 for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”

Legislation which was designed to ensure that governments do not trample on people's religious beliefs, and to ensure that they have freedom of thought, conscience and freedom to express their religion was being used by secularists to attempt to make a point and banish a religious symbol from display.

The ruling yesterday decided that whilst the crucifix is essentially a religious symbol, you would have to be a laughably sensitive soul to consider its presence an infringement of your human rights.

No doubt they realised that every jewellers shop sells bucket loads of crucifixes worn round people's necks and hung from their ears every day, and that we all see the symbol on the street and elsewhere every day, from the fashion catwalks to the front covers of magazines and albums,  without employing lawyers to banish the symbol.  They also decided that children can be taught a secular curriculum with the crucifix on display without their human rights being trampled on.

Mouse this case to have been very ill founded.  Some seem to believe that if any arm of the state shows any religious connection then it is a breach of someone's human rights.  This is not what was intended when human rights legislation was written and that is not the liberty that our forefathers fought for.

Nor is it the true freedom found in Christ.

Like the NSS's legal challenge to ban the voluntary practice of council prayers, this case should never have been brought.  It devalues the very idea of human rights to suggest that they are at risk by having to look at a religious symbol.

John Calvin - style icon

Mouse chortled most heartily when he read in eChurch blog that MSN Lifestyle has rated John Calvin as the 52nd most fashionable person ever to have lived.

Apparently, his minimalist chic and black and white vibe went down well with the judges.

Because the most famous minimalist in world history knew a man didn't need expensive clothes or bright colors to convey authority. Black and white, worn with the requisite gravity, can be powerful and intimidating. Just look at the Secret Service. Or the Reservoir Dogs.

Mouse is surprised they didn't comment on the beard, though.

You can tell it's Friday, can't you.

Friday round up

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

1. One Hand Clapping has a review of Rob Bell's Love Wins, whilst Peter Ould has a different perspective.  Tall Skinny Kiwi has some context on Rob Bell and the new generation.

2. Bishop Nick Baines strips away the nonsense

3. Damian Thompson doesn't like the possible new HQ for the Ordinariate

4. Cranmer on the end of the Muslim Council of Britain's sponsorship by government

5. Bishop David Chillingworth on British (anti-Christian?) foreign policy

6. Clayboy on how a Biblical conspiracy theory became outdated before it was broadcast

7. Andrew Wooding reckons women Bishops are important for Fresh Expressions

8. Phil Ritchie on taking the Bible for granted

9. Richard Littledale has a bird in his Bible (of the twitter variety)

10. Lesley Fellows has some advice for Rowan

EHRC Scotland and gay marriage

Thinking Anglicans draw attention to a report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission Scotland, which calls for full marriage equality for gay and transgender people in Scotland, where marriage law is a devolved matter for the Scottish Parliament.

This will no doubt be of much interest to many in the church.

However, Mouse would like to draw attention to this disclaimer before the report begins:

The views expressed in this report are that of the authors, Cambium Advocacy, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Commission.

Seriously?

Can the Commission not write their own reports?  Or at least read those written on their behalf and confirm which bits they agree with and do not agree with.

Honestly. 

If anyone knows which bits of the report EHRC Scotland do agree with or do not agree with, please let Mouse know.

Stats on Ordinariate first wave announced

The Catholic Bishops have announced the stats for the first wave of the Ordinariate.

They have "estimated" that around 900 people will form the Ordinariate, with 66 of them former Anglican clergy including those already converted.  Apparently 795 attended the Rite of Election, which is a part of the process, but it is not compulsory so some more are expected to join in.

A few things strike Mouse from this.  Firstly, the ratio of laity to clergy seems a little off - around 1 clergyman for every 14 sat in a pew.  Cosy, to say the least.

That said, we still don't know how many of the 66 are retired.  It has been suggested to Mouse that anything between a third and two thirds are retired, so we won't see all 66 attempting to pastor the flock.  Nevertheless, it does paint a rather interesting image of the group dynamics.

Mouse also wonders about the finances of this organisation.  We know that seed funding was given by the Catholic Church of £250,000, but this doesn't go a long way for 66 priests, even if a large proportion are retired. If we assume that only 20 of them will take up active ministry, that only gives them £12,500 per head for stipend, housing allowances and all the other employment costs.  Given the geographical diversity of the Ordinariate groups, there will be a real challenge in serving the diverse needs of the groups.

Of course, the Ordinariate will also have the tithes and offerings of the members and will receive gifts from other parts of the Catholic Church, however, the long term funding of this organisation will require a significant expansion in lay members if it is to be self-sustaining.

The other thing which grates a little are the headlines that more people are converting than expected.  As Mouse has previously pointed out, the initial headline flying about when this scheme was announced was that 1,000 clergy and 400,000 lay members would join the Catholic Church.  It is only because journos had cut their estimates to 50 clergy and 600 laity over the past month that they consider the actual numbers "higher than expected".  Whatever measure used, the actual number joining in the first wave is far below what anyone expected when the scheme was announced.

Even Mouse overestimated the numbers, when he guessed that the numbers of clergy leaving would be fewer than left in 1992/3 over the ordination of women, when 440 clergy left with a generous pay-off - technically Mouse was correct, as it is lower, but it is so much lower that the comparison is silly.  It is a little annoying that the same people who grossly overestimated the numbers a few months ago, are now saying that the numbers are higher than expected.


As Mouse has mentioned before, the Ordinariate Portal is the place to go for the latest news.

Is Britain's foreign policy "anti-Christian"?

Cardinal Keith O'Brien has set a few hares racing with comments about Britain's foreign policy.  The Cardinal drew two themes together when he highlighted the persecution that Christians are facing world-wide and connected that with Britain increasing its aid to some of the countries responsible for that persecution.

Pakistan is to receive more than £445m in aid this year amidst grave concerns about the human rights record of the country in the wake of a series of prosecutions under Pakistan's terrible blasphemy laws and the murder of Christian cabinet minister, Shahbaz Bhatti.

Cardinal O'Brien said,

To increase aid to the Pakistan government when religious freedom is not upheld and those who speak up for religious freedom are gunned down is tantamount to an anti-Christian foreign policy.

This reality is both shocking and saddening. In countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, Christians face violence, intolerance and even death because of their beliefs.

Mouse's observation is that some of the criticism for Cardinal O'Brien stems from the assumption that it seems a little parochial to only be concerned with the Christians who are suffering persecution.  If the Cardinal had made more general references to human rights abuses, he would probably have been supported - or more likely ignored.

It is the reference to the approach being "tantamount to an anti-Christian foreign policy", now almost entirely quoted simply as "an anti-Christian foreign policy", which has caused the problem for some.  However, the Cardinal is right to draw attention to the fact that there is an increasing and very worrying level of anti-Christian persecution, in many places where Christian and Muslims have lived side-by-side for centuries.

Discrimination

Mouse has read with interest the double-act of Ekklesia and the British Humanist Association declare that there is no such thing as anti-Christian discrimination.  It simply does not happen, they tell us.  Simon Barrow from Ekklesia [oops - was Andrew Copson from the BHA, not Simon Barrow, although the quote is included in Ekklesia's article] tells us:

There is no evidence of discrimination against Christians, only evidence of a persecution complex from those perpetuating the myth of 'Christianophobia'.

Mouse would like to re-cap on a few of the cases mentioned on this blog or noted by it.  They have variously been opposed by human rights activist Peter Tatchell, who has defending the right of free speech and by Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, who has defended the free expression of religion through symbols such as necklaces for nurses or other workers.

• A library won't put up a poster for a Sunday school, as it may offend the non-religious, yet another library interprets the same policy as allowing them to host the first public anti-Pope protest meeting.
• Caroline Petrie, a nurse who was suspended and later reinstated for offering to pray for a patient
• A hospital banns pictures of churches, just in case non-Christians are offended
• A nurse of 40 years sacked for suggesting during a training role play exercise that prayer might help patients
• Official NHS guidance which quite wrongly warns staff that discussing religion with patients could be considered harassment
• An NHS worker suspended, threatened with the sack and later moved to another job, after privately expressing concerns to colleagues that they were not giving enough warning to women considering abortions about the potential mental health issues
• Charity worker suspended within 24 hours for answering questions from a colleague, in what appeared a perfectly civil and polite conversation, about his faith.
• Street preachers arrested or threatened with arrest after being falsely accused by passers by.  Both were released without charge.
• Teacher 'sacked' and later reinstated for offering to pray with a sick pupil, and a primary school receptionist suspended for privately asking friends to pray for her after her daughter was told off at school for talking to her friends about God and heaven.  She later settled out of court in this case.

This is just the selection that immediately comes to mind, and is far from an exhaustive list.

Now, Mouse has previously pointed out that Christians should not bring cases in which they seek the right to discriminate against gays, which unfortunately has been the situation in which the Christian Legal Centre has bringing a number of legal cases.  However, that does not mean that there is not an agenda which seeks to eradicate Christianity from the public sphere.

It does not serve the equality agenda to deny this, or to seek to portray legitimate concerns about the impact of equality legislation as some kind of extreme right wing conservative Christian paranoia.

Twurchcast Nine

Over at the Twurch:

TwurchCast Nine is here. @peterould and @thechurchmouse chat about all the latest tech (and not so tech) news affecting the Church of England including Easter Live, the Church of England podcast, Say One For Me, Bishop Stephen Croft’s Lent material, yummy Christian Easter Eggs and the Ordinariate and the web.


@peterould is then joined by @batty_towers discussing her doctorate work looking at church websites.
TwurchCast Nine is available to listen to below and can also be downloaded. Don’t forget to use the links to the left to subscribe via RSS or iTunes.

Annual church meeting survival guide

As the season of annual church meetings approaches, Mouse thought he'd offer up some words of advice to his readers on how to get through the meeting in tact.

1. Don't put your hand up unless you really did hear what the question was.  It is easy to find yourself elected to Deanery Synod or the Parochial Church Council with an ill timed wave of the hand.  If you're not paying attention, don't put your hand up, even if those immediately around you do.

2. If you want to ask an awkward question, have a word with the vicar in advance and tell them you want to make a point of thanking them for all their work during the year.  That way you'll be sure to be picked on at a prominent point in the proceedings.

3. Pedants are not popular.  If you've spotted a typo in the ream of materials given out, you will not make yourself look clever by publicly embarrassing the kind hearted volunteer who spent the past six weeks pulling the reports together.  Keep it to yourself, or tell the PCC secretary afterwards if it is really important.

4. For those with the privilege of putting the agenda together, try very hard to put something interesting on the agenda.  Cut down the mandatory stuff to a bare minimum, then do something interesting.  For a bit of fun, why not sneak in a motion to appoint the cat from the vicarage as honorary curate just to see if anyone is listening.

5. Above all, remember that the church meeting is part of the family of God's people working out how they can play their part in the kingdom.  It may not feel like it, but whether you like it or not, that's what it is.

Rob Bell - Strictly speaking I'm confirmed CofE

The Skinny draws attention to one of the funniest aspects of the ongoing Rob Bell saga.

For those who have managed to dodge this, a huge fuss blew up when US mega-pastor and A-list Christian celeb Rob Bell appeared to promote a universalist viewpoint.  This is the view that everyone goes to heaven regardless of what they believe or how they live their life.

All this started when a blogger asked the question after reading the back cover of Bell's new book.  All hell broke loose before the book was even published, and there seems to have been more heat than light over the whole affair.

And at the centre of this media storm was a web designer from Yorkshire, called Rob Bell.  Having managed to secure the Twitter name @robbell, hundreds of people mistook him for the other Rob Bell.  And he seems to have been rather enjoying the mix up, responding to some of the tweets directed to him in error, and now doing an interview with blogger and writer Rachel Held Evans.

My favourite @robbell tweet so far is "nonchristian? Strictly speaking, I'm confirmed C of E, so a Christian, although my views are more universalist these days :)"

If you're looking to follow the other Rob Bell, he tweets as @realrobbell.

Regeneration Summit - how it went: Guest Post from Mark Russell, CEO Church Army

Ahead of the event, Mouse offered up his blog to Mark Russell, CEO of the Church Army, to set out what the Regeneration Summit was all about.  The event involved 120 young people 20 youth workers and 32 bishops, with the objective of thinking about how the church can engage with young people better.

Here, Mark gives us an update on how it went.

-----------------------------------------------
Mark writes:

Regeneration Youth Summit: igniting change

“Take risks for Christ” was the message preached by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, last week at the Regeneration Youth Summit in Sheffield. Sitting there as the CEO of Church Army and as the person who’d instigated the event – this was certainly something I could relate to. Arranging a meeting between 32 bishops, 20 youth workers and 120 young people to discuss the future of the church - well it was a risky business - but one that thanks to God and the amazing people who attended has had overwhelmingly inspiring results.

For some time I’ve been convinced the Church of England needs to place young people at the top of its agenda. The church is wrinkling and shrinking; we are neither reaching nor nurturing young people in significant numbers. Regeneration was an event with the aim of changing all that.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, attended the event which saw them take part in discussion groups with the 15 to 21 year olds who had travelled from across the country.

Throughout the day, the groups took part in creative ideas sessions, prayed for the church and recorded their feedback on film – a buzz of engagement and honesty truly seemed to permeate people’s hearts.

The entire event was planned and led by a team of five young people which was headed up by the youngest member of General Synod, Sam Follett, who is only 20 years old! They did a tremendous job and it was refreshing to see them empowered to set the agenda.

During the day, Sam Follet, said: “The team and I are so pleased that the Bishops and Archbishops are serious enough about young people to be here to listen to us. It was also great to see the different generations working together – just how church should be. Today has shown that young people do care about the church and are prepared to really make a difference.”

At the end of the summit a communion service was held and as an act of worship everyone attending was invited to sign a pledge to commit themselves to the work of the church and young people. The pledge is as follows

Gathered in Sheffield for the Regeneration Summit we are excited by all the positive work with young people across our nation. We rejoice that so many young people are involved in the life of our Church, yet we yearn for more.

As Bishops and Church leaders we pledge ourselves to find new ways to listen to the voices of young people, and encourage them in their Christian walk. We will work to enable young people's voices to be heard better both within our Diocese and the national Church. We will seek to find new ways to empower young people both in leadership and ministry. We will endeavour to work with colleagues to enable new mission initiatives with young people, and consider if new financial resources can be made available to support these.

As young people gathered at the Regeneration Summit we affirm we will work hard to encourage and support our church leaders. We will pray for our Bishops, and so all we can to bless their leadership amongst us. We will work positively in our local churches, to encourage our leaders. We pledge ourselves to pray for our friends, and to try to find new ways of sharing our faith with them.

Together, we commit afresh to pray for the Church we love, and to ask God to work a miracle amongst us, that He would use us to help many more young people across England come to a living faith in Jesus Christ.

Now, as we look to future for the Church of England, I would encourage you to pray with me that Regeneration wouldn’t just be a one-day talking shop. Instead, may it be seen as a turning point of practical action so that the next generation may too become part of the Kingdom of God.

A very creative Lent

There are loads of really creative ways of engaging with the Easter story this year, so Mouse thought he'd draw your attention to a few of the ones which caught his eye so far.

1. EasterLive - produce your own Easter story

2. A lent book with a social media twist from the Bishop of Sheffield Exploring God's Mercy

3. Get praying and prayed for with sayoneforme.com

4. Count your blessings with Christian Aid

5. The Archbishop of York gives us online reflections, and got so excited about praying for people this Lent that he tweeted an offer to pray for anyone who emails him

6. The Big Read from the Big Bible Project

Even Rowan Williams has posted a video on Thou Tube.  Enjoy.

And they're off (to the Ordinariate)

Of all the things to give up for Lent, the Church of England is not one that Mouse had hoped would be a popular option this year.

However, Mouse did want to mark the occasion that today is the day when the first wave of Anglicans are leaving the good old CofE to start their journey into the Roman Catholic Church.

There have been various reports in the news, with the BBC story being the one which is currently buzzing round the Twitterverse.  No doubt Ruth Gledhill's piece in the Times is more interesting, but since it is paywalled Mouse can only speculate.

Mouse would warn that many press reports are rather inaccurate, either in terms of their estimated numbers of converts or on the basis and reason for conversions.  The best source of news is actually the Ordinariate Portal, which is keeping very close to the action on the ground.

The Ordinariate Portal lists 33 Ordinariate Groups, with their contact details, which is about what we expected at this point.  Mouse is told there are another dozen or so potental groups who are not ready to declare their hand just yet.

Mouse would like to take this opportunity to wish all those joining the Ordinariate well, and to offer his thoughts and prayers to all who are finding the process a difficult one.

Mouse discovers controversial new theory about "God's Wife" (on Wikipedia)

Mouse can exclusively reveal explosive new evidence about the existence of "God's Wife".  After scouring ancient sources (the Bible) and cross referencing that with the very latest archaeological finds (Wikipedia) Mouse can set out a theory so outlandish it will be laughed at by archaeologists, Biblical scholars and theologians.

According to Wikipedia, there is a huge amount of archaeological evidence for the cult of Asherah from Ugarit, Egypt, Israel and Judah.  Not only that, but worship of this goddess is mentioned in the Bible up to 40 times (according to Wikipedia):

According to the documentary hypothesis, the majority of the forty references to Asherah in the Hebrew Bible derive from the Deuteronomist, always in a hostile framework: the Deuteronomist judges the kings of Israel and Judah according to how rigorously they uphold Yahwism and suppress the worship of Asherah and other deities. King Manasseh, for example is said to have placed an Asherah pole in the Holy Temple, and was therefore one who "did evil in the sight of the LORD" (2 Kings 21:7); but king Hezekiah "removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah", (2 Kings 18.4), and was noted as the most righteous of Judah's kings before the coming of the reformer Josiah, in whose reign the Deuteronomistic history of the kings was composed. In addition to the authors of Exodus, Deuteronomy, Kings, and Judges, the prophets Isaiah (Isaiah 17:8, 27:9), Jeremiah (Jereimiah 17:2), and Micah (Micah 5:14) also condemned worship of Asherah and praised turning from this idolatry to worship Yahweh alone as the true God.

The Hebrew Bible uses the term asherah in two senses, as a cult object and as a divine name.[22] As a cult object, the asherah can be "made", "cut down", and "burnt", and Deuteronomy 16:21 prohibits the planting of trees as asherah, implying that a stylised tree or lopped trunk is intended.[23] At other verses a goddess is clearly intended, as, for example, 2 Kings 23:4-7, where items are being made "for Baal and Asherah".[24] The references to asherah in Isaiah 17:8 and 2:8 suggest that there was no distinction in ancient thought between the object and the goddess.[25]

Mouse is not alone in having spotted this extraordinary revelation.  Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou (atheist academic with a TV series to promote) has been in the press explaining how this secret was considered so dangerous, that a piece of pottery from the 1970s which showed an image of Asherah mysteriously went missing, clearly implying that it was stolen to prevent the secret getting out.

On reflection, actually, Mouse might read those Bible passages again.  There is a remote possibility that Asherah was just another goddess out of the squillions who were worshipped in ancient times, and the references may repeatedly be from prophets condemning the practice of worshiping the false god.  There is a chance that suggesting that she was part of any mainstream Jewish tradition may be comically ill founded.

Better check.

Don't let secularists cause trouble between Church and State over civil partnerships

News that the government plans to remove the restriction on the registration of civil partnerships in religious buildings has been met with a range of reactions.  Some have overstated the issue, and either celebrate or berate the move as a recognition of gay marriage.  Others argue it is a step in that direction, either for good or for ill.  However, some are using the issue as a way of attempting to drive a wedge between Church and State.

The root of this is a rather mischevious article from Jonathan Wynne-Jones, who took great offence over Twitter at questions being asked about the piece.

In the article he revealed that the Archbishop of Canterbury had held a private meeting with a number of senior politicians in which he "vowed to defend the Church’s traditional stance on marriage against Government moves to introduce homosexual weddings in churches".  He added that Rowan Williams told MPs "he is not prepared for the Coalition to tell the Church how to behave."

This has been taken further by other articles which have virtually copied Wynne-Jones's piece verbatim, but added even jucier headlines, including the Mail's version that "Gay weddings will never take place in church buildings, vows Dr Rowan Williams".

Jonathan Wynne-Jones tweeted that he had four sources for the story, and it was "pathetic" to question the accuracy of the piece.

However, Mouse also has his sources.  The version of events that Mouse has heard is much less worthy of headline news.  The story Mouse has heard is that Rowan Williams was simply asked what the Church's policy is on registering civil partnerships in CofE Churches is, and he told them.

Since gay marriage is not part of the current government proposals, and since the government is not attempting to tell the Church how to behave, much of the discussion about the issue is simply irrelevant.

Mouse considers Jonathan Wynne-Jones's piece mischevious, as he is clearly right about the basic facts, but describing that as "vowing to defend", etc., is a rather strange way of saying "explained current church policy".  Most likely these headlines were inserted by a sub-editor looking to ensure adequate spicing of the pie.

The tone of the whole article also sets up a potential conflict between Church and State.  In fact, there seemed to be no suggestion in the article that the Archbishop opposed the actual government plans being put forward - i.e. that religious organisations could register civil partnerships in their buildings if they want to, but would not be compelled to.

However, this piece is now being used to attack the church further.  Secularists are now arguing that if the Church wants to act independently from government it should disestablish.  They have taken the line that Rowan told MPs he is not prepared to let them tell the Church how to behave and have suggested that he should support total separation of Church and state as the only way to ensure that.

Considering neither of these propositions are being put forward by the government, and that the Church has voiced no opposition to the government bringing forward the proposals that it has done, this seems to Mouse to be a pretty dramatic case of over-egging the pudding.  Not to mention the fact that the government can legislate just as effectively over independent churches as it can over the established one, so disestablishment has nothing to do with this situation.

Mouse therefore suggests that the Church clarifies its position by welcoming the government proposals and saying that they have no problem with them at all, which would thoroughly take the wind out of these particular sails.

Wikio Religion & Belief blog rankings - full March update

The full Wikio blog rankings are out for March (data from February).  Here are the top 20 in the Religion and Belief category, with the overall ranking in brackets.

The big movers this month are the Mouse (up 21 places since last month), Lesley Fellows, who moves up 40 places and takes a top five spot for the first time, Epiphenom (up 43 places since last month) and Clayboy (up 50 places).   The Ugley Vicar and Bishop Alan's blog both drop out of the top 20, largely due to lack of posting, making way for Catholic and Loving It and Adrian's Blog.

1	The Church Mouse Blog (78)
2	Islam in Europe (126)
3	eChurch Blog (133)
4	Bartholomew's Notes on Religion (145)
5	Lesley's Blog (154)
6	The hermeneutic of continuity (167)
7	Epiphenom (173)
8	Anglican Mainstream (179 - but it's not a blog!!)
9	The Freethinker (202)
10	Phil's Treehouse (206)
11	Clayboy (242)
12	Thinking Anglicans (245)
13	Nick Baines's Blog (280)
14	Adrian's Blog (329)
15	An Exercise in the Fundamentals of Orthodoxy (345)
16	Of course, I could be wrong... (348)
17	Apologetics 315 (362)
18	The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley (368)
19	The Cartoon Blog (400)
20	Catholic and Loving it! (402)

Mouse in the Guardian on the census

Mouse contributed to the Guardian's Comment is Free section yesterday with a piece on the religion question in the census.

My contribution essentially said that the humanist campaign to get people to tick 'No Religion' is pointless, as obviously people should tick the right box for them, but that there's nothing wrong with ticking 'Christian' due to a religious identity, even if you are not sure of your religious beliefs or practices.

Mouse's main point is that the BHA's campaign is based on the claim that government policy is directly formed off the back of the religion question in the census, which is clearly not true.  In fact, the government have announced that this will be the last census, as they don't see the point of it.

It is a shame that Mouse's piece was published just before Theos rubbished the campaign too, describing it as 'misconceived' and 'patronising'.

Humanist census campaign neutered

Mouse commented a while ago about the campaign from the British Humanist Association to boost the numbers ticking the "no religion" box in the next census.  Mouse reckoned it was a waste of time, and a little dishonest to argue that government policy is formed directly off the back of the result.

However, the campaign funds were raised and the campaign launched, despite Mouse's advice.

But it has rather hit the buffers this week.

The first problem came with the bus adverts.  The slogan "If you're not religions, for God's sake say so" was deemed potentially offensive by the Committee of Advertising Practice, and so the slogan was changed to "Not religions? In this year's census, say so."  Not quite as punchy in Mouse's view.


Mouse was actually surprised that the bus companies wanted to get involved at all, after comments from one of the largest bus companies last year that they didn't want to go near this sort of thing again after all the fuss with the atheist bus campaign three years ago.  Nichols Shaw from First Group said that the amount of money they made from the campaign was nowhere near enough to compensate for the level of pain they experienced in dealing with all the complaints and media attention.

The next problem came from the railways, when the company which runs train stations decided they didn't want to be part of the campaign either.  The BHA is up in arms that they are being censored, which of course they are not.  If they want to be rude and patronising, there is no obligation on private companies to support them in their efforts.

However, Mouse must say in their defence that he doesn't think the adverts are offensive.  So in the interest of balance, Mouse offers up guidance from the BHA which he considers nonsense.  Here is an example of the offending adverts.

Friday round up

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

1. Gavin Drake showed up some major news outlets with his analysis of the Christian foster case

2. Clayboy reckons Rowan Williams was stitched up

3. Lesley Fellows takes a leaf out of Mouse's book and updates us on the top twittering clergy

4. Cranmer on equality and fairness

5. Maggi Dawn on Rob Bell and an extraordinary media frenzy about a book nobody has read

6. George Pitcher reckons the control freaks are telling you what to think

7. Eddie Arthur posts the stunning video of Shahbaz Bhatti

8. More from Lesley Fellows on Facebook sin

9. The Church Sofa on whether your church is a PC or a Mac (one for the geeks)

10. Will and Testament with an obituary of Peter Gomes

Parish notice: new mobile Mouse

Just a quick notice to let Mouse readers know that Mouse has set up a new mobile format for this blog for those readers who visit the website via a mobile device.  If you visit from a mobile device you should automatically find a mobile version, which is simpler and easier to read.

Mouse set up a mobile site a few months ago, but accidentally deleted it, and found it rather hard work to set it up again.  Feedback on the new feature would be welcome.

The decade of evangelism in numbers

The wonderful BRIN site has details of some statistical analysis of the decade of evangelism.

Previous research based on Church of England data indicated that "the majority of dioceses were performing less effectively at the end of the decade than at the beginning, in terms of a range of membership statistics".

Mouse hasn't read that research so cannot comment.  What is more interesting, and new, is some further analysis on diocesan statistics between 1990 and 2000.  The 1990s were a pretty dire decade in terms of Church of England attendance statistics, and it is no surprise whatsoever that all dioceses showed decline.

However, they did decline at different rates, and the analysis performed was to identify 62 predictor variables and to see which were correlated with high relative decline and low relative decline.  BRIN summarise:

The upshot of this analysis is that, as revealed in tables 3 and 4, several policy-related factors are shown to have been positively associated with church growth (or, more pertinently in this context, a reduced speed of church decline) at the diocesan level during the 1990s. They were:

- the number of non-stipendiary clergy
- the number of female clergy
- the number of planned subscribers
- overall diocesan income
- charitable giving as a proportion of total diocesan expenditure

Now, the paper is not yet available, so Mouse cannot read the details behind this, but it is rather interesting.  It is no surprise that dioceses with more money did better, but the others will probably raise some eyebrows.

BRIN also point out that the number of church closures was negatively correlated, implying that resisting church closures had a positive effect, although Mouse wonders whether this is cause or effect.

Mouse hopes this kind of analysis continues, and becomes publicly available.  It is pretty shocking that we don't have more hard evidence to support opinions on what makes churches grow or shrink.