Is the pope Catholic? Then these Christians say don’t pray with him

‘Leonardo De Chirico is in an ongoing argument with the Italian government about the “intrinsic characteristics” of religious buildings.’ Stick with it because this is more interesting and much more important than it might sound.

Are you WEIRDER? 68 questions

This one is just incredible. It’s much more than just 68 questions, but extremely helpful. It’s not exactly a review of Andrew Wilson’s book, it is making its own points, but it probably will make you consider getting yourself a copy.

A moment that changed me: I patronised a refugee – and he taught me an invaluable lesson

This is from a secular British newspaper, but it gives an insight into some of what we face (and some of the pitfalls) in working with asylum seekers and refugees. And it has more to say to us than just about asylum seekers. The same issue applies to any group of people we might be working with whose agency we might inadvertently diminish and then deeply patronise.

Is Islamism a threat to the UK?

John Stevens offers some very constructive and helpful thoughts in this one. You can take a look at the ‘about’ page on this blog to see get a sense of how I might view this too.

Is it ever right to lie? A God-centred approach

I’m not wholly sure what I make of this one. It comprehensively lays out its view and interacts with two common understandings of truthfulness from church history that many hold today. But it certainly will give you a lot of food for thought.

The long view of preaching

This is a helpful one encouraging us to think of preaching as valuable over the long term and not necessarily focus on the immediate impact of our sermons.

From the archive: What if we lost our charitable status?

‘In the UK, most churches operate as charitable organisations. Whilst historically the UK Charity Commission have typically accepted religious institutions – by virtue of being churches – these days, churches tend to have to prove that they actually perform some real charitable function to keep their charitable status. And, to be honest, I just don’t think that is at all unreasonable. I don’t see any particular reason that churches should receive tax benefits as a charity if they don’t perform any genuine public good. Even by my (probably) biased reckoning, what is charitable about merely existing as a church? It seems entirely reasonable to me that we should have to show some public good (whatever that may be and however we define that). But let’s say – just as the Labour Party are currently proposing in respect to Public Schools – that the government revoke charitable status for religious institutions by virtue of being what they are i.e. churches are no longer permitted to be charitable. What are we to say then?’