The Trouble with Secularism

The other day I blogged about the curiously misunderstood relationship between politics and Christianity. Lo and behold in the week following, there has been a flurry of debate concerning the future role of Christianity in the state of Britain. It comes in the wake of an Evangelical Alliance think tank publishing their views about Prince Charles' desire to be "Defender of Faith" not just "Defender of the Faith", you can read about the story here.

So where do I stand in all this?

I want to go back to something I said in that earlier post I referred to:

Christianity is not about using political power and statutory authority to
enforce belief among non-believers. Do I believe God is calling all of humanity
to righteousness? Yes of course... but at the end of the day, every person has
to choose salvation for themselves... you can lead a horse to water but you
can't make it drink!

I'd be lying if I said I didn't want everyone in this land to know the love of Christ and accept his as their God... and I'd be disappointed if the people of this nation become stiff-necked and heart hearted and rejected God. However, if the people in their free will choose to do that... I don't believe in forcing them back by rule of law.

In fact, were Charles to get his way, I'd actually see it as an opportunity for the Church of England to get itself right before God. At the moment, because it is the state religion, the CofE has to take a broad view on many things. Due to the pressures put on it by its role as part of the state, it is not free to be what God would shape it to be. It can't be controversial.... because it has to be inclusive of every man woman and child of this nation. What is more, the higher echelons of the Church of England's infrastructure are shackled under secular authority. Every bishop or archbishop you see, is vetted by the Prime Minister... in the past I was ignorant of such things, but when Tony Blair came into power... he took the role much more seriously than other PM's. As I mentioned before, Blair's brand of Christianity appears to be a highly compromised one... which is inclusive of and contaminated by other religious philosophies. It's disturbing when somebody of that caliber starts moving his yes men into positions of authority within the church.

You may ask what right has a religion to force it's views on the state? A fair question... and you already know my answer to that. I in turn now ask you what right the state has to interfere in matters of faith and doctrine?

The strongest advocate of secularism in the UK is unsurprisingly the National Secular Society. - an organization that I have special vitriol for. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with people choosing atheism or humanism as an option... but the NSS is a different creature. In the past, it has lobbied the UN to pursue a "Freedom from Religion" policy instead of the current UN policy of "Freedom of Religion". What that basically means is that religion being a personal thing, could only be exercised in the home or a place of worship. Speaking in a public forum on religious matters would be illegal... which technically I would assume would class this blog as illegal too.

Now the National Secular Society boasts being made up of the greatest atheistic/humanistic minds of our generation... people like Professor Richard Dawkins. With all this grey matter at their disposal, I would have thought the fundamental flaw of their argument was obvious. By pressurize governments and the UN for such a proposal, they become the very monster they have accused organized religion of being. They are trying to force people to comply to their own narrow minded point of view.

Not subscribing to a religion doesn't make you objective in your arguments here... because you are still expressing a point of view. Atheism, agnosticism, and humanism are subjective. It is therefore wrong for people who follow those paths, to impose a gagging order on people who think differently. Do we really want to walk down the footpath that China and North Korea have walked along for so long? I think not. Freedom of religion works fine. The National Secular Society should learn to grow up and shut up on such issues... and put their minds towards more productive matters.

The Bible says that Faith without deeds is dead... but I would say that the same goes for Reason. If you have been gifted with intelligence, use it to benefit God (should you believe in him) and/or mankind. Don't use the talents you have been given to further a paranoid agenda.

Returning from the Lakes

Well I'm back... and what's more, I'm relatively unscathed. I will post photographs shortly but I am waiting for a few from a mate who is still on holiday. Here is a brief run down of events as I perceived them:

Friday 13th October
Set off about 4:45 from Alcester after being picked up by Mike... who was driving his father's car (which incidentally received a good, sound thrashing with a horse chestnut branch by Rob's 2 year old daughter - Katie). The journey was for the most part uneventful... I tried to wave at pretty ladies passing by in other cars on the motorway, purely to bide the time... but alas I was stuck on the driver's side and we stayed on the right for extensive periods. We arrived in millom at 9.30pm ate a sandwich and turned in. Curiously for me, I had no trouble sleeping.

Saturday 14th October
We awoke to a glorious sunny day and decide to do potentially the toughest walk first... a steep ascent up Kirk Fell... something like 10 meters vertical for every meter forwards. When we got to the top I was relieved, but then we looked across to Great Gable whose summit was shrouded in mist... and we decided to ascend that too. I don't know about you, but the way I tackle mountains psychologically is to remind myself that you go up and that is as worse as it gets... then it's all downhill (which I find easy). I found the next bit hard going because we descended into a valley quite sharply... only to come back up again at a similar rate to before. I think my brain was shot to hell and back because I was finding it hard to go upward... however having reached the top I found it an easy descent... and was teased horribly by Rob because several girls we came across on a couple of occasions were eyeing me up at various points on the way down... much to Mike's chagrin (poor old Mike thought I was irrepressible enough as it was), still I did enjoy the attention... and it did take my mind off the seemingly arduous climb I had endured. On the way down it was unbearably hot... the sky was sapphire blue and the sun beat down on us. We couldn't believe it was the middle of October, it felt more like midsummer. We went to the pub for our first evening meal. A wonderful pub outside of Millom called the King William - worthy of a plug for it's wonderful atmosphere and even more wonderful food. The landlord and his family are quitting this year... so if you want to sample the delights of real food... go now, while you still can. There is a nice, warm and friendly atmosphere and if you can bare the odd coarse joke... you will find it a pleasant refuge and according to Mike (our resident real ale drinker) a good local brew! We discovered that a small chapel we passed on the way back to the car (during the walk), was the burial place of British expeditionary mountaineers. Originally the church had not been used for burial purposes due to the presence of what the landlord called "evil spirits" (I find it amazing that people of the rural north are a lot more matter of fact about such things than other people elsewhere.... they just take it for granted as an everyday occurrence where most people just view it as superstition). With a hearty meal of cajun chicken followed by sticky toffee pudding inside me I headed for bed.

Sunday 15th October
A much more relaxing walk occurred on this day... up to the Heart of Fell. It was my kind of walk as we had plenty of variety. Yes, we had the climbs... but we also had to traverse woodland, brooks and streams. We got to the summit and looked down through the haze at the tiny villages below. We could just about make out the remains of the Roman Hard Knot Fort... I was amazed that something similar to that once stood in my hometown. The decent down was an interesting one. Mike went over on his foot and had a slight twinge... I'm lucky in that respect, my feet turn over quite often... but they never seem to pick up injury when they should be thrown out of whack. The second event was my attempt to emulate Bruce Banner's transformation into the Hulk. As we came down to a treacherous path there was a distinct tearing sound - a flaw in the fabric of my new trousers had resulted in them tearing from knee to groin! I had to wait until we were on the flat ground below, before I could get my waterproofs on over the top of them. Fortunately we did not pass anyone coming up the other way... and far more importantly it was yet another warm day. Dinner this evening consisted of salmon steak and apple pie for pudding. Mike's had been specially crafted with an "M" due to a comment made in jest at his expense the night before... he dared NOT have apple pie.

Monday 16th October
The day got off to a wondrous start. My TARDIS alarm on my mobile phone woke me up as usual; however, I noticed that Rob was still beneath me in the bunk below. Not wanting to unduly disturb him I reached for my phone on the shelf opposite... bad move. I pawed the air two or three times but became unbalanced and fell right out of the top bunk. there was a loud thud... so loud that Steve (downstairs in the kitchen) had thought the entire bunk had tipped over. In fact, I had actually crashed to the ground head first... my cranium absorbing the entire force of impact. Unusually I was facing the opposite way to the way I flipped.... a mystery have still been unable to fathom. Miraculously there were no injuries... although some would no doubt argue that where there is no sense, there is no feeling. 90 minutes later and I was clambering up Black Combe Fell, the oldest peak in the area. The rest of the day passed without incident and I went o bed after consuming lamb in redcurrant and rosemary sauce, followed by the now almost obligatory sticky toffee pudding.

Tuesday 17th October
Today we decided to explore the woodland outside of Millom which was fun for various reasons... especially when we reached a perimeter fence for a quarry. At first it felt like we were in Narnia because we kept stumbling across seemingly random lamppost in the thin wood. Eventually we passed by the quarry - which both Rob and myself started getting James Bondesque feelings about... as we gazed over the wooden fence, you could easily imagine Ernst Stavro Blofeld having a secret base beneath the surface. As we followed the woodland away from the quarry, it started to get all ethereal and enchanted. It felt like something out of the 80's ITV series Robin of Sherwood... in fact, I swear I saw Hern the Hunter more than once... but maybe I was still hallucinating from the blunt force trauma to the head from the previous morning. Mike was suddenly possessed by an urge to run (this isn't a mike like thing to do) and sprinted ahead of Rob to the top of a tower... and collapsed. We had our lunch atop the platform and headed back to the town. On the way down, Mike again took a tumble and injured his foot... having to limp back the rest of the way - this turned out to be a major disadvantage when we reached a patch of farmland where two bulls looked on us with disgust and more than just a hint of an evil glint in their eyes. Fortunately for us they couldn't be bothered to do anything - good job too, because with one man lame and a field full of bulls on the other side of the wall, who Rob had proceeded to wind up (safe in the false knowledge that the wall protected us), we had nowhere to run. For my last meal at the pub, I ate chicken breast cooked in a red wine sauce... very nice - followed by the now unavoidable sticky toffee pudding.

Wednesday 18th October
I was very nervous today. I had been told we were going up Jake's Rake - which sounded daunting enough... but with my overactive imagination going into hyperdrive... all attempts to disarm my state of panic just exacerbated my fears. As we trudged up the steep hill (twice crossing the river Ghyll), my brain was seriously trying to discourage me and I was losing heart rapidly. We crossed paths twice with some cadets. Now bearing in mind I have no military training and was scared stiff of falling off the mountain, I am especially proud of what happened next. Steve recommended Jake's Rake to the cadets as they supped on their coffee. We passed by them and headed for the Rake - 150ft of vertical climb - for the most part wedged between two walls of rock - but occasionally surfacing out with 500ft sheer drops to the left. We scaled it in about 15-20 minutes (I'm told I did very well - managing to do it practically all with no assistance and transferring my bodyweight onto my arms in some tight spots that required it - although I put that down to pure adrenaline). Where had the cadets gone? That's right... they'd chickened out like wusses and headed for Easy Gully - a relative stroll. Having reached the top of the mountain, we began to work our way back to the car... but not before trying another peak. I was yomping off ahead of the others because I was hearing girls voices and wanted to investigate the sound of these sirens that was coming to us across the mists. Alas we caught up with them as they were coming down from the next peak... with their boyfriends, but we exchanged pleasantries anyway - it pays to be polite! On the way down, Mike managed to yet again do in his foot... but the walk was almost at it's end and as we reached the car we tumbled in and set off from the mist covered mountains on a course that brought us back to our home in the lowlands. I sat on the left this time and managed to smile and wave at a few more fair maidens - who smiled back... what can I say? It passes the time!

Here endeth my chronicling of events in the Lake District 2006.

Off to the Lakes

Righto I'm off shortly for a brief sojourn in Millom and the Lake District.

I'm packed and ready to go and all the striding around I;ve been doing in the absence of a car, should stand me in good stead for the likes of Jake's Rake and whatever else Steve, Rob, Mike and myself attempt to scale!

You can see some of last year's escapades here. I'll try and bring back some fancy shots this time. Weather is looking good for October and we should be above the cloud on a couple of occasions if we are fortunate.

It'd be good to see some goodwill messages for when I return.

God bless you all in my absence.

Nick (Pictured below: Nick, Steve, Mike)

The Truth About Christianity and Politics

I heard a good one the other day:

A man dies and and ends up meeting St. Peter at the gates of heaven. As they walk together along the vast corridor leading to heaven itself... the man notices clocks on the wall and asks St. Peter what they relate to.

"Oh" says Peter "they are Lie clocks!"

The man looks bemused and asks Peter to explain...

Peter continues "The clocks record how much people lie - the further on in time from 12 noon the time shows... the greater the time on the clock. You see over there? That's Mother Teresa's clock... as you can see, it's only 5 past 12 so she only told a few lies. Over there is Abraham Lincoln... who at 5 to 1 has told a few more but isn't too bad."

The man, who was English on Earth is curious and so asks St. Peter where Tony Blair's clock is...

Peter solemnly replied "Tony Blair;'s clock? Oh yes, it's in Jesus' office... he uses it as a desk fan!"

It doesn't matter what you think of Tony Blair... that is fairly irrelevant to what my post is about. Although his political stance is at the very centre of what I am addressing.

In the modern world, it is very easy to label Christianity as a whole as being authoritarian right wing... especially as the leading politicians who appear to subscribe to it, are largely neo-conservatives.

I'm a Christian...

... I'm not neo-conservative.

My economic views are largely left wing and I am ever so slightly liberal according to the political compass. In fact it would appear I am diametrically opposed to Tony Blair, George W. Bush and the like. I get annoyed because people bang on about Blair being a Christian, but conveniently forget that he reads the Koran, wears a Hindu charm bracelet and has a new age spiritual advisor. In fact Tony Blair describes himself as an Anglo-catholic charismatic... which practically covers every base as far as Christian denominations are concerned. Whatever Blair believes, it is clear that he is keen to have a finger in every pie... so he can appeal to as many people with differing beliefs as possible. the question is, is that just canny politics... or is it spiritual prostitution? Whichever is true of him, I offer a stark warning: those who appear to try and stand for everything... are often the ones who inf act stand for nothing at all.

So what do I think about Christianity and politics?

Christianity is not about using political power and statutory authority to enforce belief among non-believers. Do I believe God is calling all of humanity to righteousness? Yes of course... but at the end of the day, every person has to choose salvation for themselves... you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink!

Of course I want EVERYONE to drink from the living waters found in Jesus Christ... but I am convinced they need to do that out of choice and not be politically levered into it.

I am very skeptical about people who go into party politics. Politics itself is a career path for people who desire power... and no matter how noble their intentions at starting out, no matter what they desired that power for... the old saying remains true - power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Does that mean I believe Christians should remain politically inactive and silent on issues that concern them? No, not at all. Some of the greatest forces for political change, were not politicians themselves: Gandhi, Martin Luther King, the suffragettes - just some examples of people who were not politicians... but who irrevocably changed the nature of politics in their lifetimes.

If you want to use politics to advance the Gospel message, then the best way is not to debate about morality... but to use your resources to benefit the poor and needy It says in James 1:27 that:

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

How wonderful is that? People should not identify Christians primarily by their political stance... but by their love!

Take care of people's physical, emotional and psychological needs and sooner or later they will ask you why you do it. The reason why we do it is because we love them and God loves them and we want them to know it in every way.

Pest Control for the Soul

Things are starting to stir at church at the moment and it is quite exciting. We may be just a ragtag band of regulars, but there is a sense that God's promises - made so long ago... are back on the horizon.

In my earlier blog of two weeks ago, I mentioned that there was a sense of solidarity at the funeral for Lilly (incidentally, people are still coming to the church and laying flowers on her grave), and I have to wonder if this was merely a foretaste of things far off.

I used to pray for big things in timid ways, but I've been convicted of that recently. I should be a lot bolder and last week i decided to put this into practice. I trudged the 2.5 mile trek to church and prayed that God would feed us with his Spirit. I doubted not.

The service was immensely powerful... as we sang "Come, Now is the Time to Worship", a storm passed directly over the church and when the song finished there was an almighty clap of thunder... but that isn't the only thing I heard, I heard the word "COME!"

When you get an invitation from the Almighty, you don't mess about. Since that time, there has been an increase in prayer among people at church... and I personally have felt God's p[resence much more strongly. This is the time. I get the feeling that the dinner bells are ringing and the doors are opening. This is when the people of God have to come back and start eating the banquet... because they need to be ready for what is coming afterwards. Dare we hold back and remain in the playground any longer... letting the gracious meal provided for us go cold? Dare we?

Today's bible reading came from Joel 2:21-27:

"Be not afraid, O land; be glad and rejoice. Surely the LORD has done great things. Be not afraid, O wild animals, for the open pastures are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches. Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed."

I've spoken before about how I believed God would do that for me personally, as well as the church generally. The autumnul rains have now both literally and metaphorically begun and God is raining down mercies upon me. Pest control is now firmly in place. My locusts are being severely culled and my personal harvest is being restored.

A scripture was laid on my heart all through Wednesday:

"A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all"

Now I want to point out here that I only consider myself righteous through the grace of God... there is nothing in myself that is deserving of having that title bestowed upon me. I want to put the emphasis on God here... because I've had that passage on my heart before... and I believe God was this time telling me that he is making good on that promise... and so I credit him and him alone with the glory.

I have decided that I am going to keep a financial record on this blog, once a month to illustrate to you... just one way, how this is going. I've always maintained an open door policy towards blogging. If something is going horribly wrong... I tell you... if however God is performing wonders... I tell you that too!

So here we go:

Current debt: £3,100+ interest
Current Status: 12 months to final payment @£310 a month.

The first payment comes out on November 2nd. You will receive an update then!

A Day of Atonement

Today is the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), and although I'm not jewish... today has seen an atonement of sorts for me personally.

No, I didn't fast for 25 hours or follow any of the practices of modern Judaism... and I certainly didn't have any bulls or goats sacrificed on my behalf in Jerusalem... for as a Christian, I believe that Jesus' death outside Jerusalem has paid for my sin... or as Matt Redman once put it - the cross has said it all!

Anyway, I digress. The atonement I speak of today is a financial one. Today, the last direct debit on my penultimate loan came out... and siezing the moment, I took the opportunity to alter my final outstanding loan. I will no longer have to wait 18 months to be free... by God's grace I have reduced the timescale down to a maximum of 12 months... and I have changed the nature of my loan, so that I can pay extra amounts if I choose to. Optimistically I could well get the heck out of Dodge by late summer next year!

Glory to God!

OK, so you could argue that I'm ahead of myself here... I'm not free yet, after all. However, to cite an example:

In the United States of America, Independence Day is celebrated on the 4th
July... but the historical fact is that independence had not been secured on
that day. The war did not end... and my people did not recognise
the Declaration of Independence until over 7 years later.

In the same way as America's founding fathers served notice on Britain, I have served notice to my own tyrants... though my enemies are not flesh and blood... but fiscal.

"No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power tyrants and dictators cannot stand. The Centauri learned that lesson once. We will teach it to them again. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free." - Citizen G'Kar (Babylon 5 Season 2: The Long Twilight Struggle)

Again I want to use this post as a rally cry to those struggling in sin, debt or any weakness. If I can be free, then any of you can be free... all of you can be free!

You don't have to write what your problem is here... but send me a comment with just your name in it... that can be YOUR signature in your own personal declaration of independence from whatever problems ail you. If your name goes in here... not only are you making your pledge to fight for yourself.... but you have my word that I will at the very least say a prayer for you.

If you want to be free of your chains then give them to Jesus, for this is why he came:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

If you don't feel in a position to do that then lay them here at this door and be assured that those who follow Christ and read this blog... will take up your cause with you. I fundamentally believe that whatever weighs you down today... be it guilt, sin, hurt, fear, illness, bitterness, loss, rejection, neglect, abuse... whatever it is... God would have you be free of it and I offer you the chance to cry out for that freedom here and now!

For freedom's sake write down your name.

God bless you... whatever you decide

N