THE DAILY MAIL:
‘LIVING ON A PRAYER: Can God help you survive the slump or pick a party dress? More women believe the answer is yes…’
- by Angela Buttolph; The Daily Mail, February 9, 2009
More women are turning to God for help with their looks as well as their spiritual well being:
- A Daily Mail article shows how one Christian fashionista is finding God playing an increasingly important part in her everyday decisions, such as picking a dress for an important event.
- ‘I just knew: Jesus is my stylist,’ writes Angela Buttolph in the Mail (Feb 9, 2009). ‘I really don’t pray about my clothes that often. But I don’t see fashion as something I can’t pray about. I think God cares about what I care about.’
- ‘A lot of women are starting to realise that a cupboard full of Louboutins won’t protect you from life’s ups and downs either. We all hide behind material things a little; it can give a feeling of safety and security, and provide a glossy facade of contentment and success, when everything isn’t always OK.’
- ‘There are probably villages and groups of friends and rugby clubs doing similar things (setting up small groups who look after eachother), but I’ve only ever found that kind of tight-knit community at church. And I can’t help thinking that is something that won’t ever go out of fashion.’
To read more of this article in the Daily Mail please click HERE.
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IS THERE A GOD?
THE DAILY MAIL: ’THERE DEFINITELY IS A GOD: CHRISTIANS HIT BACK AT ATHEIST BUSES WITH OWN ADVERT’
- by Danny Brierley, The Daily Mail, February 5, 2009
Forget the large M&S ads featuring Twiggy – the ads everybody wants to see on London’s legendary doubledeckers feature the Lord:
- In recent months Christians and atheists have been fighting it out over different poster campaigns and whether there is a God seems to depend on what bus route you live on….
- The latest campaign by Christian groups saying ‘There definitely is a God, so join the Christian party and enjoy your life’ is in response to the atheist sponsored campaign saying ‘There probably is no God, now stop worrying and enjoy your life.’
- Both campaigns have been launched to much fanfare and one driver even refused to drive a bus sponsored by the atheists, headed up bythe promient atheist Professor Richard Dawkins.
Let us know what bus you’d rather get on…. To read more please click HERE.
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THE CATHOLIC HERALD: ’THE CHURCH IS READY TO EASE
THE PAIN’
- by Bishop John Jukes OFM Conv, retired auxiliary bishops of Southwark; The Catholic Hearald, January 16, 2009
The downturn reminds Bishop John Jukes of the worst days of the Eighties – but there is practical and spiritual advice:
- ‘The urgent proble is the loss of confidence in the financial organisation of many countries across the world to deliver and sustain a trustworthy framework of credit.’
- The Church insists that efforts to correc this imbalance in society inclue an acknowledgement of the relation between morality and economics, and an acceptance of the demands arising from the observance of true justice.’
- ‘The Government may no “do God”, as one of its servants notoriously affirmed, but in our world the state will encourage disaster should it be indifferent to the imperative of right conduct based in justice.’
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THE TIMES: ’DARWINIAN THINKING CLARIFIES
AND DEEPENS RELIGIOUS FAITH’
- by Michael Reiss, Professor of Science Education, University of London, and a priest in the Church of England; The Times, January 3, 2009
An eloquent piece in favour of Darwinism, as we celebrate 200 years since his birth, and Christianity, by Reiss, a Christian and academic with a background in evolutionary biology:
- ‘So why do I, with a fairly conventional Christian faith, albeit someone with an academic background in evolutionary biology, believe that a Darwinian worldview matters more than ever?’
- ‘Above all, Darwin decentres humanity…we are not the centre of the Universe.’
- ‘There are many who find a Darwinian view of life incompatible with their understanding of God’s action in the world.’
- ‘In my opinion the Darwinian worldview is not just compatible with religious faith, but deepens it and makes aspects of it more intelligible.’
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LONDON EVENING STANDARD:
‘WHY I’M NOW WILLING TO GIVE GOD A CHANCE’
- by Will Self, Comment writer, London Evening Standard, December 31, 2008
True to form, a sharp and ironic view of the Anglican Church and its attitude to women by Will Self:
- “As middle age enfolds me in its musty embrace I’m increasingly preoccupied by the deliberations of the Church of England.”
- ‘”Satanist?” the smiling vicar asks of a new – and horned – parishioner. ‘Jolly good, come along to the vicarage for coffee, we’re a very broad church, y’know’.”
- “I’m sure Rowan Williams is worldly enough to know that in a political church it’s not angels but humans who will decide the matter of women bishops – and that the liberals will win in time.”
- “Bizarrely, just as the Archbishop of Canterbury has become able, publicly, to countenance the idea of disestablishment, I find myself warming to what defenders of the Church of England have always seen as its unique role: to spiritually minister to all Britons, regardless of our faith, or even if we have none.”
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LONDON EVENING STANDARD:
‘THE CITY FACES UP TO A NEW AGE OF MORAL CAPITALISM’
- by Chris Blackhurst, City editor, London Evening Standard, November 21, 2008.
A fresh look at the humbling of the City and its relations with the rest of society by one of the City’s sharpest journalists:
- “The past few months have seen the City humbled.”
- “The sight of fellow Masters of the Universe – and that is how the City boys see themselves – begging for external assistance….has been terrifying.”
- “In City watering holes, the rest of society was treated with contempt.”
- “Adam Smith, the icon of free marketeers, wrote The Theory of Moral Sentiments, an overlooked work in which he dwelt on our need to help others less fortunate than ourselves, 17 years before his better-known Wealth of Nations.”
- “Capitalism is far from finished but ‘immoral capitalism’ just may be – and for that, despite the pain of the past few months, we must be grateful.”
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THE MAIL ON SUNDAY:
‘GOD, SCHOOLS AND TELEVISION’
- by Peter Hitchens, columnist, Mail on Sunday, online November 19, 2008.
A combative piece in favour of religion by Hitchins, brother of well-known atheist Christopher Hitchins. The piece is a mish-mash of God, schools and TV, but rich on memorable one-liners and some stinging arguments:
- “As for faith, we all require it in some things, or we should never get through the day.”
- “In these stories (in the Bible), we see the human condition examined and explained as nowhere else.”
- “A sound religious education provides coherent answers to … many questions, as well as connecting the child properly with the great traditions of literature, music, architecture and painting which underlie our far-from-accidental civilisation.”
- “Atheists continue to act as if it were an axiomatic thruth that scientific knowledge expels God from the universe.”
- “Science has precisely nothing to say about the existence of God.”
- “I’ve said many times publicly that I enjoy the company of atheists and am glad they are around because at least they take religion seriously. Most of them, in my view, are people who will eventually accept religion.”
