The God Blog
Religion, reason, belief and unbelief with Sholto Byrnes
Who are you calling anti-Semitic?
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 17 November 2009 17:43
The charge is grave. It must not be misused.
An Israeli soldier escorts Jewish settlers as they walk past Palestinian shops. Credit: Getty Images
Last night's Dispatches on Britain's Israel lobby was, as Mehdi Hasan posted earlier a bold programme for Channel 4 to commission. But it was a much needed one too, not least because of how the presenter, Peter Oborne, made clear the despicable way in which many have been seeking to equate any criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. He interviewed ...
A giant leap forward for Muslim women
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 11 November 2009 17:23
World's first female muftis to be appointed next year
While I was in the United Arab Emirates recently, the newspapers were dominated by a single subject -- the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. One of the first news items to clear F1 off the front page was a remarkable story that, to my surprise, does not appear to have been picked up anywhere in the British media. And that is that ...
Goldmans boss says he does "God's work"
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 09 November 2009 10:07
Who does he think he's kidding?
It was only on Friday that I posted on the proposition that "Jesus was a leftie" and included these words: "Feeble attempts to suggest that the Parable of the Talents show that Christ would want everyone to work at Goldman Sachs fail to convince, and in any case clearly miss the larger point."
But lo, it came to pass that only two ...
"Jesus was a leftie"
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 06 November 2009 17:37
So says Daily Mail star writer. Why will that annoy lefties so much?
I have been wondering for some time when the opportunity would arise to discuss whether Christianity has an inherently left-wing message. Now it has - and from an unexpected quarter. The Daily Mail's parliamentary sketchwriter, Quentin Letts, may be an occasional contributor to the NS, but it is fair to say that he is viewed with some suspicion in bien pensant ...
It's official: faith in science is a belief
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 04 November 2009 15:43
New legal ruling places it in the same category as religion
A judge has just ruled that green beliefs should be safeguarded under employment law designed to protect religious and philosophical beliefs in the workplace. Tim Nicholson, a former executive with the property firm Grainger, claimed that he was made redundant last year because of his strong environmental concerns. Mr Justice Burton has now given him the go ahead to take Grainger ...
Cameron on Blair and Europe
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 28 October 2009 10:53
A hit, a veritable hit!
I ask for readers' indulgence, because this is not a post about God, although it does concern a man who very much does "do" God these days -- Tony Blair. But I think both the Eurosceptics among NS readers (I'm sure there are some, as it is quite possible to be left-wing and suspicious of the EU, as I have argued ...
Jewish: or just Jew-ish?
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 27 October 2009 12:30
Furore over faith school discrimination
The UK's new "Supreme Court" (I'll leave aside my thoughts on the necessity of that) is due to consider whether JFS, formerly the Jewish Free School, in north London, broke race laws by refusing to admit a pupil whom it deemed to be not properly Jewish. The pupil's case is being supported by the JFS's own head of English, Kate Lightman, ...
The Pope's gift to Rowan Williams
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 26 October 2009 14:38
Let the Anglo-Catholics go. Time for C of E liberals to assert themselves
The Pope's "helpful" offer to Anglo-Catholics to leave the Church of England and form a special Anglican province under Rome provoked some interesting responses over the weekend. Writing in the Independent on Sunday Peter Stanford, a former editor of the Catholic Herald, asked if after 500 years the Pope had finally "outfoxed" Canterbury's archbishop, while in the Sunday Times the ...
Question Time BNP: Disgusted -- but by Griffin's fellow panellists
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 23 October 2009 13:10
They had the opportunity to show themselves to be better. And they blew it
I am the son of an immigrant. My close family includes Jews and Muslims as well as Christians. I oppose everything the BNP stands for. And I too feel disgusted about Nick Griffin's appearance on BBC1's Question Time on Thursday night - but not because he was invited to appear on a respected, high-profile national discussion programme. No. I am angry ...
Which Islam are you afraid of?
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 21 October 2009 13:43
Fear and obsession narrow the mind
It cannot have escaped the attention of anyone who regularly reads the blogs on the NS website, and particularly those of my colleague Mehdi Hasan, that many who post comments are obsessed with and fearful of Islam. When I blogged the other day about the American Justice of Peace who refused a marriage licence to a mixed race couple the first comment, ...
Mixed race marriage Bban
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 16 October 2009 17:02
Unbelievable -- and still happening today
I was going to blog today about Geert Wilders, but then my eye was caught by this astonishing story: "Anger at US mixed marriage 'ban". Keith Bardwell, a white Justice of the Peace in the US state of Louisiana, refuses to issue marriage licences for mixed race couples on the grounds that any children they may have may not be accepted ...
An ape on a cross and a black Jesus
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 12 October 2009 13:51
Will Christians find these works blasphemous?
The Privilege of Dominion. Credit: The Age of Marvellous
The contemporary art world is descending on London in time for the opening of the Frieze Art Fair in Regent's Park on Wednesday. It will be interesting to see how much reaction there is to two works in a show timed to coincide with it, "The Age of Marvellous", which is on at a deconsecrated church opposite the park. One of the ...
Veils of ignorance and fear
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 07 October 2009 18:36
What does loathing of the hijab really mean?
Peoples of all faiths and of none should cheer news that Egypt's religious authorities are expected to issue a ban on the wearing of the niqab, or face veil. During a visit to a girls' school in Cairo, says the BBC, "Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, dean of al-Azhar University, called full-face veiling a custom that has nothing to do with the Islamic ...
Gandhi and the Red Dean
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 02 October 2009 18:09
How the Mahatma won one schoolboy's gratitude
As the world, led by President Obama, celebrates what would have been the 140th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, I offer readers a short anecdote that an old acquaintance with a long memory told me in my teens. In 1931 the great man spent 12 weeks in Britain, and while he was here he paid a visit to the Dean of Canterbury, ...
Recession hits religion
Posted by Sholto Byrnes - 01 October 2009 18:09
A surprising report from the US
You might have thought that religions would be thriving, if that's quite the word, during the global recession. In hard times, it's easy to understand why non-believers might be tempted to turn to faith, if only as a kind of insurance policy. A report from America, however, "Religious life won't be the same after downturn", suggests that significant numbers of congregations ...
