Penetrated by the enemy's ideas
By The Reverend Dr Peter Mullen
The philosopher and poet T.E. Hulme says that an institution is never
utterly defeated until it is penetrated by the ideas of its enemies. The
example given by Hulme is France in the 18th century. He says:
The Revolution in France came about not so much because the forces which
should have resisted were half-hearted in their resistance. They themselves
had been conquered intellectually by the theories of the revolutionary side.
The privileged class is beaten only when it has lost faith in itself, when
it has been penetrated by the ideas that are working against it.
The Church of England does that all the time. Let me give you a very
up-to-date example. I shall be quoting from what is billed as a multimedia
campaign called Love Life Live Lent promoted by the Archbishop of Canterbury
and the Archbishop of York. They urge us to text the word Lent to phone
number 64343 to begin receiving suggestions for action during Lent. Already
you feel yourself turning queasy.
The justification for this stunt is provided by the noted intellect
Archbishop Sentamu who informs us that:
Recent research has shown that generosity is a key ingredient in making
neighbourhoods flourish
Gerraway! Well, it sure beats going round and smacking your neighbours
across the chops. But did we need research to tell us this? Who paid for the
research?
The Church?
What we are supposed to do in this jolly wheeze is send off for booklets
with a smiling orange on the front.
There is a children's version and there is an adult version - which gives
pause for thought. And in these booklets we are given spiritual things to do
in the great penitential season of Lent. These spiritual things include: Go
to a party...Leave a coin in a shopping trolley...Make someone laugh...Have
a meat- free day...Wear a smile....Share a treat...Give someone a hug. It's
more hilarious even than contemplating the Bishop of Southwark chucking toys
out of the back of a car.
I have one or two questions. Why should I leave a coin in a trolley? The
next user might be Mohammad Al Fayed or Victoria Beckham. Give someone a
hug? What when the Church has just issued that code of conduct for clergy
which says we shouldn't lay hands on anyone? Make someone laugh? Oh well, I
know how to do that: ask him to phone a bishop.
By such glossy, trashy gimmicks we see the abyss into which the mind of the
Church has descended. It is a mixture of greetings card type sentimentality,
cheap advertising cliché with a slice of environmentalism and vegetarianism.
Nothing to do with Lent. Nothing to do with the Christian faith at all. It
actually emasculates the faith and undermines the Church by camouflaging
them as something else, something alien.
It amounts to an act of unfaithfulness to Jesus Christ who never hinted that
he wished his Church to disguise its true identity in this way.
The point is that no one forced the Church to commit such an act of
betrayal. The Church itself decided to go in for this pantomime - just as it
has in the past decided to throw out its best Bible and its best Prayer
Book, to conspire with the new sexual ethics and to hitch its wagon to every
passing enthusiasm from CND to Climate Change.
As if the Church of Christ did not have enemies enough without shooting
itself so repeatedly in the foot.
There is a progressive secular culture in Britain today which wishes to see
Christianity extinguished. To his credit the Archbishop of York has warned
us against secularisation. But then he goes and puts his name to this Lenten
jape - thus revealing the sheer power of doublethink.
But some of the enemies of the Church are those who were once our friends. I
refer to many of the City institutions and the finance houses. Until very
recently these institutions were pleased to help our churches financially,
because they regarded themselves as part of the historic Christian culture -
indeed their own charters and codes of practice had their origin in
traditional English Christianity. But now, out of the prevailing
political-correctness, many will not support religion at all.
I will give just one example which is so bizarre that you will think I'm
making it up. But I'm not. You couldn't make it up. St Michael's takes
health and safety seriously, so we asked our architect to design a handrail
for our front steps. This has received the approval of the Diocesan Advisory
Committee and so I am applying to the City of London Bridge House Trust who
have a record of funding these health and safety measures.
I spoke to Jenny over the phone. She described herself as a small claims
assistant and she told me the rules.
The upshot is that the Bridge House Trust just might sponsor our church for
part of the cost of the handrail so long as none of this money is reckoned
to support Christian worship. I mean they just might pay for that proportion
of the handrail that is used by people who come to organ recitals or who
drift in to gawp at the ceiling; but none of it can be reckoned against the
usage by people who come to services on Sundays or weekdays.
This is just one nasty example of the way that institutions which originally
and for centuries owed their identity and self-understanding to the
Christian Faith are now active enemies of the Faith. So we see everywhere
the Church under vicious attack from the secularists who wish to abolish us.
And we see - as in the silly business about that Lent programme and the
discarding of the real Bible and the real Prayer Book - we see the Church
actually aiding its secular enemies.
I have told you before from this pulpit. There is a war on. We are fighting
for the very survival of the Christian Faith in our nation. This is not
rhetorical
flourish: it is the bitter unexaggerated truth. It is illegal to teach
Christianity in state schools.
Christian symbols are frequently proscribed. The government legislates in a
way that penalises marriage in favour of adulterous liaisons and
fornication. The Catholic Church is victimised in the adoption rules.
Sunday is abolished. God and Christ are blasphemed every hour on radio and
television.
So what is to be done? We held a meeting of St Michael's Foundation last
week and discussed these things. There were a lot of brainy people there and
there was much talk about analysis and strategy. Well of course we need to
think straight and plan our mission and outreach properly. But the history
of the last forty years is fatuous initiatives. I remember Call to the
North. Flop. I recall George Carey's Decade of Evangelism. Was that deaf aid
of evangelism. During the Decade of Evangelism Church attendance fell faster
than ever. You want to make the devil laugh? Ask the bishops to dream up a
new wheeze.
Christianity is not a new management scheme. It is not a discussion group
for middlebrow enthusiasts. It is not a disguised political programme. It
does not exist in order to add pleasant aesthetic sensations to civic pride.
It is not a metaphor for anything. There is only one remedy, one thing to
do. This is to turn to God in our private prayers every day and to devote
ourselves to Christ here in the Blessed Sacrament. Pray fervently for a
closer walk with God. Remember this: the worse the persecution gets, the
more we shall thrive. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.
The Reverend Dr Peter Mullen
For The Daily Reckoning
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MARKET REVIEW: New boom coming...from the Mideast
"Interest [on loans] is usury and usury is prohibited".
- Granted this is not the kind of line you're likely to hear from your high
street mortgage adviser. But then this is not lending as we now it. It is
lending Sharia style, lending compliant with Quranic law, lending that is
designed to help connect over one quarter of the world's population to the
international financial system and lending that just might help build
bridges in the fractured relationship between the West and the Islamic
world...or so its promoters maintain.
- The quote came from a man who should know, Mohamed Elgar - Sharia law
adviser and Islamic Economics professor at the King Abdulaziz University,
Saudi Arabia. He mentioned too speculation is also prohibited
- a rule that would at a single stroke account for a vast swathe of City
activity.
- Instead the professor spoke of Sharia-style financial transactions in
terms of morality with the concepts of partnership, community banking,
social responsibility and Quranic ethics being core themes. Your jaded
editor was momentarily confused. Pondering the local dog eat dog landscape
of private equity, hedge funds et al, this seemed like lofty stuff
indeed...should one nod sagely at its higher purpose or laugh out loud...
- A Sharia compliant loan is called a Sukuk and there are over 70 kinds Mr
Elgar informed his youthful audience at the London School of Economics. A
Sukuk is structured in a way that makes it 'income sharing'
between the two transacting parties.
- There are high hopes for the growth in Islamic Finance and with 1.6bn
muslims and a bountiful torrent of petrodollars, who can doubt the
potential. Former Bank of England governor Eddie George certainly recognised
the opportunity and was an early mover in encouraging its development. The
UK even boasts its own Islamic bank. Started in 2004 from modest premises in
London's Edgware Road, it now boasts eight branches around the country and a
stock market listing. The word is spreading, in spite of the first customer
turning out to be a non-Muslim.
- At a Christmas dinner last December I spoke with someone who was outraged
by the Nasdaq bidding for the London Stock Exchange. This was an
outrage...an open market policy gone too far! Hopefully this gentleman's
blood pressure has now dropped to less critical levels as the FT reports the
LSE may have escaped the clutches of its unwanted suitor. If so, this makes
Nasdaq the fourth bidder to be seen off by Clara Furse, the LSE's feisty
chief executive. Some record.
- The theme of Britain for sale features again today as leading British
industrialist Sir John Rose, chief executive of Rolls-Royce, warns
'Britain's willingness to sell vital industries to overseas businesses is
turning the country into an "aircraft carrier" for foreign companies. Others
have referred to it as the "Wimbledon Effect" ie We're outstanding at
hosting, less good at winning.
- A sigh of relief passed through markets on Thursday when the Bank of
England left interest rates on hold.
They signalled they've got a handle on inflation now following last month's
shock rise. The London market was cheered by the news and continued its
upward progress during the week and adding 100 points by Friday's close to
end at 6,382, a six year high.
- Meanwhile in Euroland the interest rate picture was a little different.
Jean Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, hinted that
eurozone rates would rise next month to 3.5%.
- In the world of currencies, the Pound has reached spitting distance of two
to one with the US Dollar. A Pound today is worth a little over $1.98. It
looks like a good time to shop at Uncle Sam's again...
- Elsewhere eyes have been on the Japanese Yen. With interest rates of just
0.25%, the Yen has long been a good currency to borrow in. The smart money
then sells it in exchange for higher yielding returns in other countries.
The problem is all this selling of the Yen makes it go down... To the point
where some people start getting upset... Indeed, the US Democrats are
accusing the Japanese of not playing fair. Sander Levin, Democrat spokesman
on trade, reckons they are deliberately keeping it weak as this helps their
export-led economy. "Japan is clearly following policies to maintain a weak
Yen", he says. Reassuring to consider the US, for its part, maintains a
strong Dollar policy. The greenback is a mere 8% lighter against the Euro
and almost 11% lower against the
British Pound since this time last year...
- Finally, and most importantly to anyone who unfortunate enough to care an
iota about the (mis)fortunes of the English cricket team Down Under, there's
incredible news... We won a match against Australia! If any reader has any
acquaintance at all with hero of the hour Paul Collingwood (a spectacular
catch, two run outs and an unbeaten 120 runs) please pass on the heartfelt
congratulations of a success starved nation. Of course, there are two more
to play but for now let's just savour the moment...
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