Category: Anglican

UK: Anglican cathedral hosts Grand Iftar ‘to show unity and peace’

By

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2024/04/uk-anglican-cathedral-hosts-grand-iftar-to-show-unity-and-peace; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:

How wonderfully generous, tolerant, ecumenical, and all that. A few questions: why are Christian services never, ever held in mosques? Why is the “outreach” only one way? Note also that “the Grand Iftar started in Bristol in 2017, shortly after the Manchester Arena bombing.” If a Christian screaming “Jesus is Lord” had committed a massacre in London, would a mosque host a Christian service “to show unity and peace”?

Also, do these Christians really think that this will change what the Qur’an teaches about Christ and Christianity?

Qur’an 98:4-6: “Nor were the people of the book divided until after the clear proof came to them. And they are not ordered to do anything else but serve Allah, keeping religion pure for him, as hanifs, and to establish prayer and to give alms. That is true religion. Indeed, the unbelievers among the people of the book and the idolaters will remain in the fire of Gehenna. They are the most vile of created beings.”

Qur’an 5:14: “And with those who say: Indeed, we are Christians, we made a covenant, but they forgot a part of what they were reminded about. Therefore we have stirred up enmity and hatred among them until the day of resurrection, when Allah will inform them of their handiwork.”

Qur’an 5:17: “They indeed have disbelieved who say, Indeed, Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary. Say, Who then can do anything against Allah, if he had been willing to destroy the Messiah son of Mary, and his mother and everyone on earth? To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them. He creates what he will. And Allah is able to do all things.”

Qur’an 4:157: “And because of their saying, We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the messenger of Allah, they did not kill him nor crucify him, but it seemed so to them, and indeed, those who disagree about this are in doubt about it, they have no knowledge of it except pursuit of a supposition, they did not kill him for certain.

Qur’an 4:171: “O people of the book, do not exaggerate in your religion or say anything about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and his word that he conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from him. So believe in Allah and his messengers, and do not say Three, Stop, it is better for you. Allah is only one God. It is far removed from his transcendent majesty that he should have a son. Everything that is in the heavens and everything that is on the earth is his. And Allah is sufficient as defender.”

Qur’an 5:116: “And when Allah said, O Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to mankind, Take me and my mother as two gods besides Allah? He said, Be glorified. It was not for me to say what I had no right to say. If I say it, then you know it. You know what is on my mind, and I do not know what is on your mind. Indeed, you, only you, are the knower of hidden things.”

Qur’an 19:35: “It is not fitting for Allah that he should take to himself a son. Glory be to him, when he decrees a thing, he says to it only, Be, and it is.”

Qur’an 9:30-31: “And the Jews say, Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say, The Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths. They imitate the statements of those who disbelieved before. May Allah curse them. How perverse they are. They have taken as lords besides Allah their rabbis and their monks and the Messiah, the son of Mary, when they were called to worship only one God. There is no God except him. May he be glorified from all that they ascribe as partners.”

Qur’an 9:29: “Fight against those who do not believe in Allah or the last day, and do not forbid what Allah and his messenger have forbidden, and do not follow the religion of truth, even if they are among the people of the book, until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.”

“Grand Iftar Takes Place In Bristol Cathedral Nave,” by Martin Booth, Bristol 24/7, April 5, 2024:

Dozens of people gathered in the nave of Bristol Cathedral for Bristol’s annual Grand Iftar.

Following the success of the Grand Iftar on College Green in 2023, the event inside the cathedral was a special collaboration between faith communities in Bristol with the theme of hope.

The evening was organized by Muslims4Bristol in partnership with Bristol Cathedral and Bridges for Communities.

One of the Grand Iftar organizers, Mohamed El Sharif, called the event “unique and historical”.

He said in a Facebook live video: “It’s to show unity and peace and is an interfaith event. This is the first Grand Iftar inside the cathedral, a historical event to happen here with all volunteers…

The Grand Iftar started in Bristol in 2017, shortly after the Manchester Arena bombing.

It has become an opportunity to celebrate Bristol’s diversity, with non-Muslims joining the celebrations to experience the breaking of the fast.

The Grand Iftar on Thursday night was sponsored by Feeding Bristol, Black2Nature, St Peter’s Hospice, IHRM and other community partners.

In recent years, the cathedral has been the location of light shows, concerts and film screenings, as well as a charity fire walk outside.

But none of these attracted the ire of below-the-line commenters, some of whom claimed that the Grand Iftar should not have been taking place in a Christian place of worship.

Protesters outside the cathedral carrying Palestinian flags also attempted to draw attention to political involvement in the event, with one banner saying: ‘Shame on the Labour Party." When you eat well, children in Gaza are being intentionally starved to death.’…

FORMER SOUTHERN BAPTIST, NOW ANGLICAN, APOSTATE Beth Moore Now Fellowships With Muslims, IN HER OWN CHURCH

 

Imam Stands in Pulpit at Beth Moore’s Church and Preaches From the Koran

By Publisher

SEE: https://disntr.com/2023/08/31/imam-stands-in-pulpit-at-beth-moores-church-and-preaches-from-the-koran/;Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Beth Moore, when she apostatized a few years ago and left a somewhat biblical denomination for a completely apostate denomination, made it clear that her intentions were to continue to rebel against God by performing the function and role of a pastor, which the Scriptures reserve for men.
Beth Moore has since joined St. Timothy’s Anglican Church in Spring, TX, which, similar in some ways to the Roman Catholic Church, appears to believe in the literal presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
Beth Moore has served as a lector during worship service at St. Timothy’s. According to at least one definition, in the Anglican Church, “The lector carries out his/her primary function during the Liturgy of the Word, proclaiming God’s Word to His people so that, strengthened by the words of Holy Scripture, they might come to a deeper love of God and a fuller Christian life.”

But in an even more shocking turn of events, Beth Moore’s church has now invited a Muslim Imam to come deliver a sermon and offer a prayer of worship in front of the church. This Imam came and took the pulpit—literally stood in the pulpit of this church where the pastor is supposed to proclaim the words of God—and instead stood there and profaned the Words of God and preached blasphemies from the Koran.

Is there room for discussion with Muslims and people of other religions as the pastor of this church claims? Of course. The Scriptures compel us to preach the unwavering, convicting truth and call the lost to repentance and faith. It does not, under any circumstances, call us to allow blasphemers to stand in our pulpits and address our congregations. This is spiritual malpractice at its worst.

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SEE ALSO:

Muslim Imam Preaches at Beth Moores Church

European Catholic & Anglican Churches Celebrating Ramadan & Iftar

France: Catholic church to host Ramadan iftar during Easter octave

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/04/france-catholic-church-to-host-ramadan-iftar-during-easter-octave;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Isn’t this wonderful? Now: when is the Easter celebration at the local mosque? What’s that? Never? These expressions of generosity and outreach always and in every case only go in one direction, and are never reciprocated. Now, why is that?

“Lille: during the Easter octave, we will celebrate iftar at the St-Pierre-St-Paul church,” translated from “Lille : durant l’octave pascale, on fêtera l’iftar à l’église St-Pierre-St-Paul,” by Gabrielle Cluzel, BVoltaire, March 27, 2023:

The Easter octave, that is to say the eight days following Easter, is not new. It was the Emperor Constantine, in the 4th century, who introduced it into the Catholic liturgy: it is a question, in the daily mass, of “reviving the event of Easter Sunday.” By songs and texts taken from Easter, we mean to “remember that the Resurrection extends beyond the Easter feast,” we can read on the site of the Catholic Church in France. During this period, “the newly baptized on Easter night wear their white garments.”

This year, the Thursday of the Octave of Easter will be a little special in the Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church in Lille, the priest welcoming there for the second consecutive year… “the iftar under the stars.” This breaking of the Ramadan fast (according to the definition given by the Larousse of iftar) is part of the “nomadic scene for the time of a moon” imagined by the association (duly supported and subsidized by public funds) Attacafa (culture, in Arabic) which, since 1984, has made a point of “creolizing the cultural places of the region and the metropolis [of Lille] to fight against all forms of ethnocentrism.” Hats off to the artist. Celebrate the breaking of the Ramadan fast in a church, you had to dare. The soothing presentation, as coated in sugar as the pastries associated with the event in the collective imagination, obviously aims to extinguish the prejudices of the most refractory: “This festival offers you, through a desacralized program, to take share in this time of sharing, celebration and tolerance, because this is also the meaning of this particular month.”

For the modest sum of 10 € (full price), and with a reservation, you can start the evening of April 13 by listening to the concert of Turkish singers and musicians Gülay Hacer Toruk and Fawaz Baker. Then, from 8:41 p.m., according to the Allevents and Lille Actu site, “the members of the association “Turkish women from the North” will prepare the meal!

On the side of the diocese, there is a tendency to minimize the event and to keep its distance: according to the communication manager contacted by Boulevard Voltaire, this welcome should only be seen as an “initiative of the parish and not of the diocese” to “live in friendship with our Muslim brothers. And no meal, in any case on the spot. The priest has lent his church ‘only’ for the concert, as he does for secular concerts insofar as respect for this consecrated place, not for the banquet. A priori the banquet will take place outside the church,” says one to Boulevard Voltaire. The sites announcing the iftar, however, suggest the opposite, giving no other meeting place after the concert.

Perhaps the parish priest of Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul and the Attacafa association found their inspiration not far from there, on the other side of the border, in Molenbeek? In June 2016, according to the Saphir News website, a giant fast-breaking meal (iftar) was organized at the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church. 600 people responded “to share a meal prepared mainly by volunteers from mosques and Muslim associations in the town”: “A fraternal gesture, which [was] nothing more than a sign of the good relations […] established over time between Christians and Muslims.” Relations somewhat cooled, we will agree, over the attacks of March 22 in Brussels and the many edifying reports on this city that followed.

Perhaps, who knows, the Lille initiative also aims to restore the image of Wazemmes – a popular district of Lille where the Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church is located. The reputation of this district was somewhat tarnished in 2016 by a vitriolic open letter from a CNRS researcher, Philippe Froguel – a former leftist sympathizer yet – to Martine Aubry: according to this diabetes specialist, the middle classes and students had fled the neighborhood because the living conditions there had become very difficult, in particular due to “community regression.” He had given as an illustration “the ordeal” experienced by the women in his laboratory, objects of “contemptuous demonstrations by Islamists of all stripes.”

Will this (repeated) gesture of friendship disarm “Islamists of all stripes,” whose presence, seven years later, cannot be doubted, whether residual (if one is optimistic) or exponential (if we are not)…or to be taken by them as a huge symbolic victory?

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UK: Anglican cathedral to host Ramadan iftar during Easter season

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/04/uk-anglican-cathedral-to-host-ramadan-iftar-during-easter-season;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Once again, do these Christians really think that this will change what the Qur’an teaches about Christ and Christianity?

Qur’an 98:4-6: “Nor were the people of the book divided until after the clear proof came to them. And they are not ordered to do anything else but serve Allah, keeping religion pure for him, as hanifs, and to establish prayer and
to give alms. That is true religion. Indeed, the unbelievers among the people of the book and the idolaters will remain in the fire of Gehenna. They are the most vile of created beings.”

Qur’an 5:14: “And with those who say: Indeed, we are Christians, we made a covenant, but they forgot a part of what they were reminded about. Therefore we have stirred up enmity and hatred among them until the day of resurrection, when Allah will inform them of their handiwork.”

Qur’an 5:17: “They indeed have disbelieved who say, Indeed, Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary. Say, Who then can do anything against Allah, if he had willed to destroy the Messiah son of Mary, and his mother and everyone on earth? To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them. He creates what he wills. And Allah is able to do all things.”

Qur’an 4:157: “And because of their saying, We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the messenger of Allah, they did not kill him nor crucify him, but it seemed so to them, and indeed, those who disagree about this are in doubt about it, they have no knowledge of it except pursuit of a supposition, they did not kill him for certain.

Qur’an 4:171: “O people of the book, do not exaggerate in your religion or say anything about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and his word that he conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from him. So believe in Allah and his messengers, and do not say Three, Stop, it is better for you. Allah is only one God. It is far removed from his transcendent majesty that he should have a son. Everything that is in the heavens and everything that is on the earth is his. And Allah is sufficient as defender.”

Qur’an 5:116: “And when Allah said, O Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to mankind, Take me and my mother as two gods besides Allah? He said, Be glorified. It was not for me to say what I had no right to say. If I said it, then you know it. You know what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in your mind. Indeed, you, only you, are the knower of hidden things.”

Qur’an 19:35: “It is not fitting for Allah that he should take to himself a son. Glory be to him, when he decrees a thing, he says to it only, Be, and it is.”

Qur’an 9:30-31: “And the Jews say, Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say, The Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths. They imitate the statements of those who disbelieved before. May Allah curse them. How perverse they are. They have taken as lords besides Allah their rabbis and their monks and the Messiah, the son of Mary, when they were called to worship only one God. There is no God except him. May he be glorified from all that they ascribe as partners.”

Qur’an 9:29: “Fight against those do not believe in Allah or the last day, and do not forbid what Allah and his messenger have forbidden, and do not follow the religion of truth, even if they are among the people of the book, until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.”

“Living Bankside Grand Iftar 2023,” Southwark Cathedral, n.d.:

SPECIAL EVENT

  • VENUE

    Southwark Cathedral

  • TIME

    7:00 PM…

The Dean of Southwark and Southwark Cathedral are delighted to be hosting the seventh Grand Iftar with Living Bankside.

This year’s theme and focus is on young people (our future) and their role in society. Accordingly the event has been organised by and will be delivered by young people from across London. A number of young people’s organisations will be represented at the Iftar.

Living Bankside in partnership with Southwark Cathedral and the Association of Muslim Lawyers has gained a reputation in its efforts towards promoting community cohesion and collaboration with all age groups, ethnicities and faiths, including those of no particular faith. This has created an inclusive platform for building positive relationships between people from diverse backgrounds.

The Iftar will bring all communities together to celebrate Ramadan, to promote resilience and to share the common values of Hope, Peace and Unity. At the core of our values and mission (Living Bankside, Southwark Cathedral and the Association of Muslim Lawyers) is compassion. We invite you on this occasion and in the future to join us in whichever way you can to spread compassion. The evening will include performances and speeches, followed by the opening of the fast….

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UK: Anglican cathedral hosts iftar event to spread ‘the spirit of Ramadan’

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/04/uk-anglican-cathedral-hosts-iftar-event-to-spread-the-spirit-of-ramadan;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

This spirit?

“Ramadan is not a month of laziness but rather a month of activity, of effort, and of hard work, and as it also was in the life of the Prophet, a month of jihad, conquest, and victory.” — Palestinian Authority Supreme Sharia Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash

“Ramadan is a month of holy war and death for Allah. It is a month for fighting the enemies of Allah and God’s messenger, the Jews and their American facilitators.” — Qaedat al-Jihad

“Ramadan is the pious month of ‘Jihad-o-Qital’ (Jihad and killing). Those who attain martyrdom while waging Jihad, doors of heaven remain open.” — Maulana Bashir Ahmad Khaki

“People attend Iftar event at Manchester Cathedral,” Iran Press, March 30, 2023:

Open Iftar events are the flagship initiative of Ramadan Tent Project, an award-winning charity that brings communities together and spreads the spirit of Ramadan through various initiatives.

Since 2013, Open Iftar has connected over 500,000 people across the country at some of Britain’s most iconic cultural spaces, from the Royal Albert Hall, Wembley Stadium, and Trafalgar Square, to regional events at Baltic Museum, Bradford’s Centenary Square, Coventry Cathedral and many more.

Open Iftar bridges communities; it is a space in which our commonalities are highlighted, our differences celebrated and human connection is forged….

Church of Sweden archbishop screams ‘Allahu akbar,’ says Muhammad is prophet, successor says Muslims welcome to join

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/03/church-of-sweden-archbishop-screams-allahu-akbar-says-muhammad-is-prophet-successor-says-muslims-welcome-to-join;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

This is the last gasp of a dying church (and a dying civilization). A culture that has no identity of its own and welcomes those who wish to conquer and subjugate it is a culture that will soon be a matter of history. These two archbishops are signposts on the way to the demise of the Church of Sweden, and of Sweden itself as a non-Muslim country.

“The Archbishop: Muslims can join the Church of Sweden,” translated from “Ärkebiskopen: Muslimer kan vara med i Svenska kyrkan,” Samnytt, January 26, 2023 (thanks to L.):

Outgoing Archbishop Antje Jackelén received harsh criticism for her religious relativist stance, not least in relation to the controversial religious ideology of Islam. She adopted the Swedish variant of “Allahu akbar” as her language of choice and said she could not put the peaceful healer Jesus before the warrior and mass murderer Muhammad as a prophet. Now Jackelen’s successor goes a step further and welcomes all Muslims to the Church of Sweden.

Martin Modéus has been appointed as the new archbishop in the Church of Sweden. For more conservative and traditional Christians, it is out of the frying pan and into the fire after eight years with the controversial Antje Jackelén. In a debate article in the left-liberal Dagens Nyheter, Modeus presents himself as the heir and further developer of the religious relativism for which his predecessors became famous and criticized.

The fact that Modéus is speaking out in this way is caused, among other things, by the fact that the Center Party’s supposed new party leader, Muharrem Demirok, who has already been in several storms before taking office, has also declared that he is a Muslim but also a member of the Church of Sweden. Many have reacted against this, but Modéus takes the opposite stance – being a Muslim and not a Christian does not constitute an obstacle to being part of the Church of Sweden, he believes.

That the Christian way of “relating to faith” would be a requirement in the Church of Sweden, Modéus emphatically opposes – all ways, even the Muslim, are equally legitimate and needed in the country’s churches.

A requirement to be a Christian in order to be part of a Christian congregation is regarded by the new archbishop as a recent “ideologization of the concept of religion.” However, the claim is contradicted by many who believe that what is new and ideological instead is the idea that it is just as well to believe in Allah and Muhammad in a Christian congregation as in Jehovah and Jesus.

In the Church of Sweden, under the leadership of Archbishop Martin Modéus, “you define what you believe in based on your own terms.” According to Modéus, the fact that the Church of Sweden receives a diversity of non-Christian beliefs “is an asset.”

Modéus wants the country’s churches to function more as clubs for general social community than places where a common Christian belief is shared. In this, he claims to have been inspired by one of the ideologues of Dagens Nyheter’s editorial page, Björn Wiman.

The Church of Sweden has lost many members. This is due, among other things, to the fact that more and more Swedes have adopted a secular outlook on life, but in many cases also to the fact that you do not recognize yourself in the “left-wing church” it has turned into, which nowadays functions more as one of the Social Democrats’ many corporative legs in Swedish society.

However, many Swedes remain members, by birth and unfettered habit, that they have not come to terms with leaving or are simply not aware that they are members of something they never actively chose to join. Even outspoken critics retain often their membership in order not to lose the right to vote in church elections and thus the opportunity to influence the future direction of the Church of Sweden.

However, the Church of Sweden needs new members to replace those who fall away, and the large group of immigrant Muslims is therefore attractive. According to Modéus, it is by opening the church doors to them that you can still claim to be a “people’s church.” That the church should be something only for believers or cultural Christians is “far too narrow,” the archbishop asserts in the DN article.

‘1984’ Is Now, as Britain Outlaws Thinking the Wrong Thoughts

'1984' Is Now as Britain Outlaws Thinking the Wrong Thoughts

UK Passes Law BANNING Silent Prayer

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/robert-spencer/2023/03/08/1984-is-now-as-britain-outlaws-thinking-the-wrong-thoughts-n1676571;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Yes, it has come to this. By a resounding vote of 299 to 116, the UK’s House of Commons on Wednesday outlawed thinking the wrong thoughts in the wrong place. According to the Catholic Herald, MPs including the Conservative government’s Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Attorney General Victoria Prentis rejected an amendment that would have protected “private prayer and consensual conversations within any ‘censorship’ zone.” “Censorship” zones are areas around abortion centers.

The vote comes just a day after a pro-life activist, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, was arrested for the second time in several weeks for praying silently outside one of the centers for sacrifices to Moloch. “I’m not protesting,” Vaughan-Spruce explained. “I’m not engaging in any of the activities prohibited.” But she was thinking the wrong thoughts and thus had to face what British authorities call “justice” in these dark days.

Jeremiah Igunnubole, who is legal counsel for a firm that has represented people who have been arrested for thought crimes outside of abortion centers, observed that the vote was a “watershed moment for fundamental rights and freedoms in our country.” Yes, indeed. In fact, it is a signpost of the end of freedom in Britain.

Igunnubole continued: “Parliament had an opportunity to reject the criminalization of free thought, which is an absolute right, and embrace individual liberty for all. Instead, Parliament chose to endorse censorship and criminalize peaceful activities such as silent prayer and consensual conversation.” And of course, an extremely dangerous precedent has been set: “Today it’s abortion. Tomorrow it could be another contested matter of political debate.”

According to the Herald, the new law criminalizes “any form of ‘influence’ outside of all abortion facilities, including silent prayer.” Offenders will be fined £100 ($118) the first time they are arrested for wrongthink; if court proceedings are deemed necessary, the fines could increase to £1,000 ($1,183). Amid the debate over this measure, a Conservative MP, Andrew Lewer, injected a note of sanity: “Police shouldn’t be asking ‘What are you thinking about?’” Indeed. And what if the person praying denies the offense? The World Economic Forum has been touting brain implants, and it’s easy to see how handy they’ll be for British police: the bobbies (do they still call these sinister Orwellian figures “bobbies”?) will simply be able to consult a readout of your thoughts, and if prayer shows up, you’ll have to pony up.

Lewer continued to point out what should have been obvious to everyone and prevented even a single MP from voting for this measure: “Censorship of this sort is a notoriously slippery slope. It might not be your thoughts that are criminalized today, but I think we should all be careful not to open the door to that tomorrow about some other opinions that people may hold about something else.” Now that the door has indeed been opened, Conservative MP Sir John Hayes spelled out the implications: “We now have people arrested for praying, interrogated by the police, asked what they’re praying about, what they’re thinking. This is dystopian. It’s like a mix of Huxley, Philip Dick, and all that.” Quite right, old fellow, and don’t forget that Orwell chap, eh wot?

Related: The Church of England May Go Gender-Neutral

There are, meanwhile, a few more important matters that British police could be doing instead of spending their time arresting people for thinking the wrong thoughts. Another MP, Eddie Hughes, pointed out that “Given the other crimes that were going on in Birmingham at that time,” that is, the time that Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested for praying silently, “it is important to see that the police had clearly determined that the most important thing they had to do at that particular time was not to deal with knife crime or with people stealing tools out of other people’s vans to stop them earning a living but to arrest and interrogate a woman who was silently praying outside a clinic that was closed. Surely that shows a sense of complete disproportionality on the part of the police.” Yes, it does, and it’s going to get worse.

MP Ian Paisley (not to be confused with the late Northern Irish preacher) added: “Despite the level of crime across this society—I think there were over 500 knife crimes last year—are we actually going to ask the police to get engaged and be detained in questioning people about what they are thinking in certain parts of the United Kingdom? That is a complete waste of police resources and police time, and it should not be done.” It should not, but now it will be. And the Biden regime, no friend of the freedom of speech itself, is watching and (silently) taking notes.

UK: Muslims challenge Church of England’s ‘gay blessing’ and ‘identity politics’ in Church schools~Church of England Considers “Gender Neutral” Language for God

BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/02/uk-muslims-challenge-church-of-englands-gay-blessing-and-identity-politics-in-church-schools;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Muslims in Britain are expressing “deep concern” over the Church of England’s “gay blessing” and the “identity politics” that has invaded Church of England schools, which many Muslim students attend.

Where are the concerned Christians? They are not loud enough to be heard and respected, as wokeism has invaded most mainline Churches. It is no secret that gays are being murdered in Sharia-adherent countries, and Christians who may not support the LGBTQ+ agenda are still vocal in support of the human rights of the victims. On the other hand, woke ideologues have never fought for the LGBT communities that are persecuted in Islamic countries because they are intimidated by Muslims and afraid of charges of “Islamophobia.” It is part of the woke ethos never to risk “offending” Muslims. Instead, the woke aggressively trample upon the rights of Christians in Western countries; they clearly consider Christians to be safe targets. Some Christians are now even reluctant to state their belief that God created people male and female, and that this creation forms the basis of marriage. In some churches, you will seldom if ever hear the Biblical quote: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1:27). In light of all this, how will the woke Church of England (CofE) react to these Muslim complaints? The Leftist/Islamic alliance has been solid in the West, but cracks in the alliance are becoming increasingly apparent.

Religious rights and freedoms are being increasingly violated due to Woke aggression. Far too many Christian churches have become so weak that they have embraced the Woke agenda, as well as the Islamic supremacist “Islamophobia” agenda to shut down speech that scrutinizes Islamic ideology and thus “offends”. These Churches have in essence lost their salt and have become easy targets for bullying. Until now, Muslims have been mostly quiet about the Woke agenda, but it would be intriguing to observe how the Woke Church of England will react to being confronted by Muslims. We have an idea of what they won’t do. They won’t call the deeply concerned Muslim community ‘homophobic’. Overall, we don’t see the Woke pushing LGBTQ+, correct pronouns on Muslims, or gender-affirming care on Muslim children in Madrassahs in the West. No one tramples their religious rights, but instead, gives them preference.

According to Anglican.Ink:

Paul Salahuddin Armstrong, Managing Director of the Association of British Muslims (AoBM) expressed his “deep concern”. He said: “The Association of British Muslims is concerned about the lack of open and inclusive discussions regarding the traditional understanding of marriage within faith communities. We are also concerned about the teaching of sexual identity politics in schools, including Church of England schools.”

How will the woke reconcile “inclusion” with the Association of British Muslims who reject their agenda? Anglican.Ink also stated:

“There is now the worrying potential of Muslim parents starting to withdraw children from CofE schools to protect them from sexual ethics contrary to their beliefs,” said the Revd Paul Eddy, Convenor of Anglican Orthodox, “and that can obviously lead to segregation of children of different faiths in some Muslim-majority cities if the CofE proceeds.”

Those Christians who do not support “sexual ethics contrary to their beliefs” are already marginalized, or even hated and smeared as “homophobic” or “transphobic,” including in many Christian schools which now fly the rainbow flag and host Pride parades. In 2019, the Church of England “issued advice to clergy and congregations recommending an adapted affirmation of baptism service to allow transgender Christians to celebrate their new identity and name.” But those who do not celebrate along with them are increasingly persecuted. The CofE has also instructed schools to “let children ‘explore gender identity.'”

Let’s see whether the woke CofE will attempt to convince the deeply concerned Muslims of the Association of British Muslims that they are “homophobic” and “transphobic.” Of course, they wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing. The mainstream media will also likely ignore the brewing conflict and continue to try to give the impression that only stuffy, stupid, bigoted, old, white Christians disagree with the woke agenda.

___________________________________________________________________

BY JAMES MURPHY

SEE: https://thenewamerican.com/church-of-england-considers-gender-neutral-language-for-god;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

The Church of England’s descent into “wokeness” is about to take another downward step. This spring, the church’s Liturgical Council will explore using so-called gender-neutral terms when discussing the Creator of the Universe.

The Church of England has recently announced that, while they will not “marry” homosexuals, they will offer blessings for such unions. In addition, Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Cottrell recently announced that homosexual behavior is not a sin so long as it’s within the confines of a “stable, loving, committed” relationship.

The project appears to be a reaction to criticism by the current Vicar of Ilminster and Whitelackington in South Somerset, Reverend Joanna Stobart, who recently stated that she wished the church would use “more inclusive language” and refer to God in a “non-gendered way.”

“Please could the Liturgical Commission provide an update on the steps being taken to develop more inclusive language in our authorized liturgy and to provide more options for those who wish to use authorized liturgy and speak of God in a non-gendered way, particularly in authorized absolutions where many of the prayers offered for use refer to God using male pronouns?” Stobart formally asked church leaders.

The vice-chair of the Liturgical Commission, Reverend Dr. Michael Ipgrave, the bishop of Lichfield, announced that the commission has been “exploring the use of gendered language in relation to God for several years.”

“After some dialogue between the two commissions in this area, a new joint project on gendered language will begin this spring. In common with other potential changes to authorized liturgical provision, changing the wording and number of authorized forms of absolution would require a full synodical process for approval,” Ipgrave said.

So, for Anglicans, the phrase, “Our Father, Who art in heaven,” could soon be changed to “our parental unit, Who art in heaven.”

More conservative clergy have objected to considering using non-gendered language in reference to the Almighty.

“The fact that God is called ‘Father’ can’t be substituted by ‘Mother’ without changing meaning, nor can it be gender-neutralized to ‘Parent’ without loss of meaning,” said Reverend Dr. Ian Paul, a minister at St Nic’s, Nottingham.

“Fathers and mothers are not interchangeable but relate to their offspring in different ways,” Paul pointed out.

And Father Marcus Walker, the rector at St. Bartholomew in London, noted, “I just don’t think we should be misgendering God. He’s made clear what his preferred pronouns are — especially in his incarnation — so maybe we should just use them.”

Indeed, for Christians, the incarnation of God — Jesus — was indeed a male.

Still, a spokesperson for the church claimed that such a change has been under consideration for quite a while now and that God is neither male nor female.

“This is nothing new. Christians have recognized since ancient times that God is neither male nor female, yet the variety of ways of addressing and describing God found in scripture has not always been reflected in our worship,” the spokesperson told Reuters.

“There has been greater interest in exploring new language since the introduction of our current forms of service in contemporary language more than 20 years ago,” the spokesperson added.

Other Anglican branches have been exploring the idea of “gender neutrality” for God for some time now. A spokesman for the Scottish Episcopal Church — an Anglican offshoot — was quoted by the Daily Mail claiming, “The Scottish Episcopal Church has been in a gradual process of change in its liturgies over a number of years, as it moves towards less gender-specific language about both people and God.”

The spokesperson claimed that such undertakings have been in process since 1986.

“To that end, we have theological freedom in regard to how we refer to God. Ministers are free to use the language they wish — God has no gender and many choose to use gender-neutral language for God,” the spokesperson explained.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Cottrell appears to agree. In 2018, he stated, “God is not a father in exactly the same way as a human being is a father. God is not male or female. God is not definable.”

Perhaps Cottrell is correct when he says that God is not “definable.” All that we mortals have to undertake that task is His Word. But that Word — the Bible — makes clear, in no uncertain terms, that God is the Father and that His incarnation, Jesus, was most definitely a male.

The Church of England’s attempt to spin this as anything less than a capitulation to so-called woke elements of society is a joke, just as their acquiescence to the LGBT agenda last week was. And should they succeed in “gender-neutralizing” their teachings, it’s likely heresy.

 

UK: Woke Archbishop of Canterbury uses Easter message to attack border control

BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

SEE: https://robertspencer.org/2022/04/uk-woke-archbishop-of-canterbury-uses-easter-message-to-attack-border-control;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Much like the Pope, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby uses Christianity to justify open borders — ie. breaking the law and illegally entering sovereign countries. Yet also like the globalist Pope, Welby is surrounded by personal security, and whoever enters his own personal domain is carefully vetted. He is also financially well cared for, unlike so many Britons, who are now saddled with the price tag of accommodating illegals— from feeding them and housing them to providing medical services, and when needed, heightened security services to protect citizens, given the disproportionately high incidents of crime committed by illegals.

A couple of years ago, a sensible cardinal opposed the woke leadership of the Catholic Church. Cardinal Robert Sarah — prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments — compared “the modern influx of Muslim migrants to the invasions of barbarian tribes that ultimately brought down the Roman Empire in a.d. 475.” Sarah also issued a warning which contradicted Pope Francis. He cautioned that “it is a false exegesis [interpretation of scriptural text] to use the Word of God to promote migration. God never wanted these rifts.” But this is precisely what Pope Francis has been doing, along with the Anglican Welby: abusing their positions and acting as blind guides in preaching that it is un-Christian to oppose illegal, mass Muslim migration into Europe.  

“Woke Anglican Archbishop Uses Easter Message to Attack Border Controls,” by Jack Montgomery, Breitbart, April 17, 2022:

Archbishop Justin Welby, the de facto head of the Church of England, has used his Easter message to attack British government plans to transfer some male boat migrants to Rwanda while their asylum claims are processed, claiming the policy “is the opposite of the nature of God”.

In a highly political “sermon” preached at the service of Holy Communion at Canterbury Cathedral and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday morning, the woke archbishop loosely linked the resurrection of Jesus Christ to a number of contemporary political issues he is interested in, including the conflict in Ukraine, “the rising cost of power, fuel, and basic food”, and, of course, immigration.

“[T]his season is also why there are such serious ethical questions about sending asylum seekers overseas,” the Archbishop of Canterbury claimed, referring to the Boris Johnson administration’s plans to finally do something about the ever-worsening boat migrant crisis by striking a deal with Rwanda, a safe third country, to host some male asylum seekers while their asylum claims — often bogus — are processed.

“The details are for politics and politicians. The principle must stand the judgement of God and it cannot,” declared Welby, who himself has a direct role in lawmaking as a member of the House of Lords.

“It cannot carry the weight of resurrection justice, of life conquering death. It cannot carry the weight of the resurrection that was first to the least valued, for it privileges the rich and strong,” he went on, without offering a clear explanation as to how paying Rwanda to host people who illegally enter British territory from France — a safe European Union member-state — is an exercise of “privilege”….

BETH MOORE: FROM SOUTHERN BAPTIST TO ANGLICAN

AFTER LEAVING THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH, FALSE TEACHER BETH MOORE MAKES HER WAY BACK TO ‘MOTHER ROME’ IN ANGLICAN CHURCH SERVICE

SEE: https://www.nowtheendbegins.com/beth-moore-anglican-church-performs-eucharist-ceremony-roman-catholic-transubstantiation/;

EXCERPTS republished below for informational, educational & research purposes:

Beth Moore is now a member of St. Timothy’s Anglican Church in Spring, TX, a church that believes and practices the Roman Catholic false doctrine of transubstantiation, complete with wearing the 'priestly garb' and helping to 'deliver the eucharist'. How much farther does Beth Moore have to fall before she is all the way out? Not much at all, actually, she is nearly there now. One of the hallmarks of the lukewarm Laodicean Church Age is their ceaseless drift to return to 'Mother Rome', the Jezebel whore of Revelation 17, and that seems to be a long-held goal of Moore. Even before she left the SBC, itself a denomination that has lapsed in Laodiceanism with their promotion of the ESV 'rubber sword' bible, Moore was intent on including Roman Catholicism as a Christian denomination, which it is not.

Not fully Protestant and not fully Roman Catholic, the Anglican church is a hybrid where doctrine is not the main thing, but form and ceremony are given the top spot.

Back in 2002, Beth Moore performed in a series entitled ‘Believing God’, which included the Roman Catholic Church in a skit that portrayed the body of Christ, bragging about how ‘interdenominational and inclusive’ she was. In 2021, she’s now Anglican performing transubstantiation. Welcome home, Mother Rome.

Ladies, if you get your Bible teaching from Beth Moore, you need to throw it in the trash can right now, she is not a Bible teacher, she is a false teacher who will deceive you with her unbiblical and false teaching. She knows nothing about Bible doctrine, and she will lead you so far astray that you won’t even be a Christian by the time the ride is over. Sorry if this hurts your feelings or bursts your Beth Moore bubble, but she stinks and you better keep your distance or you’ll stink too. But don’t believe me, watch these two videos showing you everything I just told you in this article. Don’t believe me, believe Beth Moore. She’s showing you who she is, believe her.

PROOF SHE LOVES DIVERSITY & INCLUSION, ECUMENISM, INTERFAITH, UNIVERSALISM, JUST LIKE THE POPE:

 

The Anglican Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast The Woodlands, Texas 77381

Beth Moore Seen Performing At Anglican Church Service

Having thrown off the denominational shackles of the Baptist Church, Beth Moore is thrilled to be where her Laodicean heart has always longed to be, with Mother Rome.

More on Beth Moore's conversion to "Catholic Lite" (Big Eva defends Anglican Church & Popery)

SEE: https://protestia.com/2021/12/21/ex-sbc-beth-moore-joins-anglican-church/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Beth Moore was in the news yesterday in a big way after it was revealed she became a member of St. Timothy’s Anglican Church, a liturgical church within the Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast, which is part of the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA.)

The ACNA was formed in 2009 after members of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada became disillusioned by the liberalization of their denominations on abortion and LGBTQ issues. On account of the nature of their breakaway, they are not in communion with the greater Anglican Communion, which is led by the effete and emasculated Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

Despite their more conservative creds, there are some glaring red flags, including the fact that the Bishops of the Diocese are given the freedom to determine amongst themselves if they allow for women priests. As stated by Hannah King

  • Some bishops ordain women as priests and commission them as church planters.
  • Some bishops only ordain women as deacons.
  • Some bishops do not ordain women but will license a woman to serve in a particular church that requests it.
  • Some bishops do not receive women in Holy Orders at all

This is especially dangerous because apart from existing no such thing biblically as a woman priest or pastrix, it creates a ready-made rift that is rife to exploit, particularly because the same scripture twisting used to allow for the ordination of women is employed to push a liberalizing position on sodomy. You’ll never find a church that is pro-LGBTQ but also doesn’t ordain women.

Furthermore, the ACNA has already forgotten the lessons from their split, as they affirm a biblical theology of marriage all the while allowing cracks to form, questions to be asked, and nuance to be developed. If they don’t go scorched earth on the issue immediately, in 20 years the conservatives will find themselves jumping ship yet again.

Several years ago Beth Moore was told by John MacArthur to ‘go home’, which she ultimately has, though not in the way it was attended. Instead, she found herself a church has holds to the same beliefs she does on women preaching- enthusiastically affirming it- so she doesn’t have to hide anymore and can feel right at home.

During a recent Twitter thread, Moore, in a stunning display of naivete that we find unfathomable, shared that her whole life she believed that only her Southern Baptist denomination loved scripture, and therefore was stunned when she found another denomination that did likewise.
On top of that, despite her having a good relationship with her church and pastor who even let her preach, she quickly threw them all under the bus.
She shared that she’d found a church that ‘highly exalts Jesus & sees the Scriptures as the Church’s final authority in all matters of faith & practice’ and that her first time there, she and her husband ‘shot to that altar like starving people begging for bread.’ ‘I’ve never needed it so badly in my life,” she said, ‘my lip quivered and the tears pooled in my eyes ‘ on account of God using the liturgy and teaching there to ‘sew up’ her ‘torn up soul.’

Becoming a member in September, Moore has quickly acclimated to the church. She’s served as an Acolyte and Verger, served during the service as a Lector, is teaching a class on “The Biblical Narrative and How to Teach a Bible Study” and has been asked to emcee their church’s Women’s Advent luncheon, which she did with gusto. She concludes:

“I’m learning to say the Nicene Creed. I’m learning how to drop down the kneeling bench. For this moment in time, we’re right where God wants us to be.”

 

UK: The Church Enables a Suicide Bomber~A jihad attack exposes asylum-seekers’ sham conversion TO CHRISTIANITY scam.

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/11/uk-church-enables-suicide-bomber-robert-spencer/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

A week ago Sunday over in Britain, as the nation was preparing to observe a moment of silence for Remembrance Day, a taxicab pulled up in front of Liverpool Women’s Hospital and exploded into flames. Moments later, the cab driver, David Perry, ran out of the car and explained that he had noticed that his passenger, who turned out to be an Iraqi migrant named Emad Jamil Al Swealmeen, was wearing an explosive belt, so he locked the cab, whereupon Swealmeen exploded his bomb inside it. This was just another day in modern, multicultural, diverse Britain, except for one odd detail: Emad Jamil Al Swealmeen converted to Christianity in 2017, in the same cathedral he had apparently planned to attack: he initially asked Perry to drive him there, but traffic was heavy, and so he opted to go to Liverpool Women’s Hospital instead. Swealmeen immediately became the poster boy for the moral equivalence crowd, the people who insist that all religions are equally capable of inciting their adherents to commit acts of violence. They were wrong, of course, but nonetheless, the Church of England was still complicit in Swealmeen’s suicide attack.

There were numerous indications that Swealmeen’s conversion was not sincere. Above all, he was spotted at a mosque “all day, every day” in the weeks leading up to his jihad suicide attack, and all through Ramadan as well. Converts from Islam to Christianity don’t generally hang around at the mosque all that much, but Swealmeen was still not on the radar of complacent and willfully ignorant British authorities, who evidently took his conversion at face value despite the fact that he was once arrested for carrying what was described as “a large knife.”

His conversion, obviously, is not likely to have been sincere, although he clearly fooled a lot of people. The Telegraph noted Tuesday that “concerns have been raised over the role Liverpool Cathedral has played in helping asylum seekers convert to Christianity in order to help their applications.” No kidding, really? Asylum seekers have a much better chance of having their applications for asylum accepted if they can argue that their conversion would put their life in danger back home. Mohammad Eghtedarian, a convert from Islam to Christianity who became an Anglican priest, explained: “There are many people abusing the system. I do understand there are a lot of mixed motives. There are many people abusing the system – I’m not ashamed of saying that.” And the Rev Pete Wilcox, a former Dean of Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral, let the cat out of the bag when he admitted: “I can’t think of a single example of somebody who already had British citizenship converting here with us from Islam to Christianity.”

Christian Today reported back in January 2017 that in Germany, “migrants increase their chances of winning asylum in Germany if they are able to prove that they would face persecution if sent home to a Muslim country….They can do this by showing proof that they are Christian or have converted to Christianity.” Dr. Gottfried Martens of Trinity Lutheran Church in Berlin noted that “some Muslims come to his church and express interest in Christianity just to improve their chances of getting their asylum request approved.”

It is possible, however, that Emad Jamil Al Swealmeen’s conversion was sincere. He may have converted to Christianity and then returned to Islam, turning to jihad to make up for his sin of apostasy. Islam teaches that on the day of judgment, every individual’s good deeds and bad deeds will be placed on great scales; if the good deeds outweigh the bad deeds, one goes to paradise, but if the bad deeds outweigh the good deeds, one goes to hell (cf. Qur’an 21:47). Since Muhammad prescribed death for those who leave Islam (cf. Bukhari 9.84.57), apostasy is a very serious offense that can only be outweighed by an even greater good deed. And there is no deed greater than jihad: a hadith has a man asking Muhammad, “Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward).” Muhammad replied, “I do not find such a deed.” (Bukhari 56.4.2785) If Swealmeen was going through a time of personal crisis and decided to return to Islam, he would have needed to expiate his great sin of apostasy

Another possibility: in January 2016, the Islamic State (ISIS) issued a manual entitled “Safety and Security Guidelines for Lone Wolf Mujahideen.” It told jihadis in the West to pretend to be Christians and stated: “It is permissible for you to wear a necklace showing a Christian cross. As you know, Christians – or even atheist Westerners with Christian backgrounds – wear crosses on their necklaces.”

The bottom line is that there is nothing in the Christian tradition that is remotely comparable to the Qur’an’s promise that those who are killed while killing infidels are guaranteed a place in paradise (9:111). The very fact that Emad Jamil Al Swealmeen became a suicide bomber is an indication that he is more a Muslim than a Christian. That has not, however, stopped those who insist, contrary to all evidence, that all religious traditions are equally capable of inciting violence from crowing over his apparent Christian conversion. The larger problem, of a growing population in Britain, Europe and North America that includes some people who believe it praiseworthy and meritorious to kill and be killed for Allah, remains unaddressed.

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 23 books including many bestsellers, such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The Truth About Muhammad and The History of Jihad. His latest book is The Critical Qur’an. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.

Video: Robert Spencer on OAN on the Liverpool ‘Christian’ jihad suicide bombing

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2021/11/video-robert-spencer-on-oan-on-the-liverpool-christian-jihad-suicide-bombing;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes: