Virtual Methodist

Another round-up of internet articles that have caught my eye. Pope Benedict's Resignation...  If you have been away on a mission to Mars this week you may have missed the extensive coverage and may need the BBC produced   list of 10 helpful facts about the whole thing ... if not, you're probably bored with the whole thing and I'll not mention it again... But if you fancy going on a mission to Mars, you may get the chance soon , although you and your partner may appreciate this helpful article, also produced by the Beeb on how to avoid killing each other after 500 days in a confined space ... Lies, Damned Lies, the DWP and the Daily Mail...  I know, I know, I know, I said I would keep this positive over Lent... but there are some things that test my resolve to the uttermost... Especially the scapegoating of the poor, ill, infirm and immigrants for our economic ills... Yesterday the BBC (again) picked up on a report by the Methodist Church in Britain, t...

I do a monthly stint on Downtown Radio's Sunday morning religious magazine programme, "Dawn Reflections" where I take a look at the Sunday papers and then offer a reflection on the big news story/ies of the week from a Christian perspective. Normally I have to dig fairly deep in the papers to find any stories relating directly to faith in its broadest sense, but this week that was not the case, because apparently Britain has had a fairly significant state visitor this week… And, to the newspapers' delight, one that was not without controversy… Despite the fact that Northern Ireland was not on Pope Benedict's itinerary, there has been quite a kerfuffle over here regarding whether or not the Moderator of the Presbyterian church should or should not have shaken hands with the Pope, whilst Free Presbyterians and Orangemen from here joined in a veritable kaleidoscope of people going out of their way to protest against the Pope's visit: secular humanists, those obje...

I awoke this morning to the "news" that the Orange Order is objecting to the state visit of the Pope to the UK this coming September. I hardly expected them to be welcoming him with open arms given the history of tension between Orangism and Catholicism here in Ireland over the years, and the particular attitude of the Orange Order to the Papacy, which is an un-diluted 17th/18th century analysis of the person and position of the Pope both as "Anti-Christ/Man of Perdition" (a position which John Wesley himself espoused) and the head of a foreign state which actively sought the overthrow of the "Protestant" monarchy of Britain. However, given their recent attempts to "rebrand" Orangism as a cultural grouping which stands for religious tolerance, I might have expected their position to be a tad more nuanced. But then, over recent years the leadership of the Orange Order have never ceased to surprise me with their ineptitude in dealing with most thi...

Who is allowed to say what on the Beeb these days? On Friday night I turned on BBC1 QI which stands for "Quite Interesting"), with Stephen Fry et al, a programme which I really enjoy, being a trivia nerd, although some of the guests sadly often go for cheap and not quite so interesting laughs. On this episode they asked a question concerning the number of commandments in Exodus 20 (answer according to Fry is 14... been back to Exodus 20 and don't quite get what he means), and during that part of the show Stephen Fry told the sort of non-PC joke that would have been common in the days of Bernard Manning. Apparently God went ot the French and offered them the commandments, but they weren't interested because of the command no to commit adultery... He went to the Germans, and they weren't happy about being told not to kill... He went to the Italians and they weren't happy about being told not to steal... He finally went to the Jews, only to be asked "How muc...