At 12 noon US Eastern time, 5pm my time, a transition of power occurred. Donald Trump ceased to be the President of the United States of America, succeeded by Joe Biden. Joseph R Biden being inaugurated as President of the USAPicture from the New York Times Things look different already. The new Vice President, Kamala …
Category: Politics
They think you are exactly like them
Yesterday I published a blog with the title "You thought I was exactly like you," a quote from psalm 50. Last night terrorists, breaking away from a rally called by President Donald Trump, who spoke at the rally, said he would lead them to the Capitol building, and praised them afterwards, broke into the Capitol …
Apocalyptic – Matthew in Advent day 1
In the book "Why democracies die" by Harvard University political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, coup-d'etat is not the most likely way. That, they say, is when the views of the opposition are no longer tolerated,. This tolerance involves accepting the results of a free and fair election where the opposition has won, in contrast with advocacy for overthrow or spurious …
Virtue Signalling: a Christian perspective
The BBC I was triggered into writing this by an Independent article on new rules from the BBC about political neutrality. The new rules for staff who are required to be politically neutral include not attending “political protests”, such as Black Lives Matter events and LGBT protests. LGBT because it may include the 'controversial' transsexual …
What are the politics of the church?
The Church of England is getting political. First there was a letter from the five archbishops* of Britain saying that the 'Internal Market Bill will set a “disastrous precedent” by equipping ministers to break the law.' They urged the British Government not to break international law. Former Brexit minister, David Jones, said their comments went …
Other people: Othering people
"People from other countries are not like us," starts so many racist statements. That is the bigger part of the problem. Another part is double empathy, we judge them because they do things differently to us. How desperate do you need to be to trust yourself to the open seas in a rubber boat? Seeking …
Empowering Honesty
Lies, damn lies and YouTube I awoke in Tuesday morning last week to see a long rant about face masks on Twitter. Not someone not wanting to wear one, but someone complaining that his mother, a former nurse who had had to wear masks at work was telling him of the dangers of masks and …
Disney Princess theology — Psalm 125
Life is a roller-coaster White Christianity suffers from a bad case of Disney Princess theology. As each individual reads Scripture they see themselves as the princess in every story. They are Esther, never Xerxes or Haman. They are Peter, but never Judas. They are the woman anointing Jesus, never the Pharisees. They are the Jews …
It is not about me #BlackLivesMatter
I have lined up on the next few weeks blog posts about how my disability affects me in the coronavirus shutdown and another about how stress affects my autism. But for now it is not about me. Today I want to talk about how Black Lives Matter. An apology to black people I am sorry. …
Getting your rant on — Psalm 120
Don't let them gaslight you At the beginning of the year, after reading through the Bible twice in two and a half years, I felt that this year was to be one of prayer and worshipping God. One of the things I decided back then to do, once the major festivals of the year were …