Current Affairs

I’m enjoying C S Lewis’ clever book The Screwtape Letters (paid link) again. I last read this as a teenager, and it's extremely smart, really pastorally insightful, and full of wisdom.

On Tuesday 17th June, MPs voted on amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill that change abortion law in England and Wales. This post explains what those amendments are, summarises their impact, and then offers 4 reflections on how we can make sense of what’s unfolding.

Parliament sat last Friday (16th May) to debate further the “Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill”.

The short version media report was that the “final vote” will be on 13th June.

As the funeral of the late Pope Francis is held in the Vatican today, the liturgy has notable points of difference from the Anglican liturgies. Those differences expose some deep differences between Roman and Anglican theology, and the surprise is that the biggest problem is not actually transubstantiation.

As a bill comes before parliament to legalise assisted dying, James argues that the real issues going on here are to do with mortality and the desire to be in control. To think clearly, we need to recover confidence in the sovereignty of God, our own mortality, and God's judgement and grace.

4 facts about Facebook advertising that ad up to a big problem:

Our church produces a quarterly magazine that goes, free, to every household in our parish. It's called The Well.

As vicar, I get to write a letter near the front of each issue, in which I seek briefly to bring a Christian perspective to bear on some contemporary issue or other.

Yesterday evening, I attended a General Election hustings organised by Churches Together in Sevenoaks and District. All 6 candidates for the Sevenoaks Constituency attended, and did a good job at tackling a range of questions fairly efficiently. The event was full, with most seats in the large nave of St Nicholas Sevenoaks taken. The tone was positive and engaging.

Coming away, I had a few thoughts, that I share here in no particular order.

Start with a couple concerning how Christians engage with politics.

Some regular readers may know I'm a fan of a free market.

Free Markets

That's to say: When someone buys something, and someone else correspondingly sells, it should be a free exchange. Both parties are convinced that they would rather buy / sell than remain as they are. Which means the price is whatever price is fair and agreeable to both parties.

I think it is harmful if the state interferes and tries to control prices on things.

As part of my sabbatical study, I've been reading the late Mike Ovey's book, Your Will Be Done: Exploring Eternal Subordination, Divine Monarchy and Divine Humility (paid link).

I'd forgotten Mike's love of the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville, and his concept of "the tyranny of the majority".