Thursday, August 31, 2006

7/7 Bombers 'like Crusaders'

I wish the Church of England would make up its mind.

After 7/7 the line was "nothing to do with religion ... peaceful Muslims ... diversity ... valuable contribution ..."

As the Bishop of Lichfield said :

... just as the IRA has nothing to do with Christianity; so this kind of terror has nothing to do with any of the world faiths ...

Turns out that it WAS about religion after all. Canon Philip Gray of Blackburn was a former vicar in the Lichfield diocese, but the wise words of his Bishop seem to have fallen on stony ground :

The London bombers are being bracketed with Christian crusaders by a senior member of a diocesan bishop’s staff. Both share the “same religious passion,” he says. The claim, which is certain to spark fierce controversy, is made by the chaplain to the traditionalist Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Rev Nicholas Reade.

Canon Philip Gray, who has been the bishop’s chaplain for four years, also suggests, in comments about terrorism, that Christians “rejoice over the bloody deaths of martyrs”. The 39-year-od chaplain makes the forthright suggestions in an article marking the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on America, which appears in the September issue of See, the Blackburn diocesan monthly. Canon Gray says: “Behind modern fanatical Islamic terrorism lie many spiritual and religious passions and narratives also found in the Christian tradition.

I think my favourite bit of Gray's Elegy is this :

We cannot simply ignore the violent passion of Jesus cleansing the temple with whips. We are never told of the collateral damage possibly resulting from his action ...
We need to consider deeply the fact that the same religious passion and spiritual single-mindedness lies at the heart of a London bomber and a Christian crusader ... what boundaries must the Church draw between taking up our cross, and the crass immorality of crusaders ? When does a freedom fighter become a terrorist ?


When indeed. How can you satirise that ?



"religious passion and spiritual single-mindedness"













"crass immorality"

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

He's a happy little dhimmi - full of "understanding" and self-righteousness and self-congratulation for the breadth of his views. What a moron.

Anonymous said...

Yup, that's the CofE leadership for you, I'm afraid -- which most CofE attenders quietly despise!

Now, Laban, what are the UK RC bishops saying about the same issue? Tell me that they are not also crawling in christo-dhimmitude!

Anonymous said...

Thank God for Richard the Lionheart!

Martin said...

Laban,

This pri-priest doesn't get the point.

The Christian martyrs in ancient Rome? Boiled alive, crucified upside down and fed to lions for daring to say that a Galilean carpenter rose from the dead and saved the world.

Mohammed Sidique Khan? Killed 52 people because of foreign policy.

Anonymous said...

Again I say, thank God for Richard the Lioneart. We owe our freedom and the freedom of Western civilisation to develop and expand to him and his men.

We are free and the Islamics are slaves to the 9th Century. We are free to worship whomever we choose - or not to worship a god at all - and the Islamics are tied to a bigot.

dearieme said...

Why are you making a fuss about that homosexual Frenchman?

Anonymous said...

Where's Dr. Spacely-Trellis when you need him?

Anonymous said...

Before you cast judgment on a Holy man or indeed a whole religion you should do him the courtesy of reading what he ACTUALLY wrote. If you believe what you read in the press you play right into the hands of those who wish to whip up controversy and insight hatred. Canon Gray denounces terrorism 100%. His article asks us to question at what point religious fervour becomes unacceptable. Listen to radio 4 in the morning and you might just get the whole picture instead of misled, dangerous and and damaging rumour.

Anonymous said...

In order to progress up the slippery pole within the Cof E hierarchy it is necessary to apologise, doesn't matter what for or indeed why.

The fact that this fools home is in a moslem stronghold (Blackburn) is not a coincidence.

Perhaps he hopes by humiliating himself his Church won't get burned down by those impassioned youths in the 'hood.

Anonymous said...

Muslim stronghold? What kind of language is that? We are not a country in civil war. The presence of differing communities within one town serves to broaden the culture of an area - we do not lay seige to one another here in sunny Blackburn!!!!!

Anonymous said...

"Muslim stronghold? What kind of language is that? We are not a country in civil war. The presence of differing communities within one town serves to broaden the culture of an area - we do not lay seige to one another here in sunny Blackburn!!!!! "

Until these differing communities begin to brawl, as they did in Birmingham, in Paris, and most recently in London. Of course, the most important thing is to be tolerant of literally everything, and to not use language which might upset the poor dears.

But I'm being too harsh towards you. You did get one thing right. What we have in the UK isn't a civil war; it's an unconditional surrender!