Good Friday agreement: Archbishop says reconciliation and peace are not one-off events
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spoke in his Easter sermon of the political courage to reach the Good Friday agreement and more recently to produce the Windsor Framework, a “reminder that reconciliation and peace are not one-off events, but long journeys requiring determination, stamina and faith”. Pope Francis said on Monday that he is praying that the Good Friday agreement signed 25 years ago ending violence in Northern Ireland can be “consolidated” to benefit the people of all of Ireland.
They were speaking ahead of a four-day visit to Ireland by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, whose family come from Ballina in western Ireland. There is hope that his visit will provide the impetus to break the deadlock in the north, which is without a power sharing government in a dispute over the Brexit deal. While the troubles sprang out of sectarian Christian rivalry, the most recent census shows that identity in the north is a complex issue, not solely relying on affiliation to a Christian denomination.
Northern Ireland Affairs committee discussion here (10.44)
DUP co-founder fears his evangelical heritage is not safe in the United Kingdom
Wallace Thompson, evangelical and co-founder of the DUP in Northern Ireland, has said that some evangelical Christians could back a united Ireland because their Protestant heritage is no longer respected in the United Kingdom. He told the Belfast News Letter that unionism has been the guarantor of his evangelical protestant faith, but added: “There’s no evidence now whatever within the UK that our evangelical Protestant heritage is even respected. No-one will really care about it. Those in authority have no respect for it. The whole changing moral tone of society in terms of issues like the LGBT+, abortion, all of these things – we’re shifting away from an adherence to the evangelical Protestant mindset. I don’t see now that I’ve any great confidence that my heritage is that safe within the UK”. He didn’t know whether his heritage was safe in a united Ireland either, but noted that evangelical churches are growing in the south. However, Lord William McCrea, a retired Free Presbyterian minister and DUP politician, said he held the opposite view. He told the News Letter that the same laws passed in the UK had been passed in Ireland and he was not convinced there would be as much religious freedom: “The freedom for Biblical Protestantism, Biblical Christianity, certainly has not been something that’s been very evident in the Irish republic.”
British Israeli mother has died after shooting in the West Bank
The BBC reports that Lucy Dee, a British-Israeli woman has died after a suspected Palestinian gun attack in the occupied West Bank on Friday, in which two of her daughters were also killed. She was married to Leo, a former rabbi in Radlett, Hertfordshire, and they had moved with their family of five children to Israel nine years ago. In an emotional statement, Rabbi Leo Dee described how the family had set off in two cars for a holiday when he was alerted to the attack and turned back to see a scene of carnage. His wife was taken to hospital in a coma and never recovered. Their daughters Rina, 15, and Maia, 20, died at the scene and were buried on Sunday.
Pope’s message of peace and reconciliation in the world
In his Easter message Urbi et Orbi, to the city and the world, Pope Francis urged people to “make haste” on a journey of creating trust among peoples, individuals and nations. He prayed for peace in Ukraine, for those who have lost loved ones in the war, for the release of prisoners and efforts from the international community to find peace. Following renewed tension in Jerusalem, the Pope prayed for a resumption of dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, in order to bring peace. He prayed also for many other countries in conflict around the world including Lebanon, Syria, Nicaragua, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Welby: working for peace in Ukraine and Middle East is not a daydream
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, preaching at Canterbury Cathedral, said the Easter story showed that life triumphs over death and light over darkness, and “we must not lose heart” over the war in Ukraine or the situation in Israel and Palestine. True peace, he said, is no aimless daydream and overcoming hatred or reconciling after conflict showed the reality of the resurrection. He also revealed that the decision to set aside a £100 million Church Commissioners fund to make reparation for slavery had resulted in hundreds of letters, 98 per cent of which were complaints. But he said this was not “post-colonial guilt, ambivalent wokery, it is the living presence of Christ, alive in our church and in our lives, who treats us all, high and low, important and unknown, exactly the same”.
Nick Cave: How grief “completed me as a human being“
“Unherd” has published an interview with Nick Cave, singer, composer and writer, whose book Faith Hope and Carnage has had a profound impact. In this interview, Nick Cave describes the artistic process as though he has no control over the outcome, as songs turn from scraps into something of value. He describes how the sudden death of his son aged 15, “completed me as a human being, and allowed me to turn around and see the world and see everyone in it as suffering individuals, as broken individuals”. Published in Easter week, the interview shares his abiding interest in the “deeply haunted” story of Christ: “I just find it incredibly compelling this man who in Holy Week enters Jerusalem and is lauded as the Son of God, then in pretty much the next scene, he is kneeling in the garden, completely abandoned and alone”. “Unherd” interview by Freddie Sayers is here
England football “two steps ahead” in understanding Ramadan
The Times has interviewed Senegalese and Chelsea player Kalidou Koulibaly, on how he is coping as a player while observing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when there is fasting from sunrise to sunset. Chelsea was the first Premier League club to host an “Open Iftar”, allowing Muslims to break their fast at the end of the day beside the pitch. Koulibaly explained how Chelsea works with nutritionists to provide dates and water for Muslim players if the breaking of the fast happens during warm up or even during a game, and then provides food in the dressing room and after the match. Referees ask if players want to “re-fuel”. “Fasting is a mental challenge for an athlete but once you know you can pass it, you are mentally stronger; you feel you can do anything”, he said. He has also played in Belgium but concludes that England “are two steps in front of everybody”, when it comes to understanding Ramadan. Interview by Jonathan Northcroft here
Swansea ends Christian naming of terms
Swansea has become the latest university to rename Michaelmas and Lent terms in favour of secular alternatives. The Telegraph quotes a university statement that the labels “no longer resonate with its student body”.
Dalai Lama apologises after asking young boy to suck his tongue
The Dalai Lama has apologised after a film was published showing him kissing a young boy on the lips and asking him to suck his tongue. The Dalai Lama’s office said: “His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras. He regrets the incident,” The BBC explains that the film appears to have been taken at a skills training programme organised by the M3M Foundation. The young boy asks if he can hug the Dalai Lama, who then asks the boy to kiss his cheek, then his lips and then suck his tongue. The report says that “sticking one’s tongue out can be a form of greeting in Tibet”. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism and has lived in exile in India since fleeing Tibet in 1959, after an uprising against Chinese rule.
