Payoff for priest alleged to pose risk to children
A priest assessed as a potential risk to children and young people was paid off with a six-figure sum by the Church of England, a BBC investigation has found. Canon Andrew Hindley, who worked in the Blackburn diocese from 1991 to 2021 including as Canon Sacrist at the Cathedral, has never been charged with any criminal offence and says he has never presented any safeguarding risk to anyone. He was subject to five police investigations, including into allegations of sexual assault. A senior member of staff at Blackburn Cathedral resigned over the settlement, which is understood to have been £240,000. BBC report here
Welby condemned for ‘unbiblical’ Palestine ruling
Leaders of several Christian groups have protested strongly to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, for supporting an International Court of Justice ruling that Israel’s occupation of Palestine is “illegal”. They say the ruling is “unbiblical” and add: “If Jesus promised Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem, who are we to divide His land? For a Christian leader to express such unbounded confidence in the opinions of secular powers is shocking, ignoring biblical truth that the world is under the influence of the Father of Lies (1 John 5:19) who stirs up its rulers against the decrees of God (Psalm 2).” The Archbishop had said: “It is clear to me that the regime imposed by successive Israeli governments in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is one of systemic discrimination … It is clear that ending the occupation is a legal and moral necessity.” Premier Christian News report here
Is it a church? Is it a community? No, it’s a ‘new thing’
Anglican dioceses are dropping the word “church” in describing new projects established in parishes, an independent report says. New Things, written by the Rev Will Foulger, vicar of St Nicholas, Durham, found that each of the 11 dioceses investigated was “working with a unique ecclesiology”. Six used the language of “worship” in their main descriptor of “new things”, two used “congregation”, and seven used “community”. Some of the differences across dioceses were “stark” … “especially when it came to the issue of traditional ecclesial forms (worship, sacraments, etc), with some dioceses recognising these as central, and others less so.” Church Times report here
Ask Cathy. She’ll know the Episcopalian answer
An episcopal church in the United States has launched an AI chatbot called AskCathy, short for Churchy Answers That Help You. The Rev Lorenzo Lebrija, executive director at TryTank Research, which helped to develop the chatbot, said: “We have filled this bookcase with more than a thousand sources of Episcopalian/Anglican beliefs … Whenever possible, it will also cite the source for the user to find out more.” He added: “A lay leader can ask Cathy [for example] what to do about the death of an uncle of someone in the congregation whom they are about to visit. Her response will offer prayer suggestions from the Book of Common Prayer, scripture passages, perhaps even some hymns.” Christian Post report here
Israeli hardliner sparks anger with Jerusalem prayer call
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, yesterday led hundreds of Israelis into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in annexed East Jerusalem and performed prayers marking a Jewish holiday, according to the Reuters agency. Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu quickly denied there would be any change to rules that prohibit Jews from praying at the site, which is holy to both Muslims and Jews, and rebuked Ben-Gvir, the head of one of the nationalist religious parties in the ruling coalition. “There is no private policy of any minister on the Temple Mount — neither the minister of national security nor any other minister,” Netanyahu’s office said.
Second arrest over Northern Ireland mosque attack
A second man was arrested in Northern Ireland yesterday over an attack on a mosque. The suspect, 46, was held on suspicion of attempted arson with intent to endanger life, making a petrol bomb and criminal damage to the mosque in Greenwell Street, Newtownards, on Saturday.
Kenyan sect leader in court for manslaughter of 429 people
The leader of a sect in Kenya ordered followers to starve themselves to death to meet Jesus, but exempted his own children, a court was told yesterday. Paul Nthenge Mackenzie allegedly told his congregation to begin the fast in stages: starving their infants and children first, and arranging for adults to die last. Mackenzie and dozens of other suspects have pleaded not guilty in Mombasa to the manslaughter of 429 people, including children, at Shakahola Forest camp, in Malindi, about 75 miles north of the Kenyan capital. One witness said followers obeyed without question and soon began to die. “By fasting we would achieve redemption, end all human suffering and meet Jesus,” Mackenzie told them, she said. Telegraph report here
Islamophobia definition may threaten free speech says secular society
The government must ensure freedom to criticise religion is preserved in efforts to counter far-right extremism, the National Secular Society (NSS) has said. It has written to Angela Rayner, secretary of state for communities and local government, warning that adopting a definition of Islamophobia could threaten free speech around religion. The definition has been criticised by free speech campaigners, including the NSS, because — they claim — its vague wording leaves room for misinterpretation and misuse.
Teenager in body armour arrested after Turkish mosque stabbing
An 18-year-old man wearing a helmet and bulletproof vest has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing five people in the garden of a mosque in Turkey. The attacker, who has been named as Arda K by authorities, broadcast the attack on social media through a camera attached to his vest. He was said to be wearing a Nazi-themed T-shirt, body armour and carrying a hunting knife as he started slashing people in Eskisehir, 140 miles west of the capital, Ankara. One of the victims remains in a critical condition. CBS report here
Student jailed for threatening to behead Jewish babies
A former university undergraduate has been jailed for 21 months for posting online threats against Jewish students. Patrick Dai, 22, who studied at Cornell University, New York, had admitted posting messages on the university discussion forum including a threat to bomb Jewish residential accommodation and “stab” and “slit the throat” of any Jewish man he saw on campus. He also threatened to rape Jewish women and behead Jewish babies. Kristen Clarke, an assistant attorney-general, said: “Today’s sentencing reaffirms that we will hold accountable those who violently threaten and intimidate others based on their religious practice or background.” Report here
Drones take to the air for rave in the nave
A Georgian parish church in Dorset will ring to the rafters with techno music when it hosts a “rave in the nave”. St James’s Church in Poole — known as the fishermen’s church — will be lit by drones while electronic music artist RMCL (real name: Richard McLester) performs. The rave next Tuesday has been organised by One City One Light, whose director Toby Gardner said: “Broadcasting from unconventional spaces is something we love doing, but every location presents its challenges. It will be a long climb up the tower with all our kit, but we have done worse.” Premier Christian News report
Remote kirk, shelled by U-boat, saved from a new attacker
A tiny church on the remote St Kilda archipelago of Scotland, famously attacked by a German U-boat in the First World War, is facing another assault — from the weather. The kirk, and the school building adjoining it, are being renovated by National Trust for Scotland using specialist contractors to make them windproof and watertight. In March 1918 The U-90 fired on St Kilda, after its captain suspected there were military installations on the island. Seventy-four shells were fired and 30 found their targets, including the kirk. The last 36 residents of St Kilda, 110 miles off the west coast of Scotland, left the island in 1930, fearing they could no longer survive its fierce winters. Today it is uninhabited by humans but home to a million seabirds, including the UK’s largest colony of Atlantic puffins. BBC report here
