Bishops raise concern at threatened detention of young Palestinian Christian
The Church Times has seen a letter from four bishops to Layan Nasir, a 25 year old Palestinian Anglican, who was detained for eight months by Israel last year and who now faces a court hearing with threatened detention, on 7 September. The court is demanding an eight-month prison sentence in connection with a case from 2021, alleging she supported a student union deemed illegal for association with terrorism. She has been held twice but never convicted and the court has so far refused a plea deal. The bishops of Chelmsford, Gloucester, Norwich, and Southwark, said they were praying for her: ““It would be a travesty if your rehabilitation and reintegration back into society is interrupted by a further custodial sentence on a spurious charge from over four years ago. We earnestly pray that a plea deal can be negotiated with the court that avoids such an outcome.” The bishops have also made representations to the Israeli Ambassador in London and the British Government.
British Jewish identity fostered by home life, education and youth work
The Institute for Jewish Policy Research has released a study indicating that British Jewish identity is influenced by an ecosystem of multiple factors such as education, family life and youth work, and not by one single intervention. Using data from JPR’s 2022 National Jewish Identity Survey, the study found the key influence is the home, particularly orthodox or traditional; involvement in a Jewish youth movement is statistically more impactful than attending a Jewish school or a short-term Israel programme; and the impact of educational experiences in childhood ‘wears off’ over time and there is a need for “greater investment, understanding and creativity in Jewish education”. The study concludes that it is best to “conceptualise the task of Jewish identity development in terms of a Jewish ecosystem of interrelated learning opportunities, and to foster inter-communal cooperation to help facilitate this”.
Author reflects on Chris Brain’s guilty verdicts and CofE failures
The journalist Roland Howard, who wrote a book in 1996, explaining what was going on at Chris Brain’s Nine O’Clock Service in Sheffield, has written again in The Telegraph giving his reflection on Brain being found guilty of indecent assault. He said: “At the time, I didn’t feel that there was a cover up (there wasn’t) but I do now feel that they (the Church of England) failed in their duty of care”. He reflects that he witnessed “at every level of the organisation, an extreme example of coercive control and, within the Homebase Team, an example of modern day slavery”. In The Telegraph, Roland Howard describes the night club service with dancing, chants, sound loops, lights and a choir gyrating in leather clad bikinis. He said his most disturbing interviews were with the young women in the “Homebase team”, who looked after Brain at home, saying: “Several reflected that their personalities had been completely extinguished and that their bodies had belonged to Brain”. In his interview with Chris Brain 30 years ago, they sat at either end of a long table, around which 12 church leaders, dressed in black, sat listening as Brain was flanked by two young women, also dressed in black. “The situation felt unnatural, sinister even, but certainly ludicrous. After all, I was there, as a journalist, to interview a parish priest from Cheshire, not Elvis”. Roland Howard’s book “Rise and Fall of the Nine O’Clock Service: A Cult within the Church?”, outlined much of the behaviour made public in Brain’s trial which has just ended at Inner London Crown Court, where he was found guilty of 17 charges of indecent assault, not guilty of 15 others, with five others including a rape charge, to be determined.
Silicon Valley chief Peter Thiel, to give lectures on AI and the Antichrist
Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, the software and AI company, is giving a series of four off-the-record lectures on the subject of “The Biblical Antichrist”, starting next month. Tickets have already sold out. He is known for his commitment to Christianity, and his lectures will draw on thinkers including Cardinal, now Saint, John Henry Newman, and the French philosopher René Girard, whose ideas are described as Catholic anthropology, seeing Christianity as revealing truth about human behaviour and the need for transcendence. The talks have been organised by the “Acts 17 Collective”, where “Acts” stands for “Acknowledging Christ in Technology and Society”. In recent interviews, he has suggested that the Antichrist could be an individual or system that controls AI like a “one-world totalitarian state”, undermining human freedom. The Times reports that Denise Lee Yohn, co-founder of the Bay Area Center for Faith, Work & Tech, said Thiel had helped to “normalise” Christianity in the area, where some Christians might previously have felt they were seen as backwards because of their faith.
Sharia: are fears of a parallel legal system unfounded?
A recent decision by an Austrian court to allow sharia law judgments as a framework for arbitration in civil disputes over property related cases, has once more raised inflamed commentary amidst fears of a parallel legal system. Our explainer by Maira Butt, outlines the legal tradition of Islam, the claims that it is an insidious “parallel legal system” which Islamic scholars say is far from the truth, and their explanation that, at its simplest, sharia is the ethical and moral framework that guides Muslim practice. They say much of it is a public code, which deals with marriage, divorce, trade and justice. It also highlights the sanctity and the inviolability of the social contract or the political contract, so that whether Muslims live in an Islamic or non-Muslim country, they are subject to a binding contract with the government of their country “whereby the government promises them safety and they promise their government to abide by their public laws”. The explainer is here
Westminster Abbey Institute hosts autumn events on refugees, war and peace
Westminster Abbey Institute has announced its Autumn Series of public events, exploring war, peace and ethical leadership. On 17 November, Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, in one of his final engagements before leaving office, will reflect on a decade of global displacement, leadership, and moral responsibility. The Institute says it will be both a farewell from a major international figure and a call to the next generation of public servants. The season starts on 16 September with the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in conversation with Nick Carter, former head of British Armed Forces, and Catherine Ashton, former EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to discuss “the search for an ethical peace” and the responsibilities of leading and serving in public life.
Edinburgh church re-launching canal boat for mission on the Union canal
Polwarth Parish Church in Edinburgh has taken full ownership of a 60ft canal boat, All Aboard, which will be a base for Bible studies, Sunday School, prayer sessions, and wellbeing events, all along the Union canal. It’s been out of action since last November, but in its earlier life when it owned by the church and a charity, 1000 people took part in events on the boat over seven months.
