Religion
God, guns and America
While training as a playwright, I was taught that any gun brought onstage must go off. Anton Chekhov said, ‘One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no… Continue reading
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Cult fiction – Amity and Sorrow by Peggy Riley
There’s an attraction, certainly, in joining a cult. Not a Sheryl Sandberg working women type cult but a good old fashioned we’re all in it together wearing hemp skirts type… Continue reading
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It’s time for the Church of England to drop the culture wars
Almost three thousand years ago the Prophet Amos asked ‘can two walk together except they be agreed?’ How can the Church of England, pragmatic and volunteer-led but with complex legal… Continue reading
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Move over, Dawkins. The atheist spring of the last decade is wilting.
I couldn’t get Richard Dawkins to reply to Theo Hobson’s excellent article on ‘the new new atheists’. Probably, he didn’t see my message. Or maybe he thought it beneath him. Or maybe like God he… Continue reading
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Wisden finally merits the epithet ‘Cricket Bible’
The man who christened Wisden ‘The Cricket Bible’ had little religion. Wisden is an unprepossessing sight: a 1,500 page tome surrounded by a flame-yellow dust jacket covered in mud brown… Continue reading
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Live from Golgotha
A rather charming and typically self-deprecating Easter sermon from Archbishop Justin at Canterbury Cathedral; I’m beginning to like him. His subject was the inevitability of disillusion with things like governments… Continue reading
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Happy Easter
It is a glorious morning, suitable weather to mark this joyous day in the Christian calendar. The leading column in this week’s issue of the magazine considers the Easter story… Continue reading
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Brace yourself for the real experience of going to a rural parish service on Easter Sunday
‘And we extend a special welcome to all our visitors here today.’ That’s the vicar speaking; and this Sunday is one of the two days in the year when you… Continue reading
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Interview with a writer: John Banville
The salubrious surroundings of the Waldorf Hotel seem like a very apt setting to interview a master of style and sophistication. When I arrive in the lobby, John Banville is… Continue reading
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Holy Week is a time for contemplation and renewal
Good Friday is a day for contemplation. If you have time, do read Roger Scruton’s piece in the latest issue of the Spectator. It is, among other things, a deep… Continue reading
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The life of a former ABC
Steerpike is back in this week’s magazine. As ever, here is your preview: ‘”A Cambridge student reports this snippet from a Sainsbury’s checkout. ‘Is that a Lord of the Rings… Continue reading
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The pleasure of reading Rumer Godden’s India
Rumer Godden’s prose tugs two ways at once. It is subtle, descriptive, and light, but also direct and unashamed of being turned inside out until darkness consumes it, rendering what… Continue reading
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Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s prayers
As the late Christopher Hitchens used to say of the most vociferous, gay-obsessed clergy: ‘I have a rule of thumb for such clerics and have never known it to fail:… Continue reading
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The Koran and Richard Dawkins’s survival instinct
I thought that readers might be interested in this new piece from me on Islam, the Koran and Richard Dawkins’s survival instinct.
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Discovering poetry: how the Psalms made the English
Psalm 42, verses 1-8 Philip Sidney Miles Coverdale Miles Coverdale’s translation of the psalms was among the first fruit of Henry VIII’s ambivalent reformation. The religion of Henry’s England was… Continue reading
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Can Christians still have Holy Matrimony?
That’s that then. Marriage will change, one way or another. Progress has won. Cue lots of right-on politicians talking about how proud they are to have ushered in such a… Continue reading
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Will the European court force churches to conduct gay weddings?
Would the European Court of Human Rights force churches to conduct same-sex marriages against their will? That’s the professed fear of some opponents of the Same Sex Marriage Bill being… Continue reading
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Church of England 2.0
Welcome Rt Rev Justin Welby, who became the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury this morning at St Pauls. The Church of England’s first tweeting ABC has been a bit quiet online… Continue reading
4 CommentsVideo: Debating Richard Dawkins
The video of my debate with Richard Dawkins, Rowan Williams and Tariq Ramadan is now available online. Richard Dawkins speaks third, and I speak last.
7 Comments Debating Richard Dawkins
I spent Thursday evening at the Cambridge Union debating the motion ‘This House believes religion has no place in the 21st century.’ I spoke against the motion. My opponents on… Continue reading
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