Peace.Now

 First stretch of fine sunshine for a record 8 days!  Well it seems like a record anyway.  Then the morning chills waded in, and occasional showers.  It has warmed up again.  Nothing to cheer you up, like basking in the sunshine.  Kids play in the garden too soaking up the vitamin D.  You know.  Ok, so it keeps them outa mischief too!   Nice day today too.  Looks like a visit to one of the farm parks near us.  We will see IA.

Onto more diverse issues, or should I say divisive issues. Bishop Naz catches the headlines again.  Bishop Naz is one of the UK’s more vocal clergymen with seemingly barf-like oratory skills.   The Bishop Naz  is no stranger to the Peace Now Pages and especially his (drop dead) infamous squallings on the banning of the Islamic veils.  One thing is for sure, he has a vindictive streak (surely inherited from popsy) when it comes to anything remotely Islamic.   Perhaps Naz is overtaken by a green, peevish flush ,when it happens and experiences a stomach ache which can only be described as seriously painful.

Bishop Naz’s pet peeve seems to be thriving Muslim Communities, domes and minarets and anything well “Mozlem” or “mozelmish”.  Now the squalling Bishop is not happy with the decline of “Christian Value, and well who can blame the poor bishop. He takes a potshot (surprise surprise) at “radical Islam” for taking the initiative to fill this so called moral vacuum (check seriously the wicked sideburns on this page!).  You know, I think this Bishop sounds way militant.  No use blaming Islam for being far more appealing, nor to the perfectly intelligent people who took the well thought out step of maneuvering over to Islam.  Surely, that is what we stand for i.e. Freedom of choice.  And well done for the decision. 

I leave you with the some of the  comments from the Timesonline page.  The first one, which is my favourite.  Please leave your comments here too.  Beleaguered Bishop Naz (attention seeker extraordinaire) does deserve some attention.

If the BNP are looking for a recruiting sergeant, then they’ve found one in the Bishop. Is he moonlighting?

So much too for inter-faith dialogue. The sooner religion keeps its bizarre beliefs inside the home or place of worship, the better it will be for all of us.

Dave, Dundee, UK

Typical – because we all know moral authority extends only from the Church of England… what incredible arrogance this man has to shove this garbage down our throats.

Morality is a shared set of social values, and I don’t need his god waved in my face to recognise right and wrong.

Andy, Glasgow, Scotland

Look at almost any Islamic society in the world and you will see how Christians and other minorities are treated (or should I say mistreated). Should Islam ever become a dominant force here, don’t expect the freedom to be having these conversations! The Bishop is right.

Andrew Brown, derby, UK

Meme of Blackpool.

Your ‘descendants’ would turn in their grves?

EO

Eleen O’Conor, Cordoba, Spain

As a child loses its belief in Father Christmas as it matures and learns, so the human race loses its belief in gods as it matures and takes more responsibility for its actions rather than putting them on imaginary figures.

Charlie, Munich,

Why is the question not ’should religion have a role in public life?’ If Nazir-Ali were to ask the question I’m sure he’d get several resounding ‘no’s from those of us sick of being bullied by somebody elses beliefs. Fear of Islam is not going to create Christian believers and it is cynical to try

Sophie, Liverpool,

Weak leaders with weak values. If people need religion they need leadership and the current crop of so called leaders are laughable.

Roger, Surrey.,

The bishop could have said much the same about the R C Church. That Church, so strong elsewhere, e.g. the USA, is declining in England because of weak bishops, more socialist than Christians. Those bishops recently invited Tony Blair to give a high-profile lecture in Westminster Cathedral.

George, Bolton, England

“……the 1960s cultural revolution for bringing Christianity’s role in society to an abrupt end”

I realised that in the 1950s when I became old enough for independent thought.

There are no gods – christianity and islam are equally stupid, misleading and a means to power over ordinary people.

Ian, Solihull, UK

The Bishop is mistaken on 1960s. The 1960s defeated the remnants of Victorian hypocritical morality and created freedom of the individual.

He needs to situate a valid criticism of Islamic radicalism on facts: of which there are many.

Modern morals need to be post-1960s and not anti-science.

Mahatma, London,

Great Britain is a Christian Country and it should remain like that. My decendants would turn in their graves if they knew what was happening to this country.

Meme, Blackpool, England

History is littered with evidence that diverse religions and cultures can never assimilate. It doesn’t matter how many times you put a chicken and a fox in a sack together the fox will always come out smiling. Isn’t it funny how we Christians never need religion until were drawing our last breath.

Cromwell, Leeds, England