Tim Abbott

Photography in public - your rights

Taking photographs in public can sometimes attract the unwarranted attention of the Police, Special Constables, security guards, PCSOs or even people in yellow vests.

This article takes a look at what might be a bit of a current trend to sometimes treat photographers as suspects. There are some helpful links to sites that set out the legal position regarding photography in public places.

In response to reports of overzealous demands by police for photographers to delete images or hand over memory cards, the Nottinghamshire Police guidelines state:
Police officers do not have the authority to prevent a person taking a photograph or to confiscate cameras or film, and such conduct could result in criminal, civil or diciplinary action.

There's an excellent 'print your own' guide to UK photographers rights here.

Not my voice

My colleague, Tom, has had an interesting email correspondence with Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, the organisation that's taking the BBC (and others) to court over "Jerry Springer, The Opera". He's included Stephen's reply, which you will probably find revealing, or interesting or even downright frustrating.

I'm no particular fan of either Jerry Springer's show, or "Jerry Springer, The Opera", which I watched so that I would know what all the fuss was about. But I worry about the real and lasting impact of pursuing a gagging order through the courts all the way up to the House of Lords in the name of Christianity. There's an excellent article about the whole sorry affair in The Herald.

I am not prepared to question Stephen's Christan commitment, or the right of Christan Voice to exercise freedom of speech, but as a fellow Christian I just want to make it absolutely clear that they do not speak for me, and, I suspect, many others.

Is that the sound of resounding gongs and clashing cymbals I hear?

UPDATE: the story continues here

Imagine - no religion

Connecticut Valley Atheists, fed up with so many Christian displays at Christmas, have responded with their own thought for Christmas. Their three sided billboard in the town park of Vernon has a picture of the Twin Towers with the message, "Imagine, no religion".

See the full story here.

Tricky, this one. 'People of faith', both Christian and Muslim, are sensing persecution. But I'm inclined towards the view that this is simply freedom of speech and tells us about the views of Connecticut Valley Atheists. It's foolish to try to pretend that any of our traditions, Christian, Muslim or atheist are innocent of wrongdoing and atrocity. I'm getting a little tired of the ongoing gainsaying about whether Christianity or atheism is responsible for the worst wrongs against humanity, as if winning this argument will somehow prove that our way is right. Really all that's happening is that we're trying to show we're the least bad!

Supposedly in the name of Christ people have done terrible things. They were wrong, even if sincerely wrong - no excuses. Perhaps we need to say sorry sooner, more often, a bit more readily, and more clearly. Real people of faith do. Those with political agendas in religious wrappers don't.

Over at Christians confess you'll find that it's quite possible for Christians to say sorry.

Bibles and Beijing 2008

Thinking of going to the Olympics in Beijing?

According to this page on the official Beijing 2008 web site:

Note: Each travel is recommended to take no more than one Bible into China.

This is because:

Any printed material, film, tapes that are 'detrimental to China's politics, economy, culture and ethics' are also forbidden to bring into China.

So now you know. But just in case you have any suspicions, you'll be relieved to know that:

China is a country with religious freedom and respects every religion.

according to information on this page. As Sir Humphrey used to say on Yes Minister, "Some might say that. I couldn't possibly comment."

In an interesting twist of irony, the 70 Bibles we recently purchased for a local secondary school on behalf of four local churches were printed in China, as you can see on the sides of the boxes in this picture.

 

The Holocaust and the History curriculum

I may be late on this one, but since it dropped into my inbox yesterday I thought I'd mention it.

There's an alarmist email doing the rounds about the Holocaust being dropped from the uk history curriculum because it offends Muslims. With a subject line:
EVERY DAY - THE MORONS ARE CHANGING THE HISTORY BOOKS...
you'd be right to be suspicious. Here's what it said;

Recently this week, UK removed The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it "offended" the Moslem population which claims it never occurred.
This is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.
It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended.
This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the six millionJews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians and 1,900 Catholic priests who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned, starved and humiliated with the German and Russian peoples looking the other way!
Now, more than ever, with Iran, among others, claiming the Holocaust to be"a myth," it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets. This e-mail is intended to reach 40 million people worldwide!
Join us and be a link in the memorial chain and help us distribute it around the world.

Please send this e-mail to 10 people you know and ask them to continue the memorial chain.
Please don't just delete it. It will only take you a minute to pass this along -

Thanks!

Yes, you've guessed it - it's absolutely wrong.

The rumour started following a government report on the teaching of history which showed that at KS4 GCSE some teachers were avoiding historical events which would be emotive or controversial in their area. The report cited one history department in a northern city which decided not to teach the Holocaust as a topic for GCSE coursework.

The report was picked up at the beginning of April by The Daily Mail, The Telegraph and The Guardian all of which identified the difficulty of teaching some aspects of the history curriculum where there are strongly held views among the local community about these events.

On the specific issue of the Holocaust, it remains a coursework topic at GCSE and is compulsory at KS3 (11's - 14's). It will remain a part of the history curiculum at KS3 in the new syllabus which comes into force in September 2008.

The original report is here.
Here's how the BBC reported the issue.
There is a balanced and informative response from the Holocaust Education Trust

Whilst on the subject of email hoaxes, if you haven't already done so you should check out TruthOrFiction.com which keeps tabs on all of these eRumours and checks them out to see if they are true or not.

Alan Johnston

Away in Wales for a couple of days, it was Wednesday morning, driving from Welshpool to Llanfair at 6:20am that I heard the amazing news that Alan Johnston had been freed.
Welcome home Alan.
Peace.

Seeking first Righteousness

I'm sure that like me you've heard it said that what the church in the west needs is more persecution. Sometimes we seem to set ourselves up for what we consider to be persecution. The classic example is preaching on street corners, but protesting loudly outside theatres when something you consider blasphemous is on is also invoked as 'responding to persecution'.

This isn't persecution. No Christians were hurt in the making of this programme. Many will consider this kind of show to be offensive (including quite a few non-Christians), and many will ignore it, or would have done if the Christians hadn't made such a noise about it. But it's hardly persecution. Being crucified on the walls of your own church - that's persecution. Having your church destroyed, being arrested for meeting, being forced to 'convert' - that's persecution.

Jesus told us to, "Seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness..." Matt 6:33. He also encouraged us that "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matt 5:10. See how easy it is to mis-read this to imply that the more you're persecuted the more righteous you must be.

But persecution isn't a mark of righteousness. Our righteousness comes not from what we do, but from God through faith in Jesus Christ Rom 3:21-22. Persecution of Christians happens when the surrounding culture doesn't like Christ and his church and all that it stands for. It's not about us, it's about them and their reaction. Jesus said this would happen, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world." John 16:33. Whatever happens, Jesus is bigger. This is the conviction of the Chinese church in the face of an immense, powerful, aggressive, secular state. Jesus is bigger. We're on his side, and he has overcome the world.

We don't fight back, taking militancy onto the street - we seek his righteousness, engage with people respectfully, and ultimately may have to walk the path of the suffering servant. "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven."Matt 5:43-45

In the UK there are growing and significant areas of conflict between Christian values and national legislation which threaten to undermine the Christian heritage of our nation. I am grateful to those with the skills to challenge much of this legislation on the grounds of justice and equality. But I am less convinced by those who hope to perpetuate a vision of Christian Britain that most people would reject as an arrogant and imperialist imposition. Was that what Jesus wanted?

If we, in the west, face greater persecution, let it be because our passion is to live out God's righteousness, granted to us by grace through Christ. And if we face our persecutors, God give us grace to love them and to pray for them.

[pic: Church Times, from an article about the new Sexual Orientation Regulations]

Bedingfields in The Sunday Times

A slightly contextless link, but there were two articles in The Sunday Times (25 March) featuring The Bedingfield siblings, Daniel & Natasha.
Daniel gets a mention in an article about the slave trade, The New Wilberforces, which highlights the work of campaigns the truth isn't sexy and stopthetraffik.
Natasha gets an article to herself, I’m the rising star with my feet planted on solid ground which seeks to find out what's really going on behind that pop persona and the role her faith plays in it all; "I don’t understand what’s so bad about being good."
Being a Christian in the pop world involves walking a very fine line. These guys seem to be setting a good example of getting that balance right.

[pic: The Times]

Tolerance, fundamentalism and theocracy

Today I got to spend some time with a whole bunch of amazing church leaders from the Colchester area, a loose affiliation called "Seeking God's Blessing for Colchester". We were discussing the role of the church in society and to kick off our thinking considered the pros and cons of faith based education.

Whilst there is strong governmental support for faith based schools there is also a vocal secular backlash which would seek not just to abandon faith based schools, or at least cut off all state funding to them, but take any reference to faith out of the education system, as is the case in the USA. This is just one manifestation of a creeping agenda of secularisation by a vociferous minority who would seek to erase all faith from public life and relegate it to the realm of privatised individual myth.

Over on his blog, smulospace, John Smulo has been asking a similar question about the 'New Atheists' and the rise of atheist fundamentalism which condemns not just faith but even respect for faith. There are some great comments too.

So what turns people from sincere, strong, passionate believers into fundamentalists? My thinking has been helped by some wise thoughts from Jim Wallis in his book "God's Politics".

Firstly, he suggests that...

Fundamentalism is essentially a revolt against modernity. It is a reaction usually based on profound fear and defensiveness against 'losing the faith'.

This would account for the aggressive apologetics of 'New Atheism' in the face of the seeming lack of interest or respect for science versus the current resurgence of authentic faith, public openness to spirituality, and terrorism that claims religious justification.

Wallis also notes that...

Of particular concern is how modern fundamentalism has made the move to theocracy - in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. ...all theocrats desire their religious agenda to be enforced through the power of the state.

Of course, here in Britain the standing of Christianity, if not enforced, has certainly been endorsed through the power of the state in the ordering of our political, legal, social and educational structures for the good of many, whether Christian or not.

Wallis' context is the appropriation of Christian fundamentalism in the service of, principally right wing, political ambition. But increasingly, attacks on faith are coming not from those of another religious faith but from secularist fundamentalists who invoke human rights or equality legislation in support of their campaign to rid public life of any vestige of religion or spirituality. Co-existence of religious and secular beliefs, a tolerant plurality of theism, atheism and agnosticism, is not an option. Some seem optimistic about a kind of atheistic theocracy.

If we try to hold on to the place of the inherited standing of Christianity against the growing alternatives that come from other secular or religious groups, what does that say about our mission to the nation and our relationship with power? And how would a loss of the inherited status of Christianity change the influence of everyday missional Christianity and our impact in communities across our land?

Evolved to believe?

This week it's the British Association for the Advancement of Science "Festival of Science" at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. It may be an interesting commentary on our times that the biggest media interest seems to be centred around speakers dealing with what some might see as very unscientific behaviour in the forms of superstition, telepathy, the afterlife and the paranormal.

Of particular interest is the work of Professor Bruce Hood (reported here in The Times and here in The Guardian) who proposes that belief systems and superstition are a positive outcome of evolution in that they equip us to reason intuitively and to generate theories about the way things are, even when they cannot easily be seen or obviously deduced. This contrasts sharply with the view of Richard Dawkins who views religion and superstition as evil 'memes', ideas that have been passed down through generations but which ultimately (he hopes) have the potential to be expunged from human history. Dawkins increasingly vehement denouncement of religion and god reach a new landmark later this month with the publication of 'The God Delusion'.

Much as I am warm towards Dawkins' science, I am left cold by the leap of faith he makes, and seems to require everyone to make, towards atheism. Alister McGrath's book, 'Dawkins' God' deals with this wisely and respectfully. From a purely evolutionary scientific perspective, Bruce Hood's theory seems to make more sense, to 'fit' better.

So where does that leave us theologically?
For me, there are two vitally important issues.

Firstly, if there is a God (and I believe there is!) then by very definition, as well as by essence and being, he is far above all that we investigate or even imagine. I believe God has given us wisdom and reason which outworks into the scientific method so that we can both enjoy more fully all he has made and also better steward the resources he's given us. But the scientific method falls within all that he has created - therefore all we know is not all there is to know. Further, our understanding will forever be limited by the fact that in our world we are both the subject and the object of observation - we can't get out of the system God has set us in to take bigger look. We can't get up into the control room of the Truman Show and look down upon the Truman world.

Therefore, even if Bruce Hood is right, and we are made to reason intuitively and to imagine beyond the immediately verifiable, is this not a quality that God has uniquely breathed into us as humans? This gives us not only the capacity to think, reflect and create, but also to seek him, the one for whom and through whom all things were made. It is a scary possibility that God could just as easily have made a universe and placed humans on the earth and left the phone line disconnected - leaving us to experience a God-less life whilst God looked on, uninvolved. No. He made us to seek and to find.

The other vital issue is Jesus! Much of the current discussion centres on the phenomenon of religious faith in general and its usefulness (Hood) or otherwise (Dawkins). Since God has 'set eternity in people's hearts' it's not surprising that the tendency to seek God, or at least to be superstitious, is a nearly universal experience. But God did the most amazing thing when he sent Jesus to walk among us and the evidence stands out in history.

Perhaps the scientists should shift their gaze towards a thorough investigation into the evidence for the one who was God, who moved into our neighbourhood and who clearly overcame the ultimate fate of us all.