Poll: Religion and Politics in Blogging

I’ve been playing around with the new polls tool on WordPress.com for  a while, and have finally landed on a few questions I’d like to ask you folks. First and foremost, I’m aware my blog makes almost no attempt to split politics and religion, and frequently fails to acknowledge the moments I swerve from one to another. See below for poll…

Are Dog Collars on Vicars outdated?

This is the question that seems to be gripping my workplace at the moment. Its been argued, as I understand it, that its an outdated fashion and that it makes relating to others more difficult and less obvious. But is there more to Dog Collar wearing than meets the eye of today’s fashion critic?

The Age of Entitlement

Casting my mind back to the events of Momentum in August, which you can read about here, I remembered my mental note to explore one area in particular. I wanted to return to Mike P’s three factors preventing today’s young adults getting the most from life: Consumerism, Individualism and Entitlement.  Today I shall point to just one in particular.

A Jungle No More

I’ll never learn. Ask people if you should blog about something, and like all my great friends, those that answer will mostly pour out the encouragement. Thanks guys! I’m sure you all know about the dire situation going on down in Calais, where  hundreds of asylum seekers are being made homeless, despite having only tarp shelters to call home in the first place.

How do you recruit war victims?

There are many victims in wars. Its easy to vent about how innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan have become victims of war. But what about the victims behind the guns, those who, for whatever, are compelled into joining an army they otherwise wouldn’t and who often become the frontline casualties of even the most high-tech wars?

Liberals, Evangelicals and Deep Church

A year ago I read Amy and Frog Orr-Ewing’s book, “Deep”. I realised recently I never wrote anything on my blog about it, even though it provoked some useful thoughts. Their assessment of the state of the Church in Britain today is often very useful, inspired amongst other things, by work in deprived areas and mission trips to repressive Islamic regimes, including Afghanistan.

Open Microphone Post

With lots of people reading this blog at the moment, how about this: an open microphone post. The idea is that you comment what you’re thinking, what’s frustrating you about the world at the moment, whatever. If you’re going to post a link to a blog post, please write a paragraph in summary. If you want to ask me something (within reason) please go ahead…

Iran: from embers to flames

So, by the time you read this, you probably already know that things in Iran have flared up quite notably yesterday. People on twitter have had a lot to say (the topic is at number 4 as I write this) and its all very much confused by the combination of Ahmedinejad’s supporters and loathers on the streets at the same time, but the ongoing saga known affectionately as ‘#iranelection’ appears to have a new chapter.

Don’t send this postcard!

This was the slogan on a post card being handed out at Greenbelt. Just in case you didn’t know, Greenbelt is the busiest festival by-attendance (2nd after Glasto overall) for postcard signing, that NGO term for getting people to write their name on a pre-written message to whoever they’re lobbying. Was this some kind of radical statement against the lobbying mentality? A call to arms for something more radical?

The American Right Shows its true colors

As we all know, spelling color with a u in it is un-American, so I felt it best to start today’s blog post on the right track, with the appropriate spelling. For those of you who don’t know this, the American Right are being unusually vociferous and, lets be honest, insane right now. From Tea Baggers to Birtherism they’re screaming some pretty unintelligible stuff, showing views they managed to play down during the Bush years.