Wishing Happy Christmas 'Could Be an Obscenity' Warns Bishop
THE TELEGRAPH: Wishing people a Happy Christmas could be seen as an "insult" or even an "obscenity" as not everyone is in a position to celebrate, a bishop has warned.

The Right Reverend Humphrey Southern, the Bishop of Repton, said it was a "hollow" greeting to make to those who were suffering.

People should not "simply make a cocoon of happiness for ourselves and our loved ones" at Christmas, he said.

Writing in the monthly Derby diocese newsletter, he said: "This is the 'Happy Christmas' month. Yet to many that greeting will be hollow, coming as an insult, or even an obscenity."

The bishop, 49, went on to ask: "What can 'Happy Christmas' mean in a family whose father has been killed in a military operation in Afghanistan that fewer and fewer people understand (still less support)?

"How do you wish 'Happy Christmas' to a community in the Indian Ocean who can probably count on the fingers of a couple of hands the number of Christmases they will see before their home disappears under water, victim to global warming?

"What could it possibly mean to the victim of bullying, ostracism or racial intimidation in your workplace or neighbourhoods or community?" >>> Stephen Adams | ay, November 27, 2009

Church of England Set to Lose a Tenth of Its Clergy in Five Years
TIMES ONLINE: The Church of England is facing the loss of as many as one in ten paid clergy in the next five years and internal documents seen by The Times admit that the traditional model of a vicar in every parish is over.

The credit crunch and a pension funding crisis have left dioceses facing massive restructuring programmes. Church statistics show that between 2000 and 2013 stipendiary or paid clergy numbers will have fallen by nearly a quarter.

According to figures on the Church of England website, there will be an 8.3 per cent decrease in paid clergy in the next four years, from 8,400 this year to 7,700 in to 2013. This represents a 22.5 per cent decrease since 2000. If this trend continues in just over 50 years there will be no full-time paid clergy left in Britain’s 13,000 parishes serving 16,000 churches.

Jobs will instead be filled by unpaid part-timers, giving rise to fears about the quality of parish ministry. Combined with a big reduction in churchgoing, the figures will add weight to the campaign for disestablishment. >>> Ruth Gledhill and Tim Glanfield | Saturday, November 28, 2009

Vicar Could Be Disciplined for Blog Slurs against Gays and Muslims
THE GUARDIAN: Rev Peter Mullen joked about homosexuals and Islam on an internet blog

A Church of England vicar could face disciplinary action for saying gay men should have "sodomy" warnings tattooed on their bodies.

The Rev Peter Mullen, the chaplain to the London Stock Exchange, made the remarks on his blog, which has since been removed from the web under an agreement with diocesan officials.

Mullen, 66, wrote it was time for religious believers to recommend the discouragement of homosexual practices in the style of cigarette packet warnings.

"Let us make it obligatory for homosexuals to have their backsides tattooed with the slogan sodomy can seriously damage your health and their chins with fellatio kills."

In a previous posting Mullen anticipated an "agreeable carnage" at the start of the annual Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

"They usually manage to stampede and slaughter quite a few hundred of their co-religionists. Just imagine for a moment what a field day the BBC and the leftwing press in England would have if anything even remotely as bad as that happened in Vatican Square at Christmas or Easter."

Mullen criticised the lack of jokes about Islam in the media, remarking that adherents "certainly lend themselves to ridicule: sticking their arses in the air five times a day. How about a few little choruses, 'Randy Muslims when they die/Find 70 virgins in the sky'?" Vicar Could Be Disciplined for Blog Slurs against Gays and Muslims >>> Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent | October 6, 2008

THEINDEPENDENT:
Clergyman Apologises over Call to Tattoo Gay People: A Church of England clergyman who wrote that gay men should be forced to have "sodomy" warnings tattooed on their bodies issued a "full and complete" apology for his remarks today.

The Rev Peter Mullen said his remarks were "injudicious" and had caused offence.

"I did not intend to cause any upset but I realise that the remarks were injudicious and I have caused offence. I want to issue an apology," he said.

In a statement, he said: "I did not intend to cause offence when I made some joking remarks about homosexuals.

"I was not actually meaning to criticise individual homosexual persons, but the promoters of gay culture.

"However, my remarks have caused offence and for this I am sorry and make a full and complete apology." >>> PA | October 7, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>