Britain's Christians Are Being Vilified, Warns Lord Carey

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Christians are being “persecuted” by courts and “driven underground” in the same way that homosexuals once were, a former Archbishop of Canterbury has warned.

Lord Carey says worshippers are being “vilified” by the state, treated as “bigots” and sacked simply for expressing their beliefs.

The attack is part of a direct appeal to the European Court of Human Rights before a landmark case on religious freedom.

In a written submission seen by The Daily Telegraph, the former leader of more than 70 million Anglicans warns that the outward expression of traditional conservative Christian values has effectively been “banned” in Britain under a new “secular conformity of belief and conduct”.

His comments represent one of the strongest attacks on the impartiality of Britain’s judiciary from a religious leader.

He says Christians will face a “religious bar” to employment if rulings against wearing crosses and expressing their beliefs are not reversed.

Lord Carey argues that in “case after case” British courts have failed to protect Christian values. He urges European judges to correct the balance. Read on and comment » | John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor | Friday, April 13, 2012

My comment:

Why are Christians persecuted for wearing a crucifix/cross in this country, while Muslim women can wear the hijab with impunity? Each and every supermarket in this country now seems to have its token hijab–wearing Muslimah, but the practising Christian employees lose their jobs for showing their faith.

Considering that Christianity is supposed to be the established religion of this country, with the Queen as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, it seems rather strange and unfathomable to me. Why is Islam given a pass whilst Christianity is not? – © Mark

This comment also appears here.

Lord Carey Backs Christian Psychotherapist in 'Gay Conversion' Row
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Leading church figures including the former Archbishop of Canterbury have sparked controversy by championing a psychotherapist who believes gay men can be 'cured' of their homosexuality.

Lesley Pilkington was effectively barred from her professional register after attempting to convert a homosexual man in a therapy session at her home.

Her patient turned out to be a gay rights journalist, who had secretly recorded the sessions and then reported her to her professional body. Mrs Pilkington, a committed Christian, was subsequently found guilty of professional misconduct.

The therapy practised by Mrs Pilkington had been described as "absurd" by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and roundly condemned by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

But ahead of her appeal against the BACP ruling, Mrs Pilkington has received backing from the Rt Rev Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.

In a letter to her professional body, Lord Carey – along with a number of senior figures – suggests Mrs Pilkington is herself a victim of entrapment whose therapy should be supported.

His comments – in a letter co-signed by, among others, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester and the Rt Rev Wallace Benn, the Bishop of Lewes – will cause controversy in the gay community and beyond. » | Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter | Saturday, January 28, 2012

My comment:

Lord Carey and Michael Nazir-Ali are talking through their backsides. Clearly, they know nothing about sexuality, so they should shut up. That these people hold – or in the case of Michael Nazir-Ali has held – such elevated position(s) in the Church of England is astounding. Lord Carey should retire from public life forthwith. Michael Nazir-Ali should just plain shut-up and stick to what he knows best: theology. – © Mark

Former Archbishop Lord Carey: We Mustn't Be Ashamed of Christmas in These Politically Correct Times
MAIL ONLINE: Britain has become ashamed of Christmas, former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey declared yesterday.

He said Christmas cards are censored, school nativity plays stripped of Christian content and Christmas decorations banned in the campaign to block the festival out of the calendar.

Lord Carey said the trend was part of a broader attack on the Christian faith which underpins tolerance and democracy in this country.

He made his remarks in support of the launch today of a move to persuade Christians to show their faith in public and challenge employers who stop staff expressing their Christianity.

The ‘Not Ashamed’ campaign, organised by the pressure group Christian Concern, will encourage millions to wear a cross to work or a badge with a slogan saying they are ‘not ashamed’ of their religion.

Pope Benedict also criticised the marginalisation of Christianity in Britain and the accompanying push to discourage the celebration of Christmas during his recent state visit.

Lord Carey said: ‘The attempt to air-brush the Christian faith out of the picture is especially obvious as Christmas approaches.

‘The cards that used to carry Christmas wishes now bear “Season’s greetings”. The local school nativity play is watered down or disappears altogether.

‘The local council switches on “winter lights” in place of Christmas decorations. Even Christmas has become something of which some are ashamed.’ He added that ‘a new climate hostile to our country’s tradition and history is developing’. >>> Steve Doughty | Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Tampons, Barbecue Sets, and Bathrobes
THE TELEGRAPH: Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has condemned the "culture of abuse" surrounding MPs' expenses, warning that respect for parliament has reached a new low.

Lord Carey: 'clawing greed' of MPs. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
He said The Telegraph's revelations about the extent to which MPs of all parties have exploited the Westminster system of allowances and expenses had shown the "clawing greed" of MPs.

"The moral authority of Parliament is at its lowest ebb in living memory," Lord Carey wrote in the News of the World. "The latest revelations show it was not just a few MPs with their noses in the trough, but a culture of abuse."

The former archbishop is the latest independent figure to question the morality of MPs' expenses claims.

Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, has accused politicians of a "failure of moral leadership". Martin Bell, the former independent MP, has attacked "scandals of shamelessness".

"It is not just the clawing greed of painstaking claims for such minor items as tampons, barbecue sets and bathrobes, but also the egregious way some have transferred allowances from one second property to another – enabling them to refurbish homes at public expense, then sell them for profit," Lord Carey added, referring to practices that have been revealed by the Telegraph in recent days. MPs' Expenses: Lord Carey, Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Condemns 'Culture of Abuse' >>> By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Lord Carey Makes New Iraq Hostage Plea
Watch BBC video: Lord Carey makes his appeal
BBC: Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has made a direct appeal for the freedom of five British hostages who were abducted in Iraq last year.

In a video, released through the Times newspaper, he addressed the kidnappers as "honourable men" and "men of faith".

The four guards and a computer expert were seized from Baghdad's finance ministry by gunmen on 29 May.

Whitehall sources told the BBC Lord Carey did not speak for the government and it preferred discreet negotiation.

The former Archbishop, speaking in English and Arabic, recorded his appeal on Friday at the House of Lords, accompanied by Canon Andrew White, his former Middle East envoy and now Anglican chaplain to Iraq, the Times said.

"I greet you as honourable men. I greet you as men of faith. I believe, as you do, that faith is important in this broken world," Lord Carey said.

"I appeal to you, as good people, to release these men who long to be back home once more." Carey Makes New Iraq Hostage Plea >>> | May May 16, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Saudis Keep On Sh****** Their Nest
Isn’t it about time we told these sand-people where to get off? Isn’t it about time we told them to NAFF OFF?

THE GUARDIAN: British Muslims today accused Saudi Arabia of exporting extremist interpretations of the Qur'an, during a conference designed to improve understanding between Islam and the west.

The criticism came as the first international survey on the subject found that people in most countries believed relations between the two civilisations to be deteriorating.

The Symposium on Muslim Communities in Europe, organised by the World Economic Forum, brought together archbishops, imams, rabbis and other religious leaders in central London.

The exchange of views focused on how distrust between the two cultures could be overcome by examining religious and other differences.

Two prominent British Muslims, Ed Husain, the author of the memoir The Islamist, and Tim Winter, a divinity lecturer at Cambridge University, expressed alarm at the influence of Saudi-financed literature.

Such writings described Christians as "idol worshippers" and advocated an "extremist, Wahabi, puritanical" version of Islam, Winter said. European Islam, he maintained, was becoming a "vicarious playground" in a broader "war of ideas".

Husain also complained about "Saudi-sponsored" teaching at mosques encouraging Muslims to see themselves as a distinct political bloc with a "year-zero mindset".

Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, said the 9/11 attacks had done severe damage to Muslim communities in the west.

"The terrorists were able to hijack far more than the planes used in 9/11, they in fact hijacked these whole communities," he said.
"They were able, at a stroke, to make them - and even worse their religion - seem a potential source of fear to others. Saudis Stoking UK Extremism, Conference Told >>>

BBC:
Saudis to Retrain 40,000 Clerics By Magdi Abdlehadi

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Powerful Clergy Launch Attack on Archbishop
THE MAIL ON SUNDAY: Two of the most powerful figures in the church today united to launch a stinging attack on the Archbishop of Canterbury after his comments on sharia law.

As pressure mounted on Dr Rowan Williams, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, insisted that migrants must obey the British legal system.

Meanwhile, Lord Carey, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, claimed any adoption of sharia would be "disastrous" for Britain.

He went on: "He (Dr Williams) has overstated the case for accommodating Islamic legal codes.

"His conclusion that Britain will eventually have to concede some place in law for aspects of sharia is a view I cannot share.

"There can be no exceptions to the laws of our land which have been so painfully honed by the struggle for democracy and human rights."

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Lord Carey went on to claim multiculturism had created Islamic ghettos and that the introduction of sharia would only lead to more demands from the Muslim community.

"This is absolutely inevitable, since questions to do with the separation of 'church and state' are largely new to Islam. Sharia law trumps civil law every time," he wrote.

"Many Muslim interpreters of sharia believe that it supersedes secular law and assume that its 'God-given' status would lead to the point of eventually replacing civil law." Two of the most powerful clergy in Britain launch stinging attack on Archbishop over sharia row >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Shariah Law May Result in ‘Legal Apartheid’
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Senior religious leaders attack multiculturalism and sharia law today, warning that they are "disastrous", socially divisive and are destroying Britain's culture and values.

Lord Carey and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor rebut the call of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, for Islamic law to be recognised in Britain.

Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, said: "His acceptance of some Muslim laws within British law would be disastrous for the nation. He has overstated the case for accommodating Islamic legal codes.

"His conclusion that Britain will eventually have to concede some place in law for aspects of sharia is a view I cannot share.

"There can be no exceptions to the laws of our land which have been so painfully honed by the struggle for democracy and human rights."

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, said that the Government's promotion of multiculturalism had destroyed the unity that used to hold society together. Immigrants must "obey the laws of this country".

Writing in this newspaper, Lord Carey condemns multiculturalism as "disastrous", blames it for creating Islamic ghettos and says that Dr Williams's support for sharia law will "inevitably lead to further demands from the Muslim community". Sharia law may result in 'legal apartheid' >>> By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Backs Attempt to Abolish Blasphemy Laws
THE TELEGRAPH: Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, is backing a new cross-party attempt by MPs to abolish Britain's blasphemy laws, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

Lord Carey argues that the existing legal protections for Anglican Christianity are outdated and should be abolished. The move, supported by a former bishop as well as writers, academics, campaigners and comedians, comes in the wake of the diplomatic row over Sudan's jailing of a British teacher who blasphemed against Islam.

Gillian Gibbons was jailed after allowing schoolchildren to name a teddybear after the prophet Mohammed. She was later pardoned after diplomatic protests from Britain.

In the Commons tomorrow, MPs will debate an amendment to the current Criminal Justice Bill that would effectively abolish existing legal protections for Anglican Christianity. Lord Carey backs MPs over blasphemy laws >>> By James Kirkup

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)