Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG

'Obscene and threatening calls'

Why has Jonathan Ross merely been suspended and not been sacked?

Charles Moore in this week's Spectator sets out the case with his customary elegance. After pointing out that Ross is paid £6 million a year and Russell Brand more than £200,000 out of the public purse to make obscene telephone calls to Andrew Sachs, a 78-year-old grandfather, he addresses the excuse that this was intended to be 'edgy' entertainment:

'It is impossible to be "edgy" if you are paid £6 million (or even £200,000) out of compulsory television licence-fee money and are backed by the biggest broadcasting organisation in the world,'he writes.

Persecution Index 15: Iran

The scandalous treatment of minorities, in particular Bahá’is, in Iran continues. The terrifying new death-for-apostasy law that is close to being passed finally into law will only make things worse. Meanwhile, the three Iranians pictured here, Haleh Rouhi, Sasan Taqva and Raha Sabet, remain incarcerated even though an internal investigation by the Iranian government, seen by Bahá’i.org, has cleared them completely of proselytism. They are being held in solitary confinement. Their crime? Helping children learn to read and acquire other social skills.

Persecution Index 14: Orissa

A Roman Catholic Indian nun who was raped in Orissa has accused the police of failing to respond adequately.

According to the BBC, 'The nun held a news conference in the Indian capital, Delhi, in which she demanded that national police take over the investigation.' The Times also carried a report. For more links on what is happening in Orissa and an eye-witness video account, see my last post on this.

Persecution Index 13: Nigeria

Michael Oluwasein, a Christian from Nigeria, is coming to the UK soon to try and spread the word about what is really happening in parts of Nigeria. His wife Christianah was brutally murdered in 2007 for confiscating a a paper from a Muslim student. The student was using the paper to cheat in an exam. She was subsequently found stoned, stripped, beaten, stabbed and burned beyond recognition. The student accused her of tearing a copy of the Koran. Events have moved on since Christian Solidarity Worldwide published this story about the murder. Those accused of her killing are currently on trial in Nigeria in Gombe.

London evicts congregation from church

As the figures show, London is bucking the national trend and churchgoing is up. This is a small blip however in the overall decline that has seen Church of England attendance slump to 880,000, a figure that should be rememered by all who read the Anglican Communion Office's oft-touted boast of up to 27 million Anglicans in Britain's established church. The Anglican Communion starts to look a lot smaller when proper attendance figures are accounted. But perhaps the London Diocese's success explains why, or is even explained by, its recent tendency to close churches and force reluctant congregations to move elsewhere. Earlier this year the Welsh church of St Benet's was shut. And now the unfortunate souls who liked to worship at St Mark's Mayfair have been evicted. Lady Sainsbury was at the church for its last day before lock-out. Her speech is reproduced below. The London diocese wants to sell the church to George Hammer, who already lives in its vicarage, next door. He developed The Sanctuary at Covent Garden and wants to turn St Mark's into a centre for well being, with a spa included.

Sydney: first step to lay presidency

Sydney diocese has voted to allow deacons to celebrate Mass, a move that will inevitably take the storm-torn Anglican Communion closer to the rocks of permanent schism. At Gafcon I asked Peter Jensen about lay presidency, a controversial issue that would see non-ordained men and women celebrating eucharist. His reply was non-committal but certainly indicated that this was not something that anyone should worry too much about. But it does appear that his diocese is moving in that direction. Deacons are ordained but there are not that many of them in England. However, in Sydney women can be deacons but not priests, so this does open up the full range of presbyteral ministry to women, without making them priests. Clever Dr Jensen. I've always thought he should not be underestimated. Just as making women deacons was a first step to the priesthood, everywhere except Sydney that is, surely making deacons celebrants can only be a step to lay presidency in full, especially in Sydney. This issue is as contentious as the 'other' issue that has split The Episcopal Church and is threatening to split the communion. Just like that issue, though, I wonder sometimes how many people in the wider and increasingly agnostic wider world understand the implications, for better or worse, or even care. Read on for the full details of the debate and vote at Sydney, kindly sent to me by regular contributor here Robert Williams. For more on this issue, I recommend the book pictured here, the New Puritans by Muriel Porter.

Dudley pulls it off!

As we report, the Rector of St Bartholomew the Great, the Rev Dr Martin Dudley, is to escape any form of discipline or reprimand for the Prayer Book-style 'wedding' service he conducted for two gay priests, the Rev Peter Cowell and the Rev David Lord. Mr Dudley has reached an agreement with the Bishop of London, the Right Rev Richard Chartres that the matter shall now be laid to rest after the errant cleric sent a 'letter of regret' in which he pledges not to do it again and admits he was wrong. It would be pushing it too far to call it an apology, and Stonewall, which has him as one of its Hero of the Year nominees for its awards dinner next month, doesn't see it as a climbdown either. Another Hero of the Year, incidentally, is Bishop Gene Robinson, who is flying over specially for the ceremony at the V&A where Dud the Stud will be an honoured guest. Incidentally, I am honoured to bring you these beautiful, evocative photographs of the service in May, the first officially released, taken by the talented Polly Alexandre of Alexandre Weddings. Not just a real wedding, it seems, but a real Mass as well. What is the Church of England coming to!

Conflict resolution proposed for Anglicans

Warring Anglican bishops could be forced to confront each other in divorce-style "mediation" or conflict resolution, under proposals published today.The Covenant Design Group, responsible for drawing up the drafts for the covenant which is intended to unite the Communion, proposes in a document that different forms of conflict resolution be examined to see if any might be suitable for use by Anglican bishops. You can read our report on it, now online.

Bob Duncan: Over-stressed, over here and over ?

This is Bob Duncan talking to the media at the recent press conference at All Souls.

Say No to 'St' Pius XII

As we report, in a letter in today's Times a group of influential Jewish and Roman Catholic scholars are calling for plans to canonise the wartime Pope, Pius XII, to be put on hold. I've reproduced the text of the letter below. The letter has been organised by the Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths in Cambridge.

(Update: maybe partly as a response to this letter, the Pope has indicated to Rabbi David Rosen that he might halt the canonisation process.)

Murdered aid worker - new plans to help

The Woolf Institute in Cambridge is to hold a seminar in December to draw up guidelines for overseas aid workers where their charity represents a minority faith.

Get off the bus - 'there is no God'

Richard Dawkins is helping fund a campaign by the British Humanist Association to persuade people that God does not exist. Posters are to be placed on 30 bendy buses in London in January with the slogan: 'There's probably no God. So stop worrying and enjoy your life.' The campaign is the idea of comedy writer Ariane Sherine, who suggested it on a blog after hearing about a Christian campaign promoting the concept of everlasting flames in hell for unbelievers. The Atheist Bus Campaign will come shortly after the annual church campaign promoting Christianity during the festive Christmas season. My colleague Adam Sherwin broke the story first in The Times. As Ekklesia reports, the Methodists were among the first to welcome this. Read more about it on the JustGiving blog.

Sony's shameful surrender to Islam

Sony have given in to Islam. There had been barely a murmur of protest, but because the soundtrack to its new game LittleBigPlanet contained to Koran verses - including the line 'Every soul shall have the taste of death' - the manufacturers have withdrawn the game and are going to change the soundtrack. Frightened of the words being taken literally perhaps. ElderofZiyon has the details. This stinks, it really does. Regular readers of this blog will remember the story we broke about Sony's shoot-em-up game that showed a lethal gun fight in the nave of Manchester Cathedral. Manchester is a centre of gun crime and campaigning against this is a central plank of the cathedral's mission. Despite requests and protests from Christian groups, Sony refused to withdraw the game. Why so craven when it comes to Islam, so contemptuous when it comes to Christianity? My advice? Stick with Nintendo.

It's the 'yuk' factor- stay out of London next week

At least if you have children, I strongly advise that, having just read this press release that has come into my inbox. My son, aged six, already finds our capital city disturbing enough. 'Mummy why are so many people smoking cigarettes? Why do so many people want to die?' he asked last Saturday. And now this. Thank goodness for our sane, sensible government and its new Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. Roll on the day when it becomes law. Read on for why even consenting adults might want to avoid Westminster for a few days.

Financial crisis looms for Anglicans

Just back from Lambeth Palace, where the Archbishop of Canterbury blamed human greed for the financial crisis, word has reached me of a meeting this morning about the finances of the Anglican Communion, specifically the Anglican Communion Office in north-west London. This office is quite heavily dependent on income from the US. While none of the trust capital is affected, being secure in property in some of the 'best' areas of the US, investment income has apparently gone through the floor. This means that projects currently funded by such organisations have to be assessed and prioritised. One insider in the US tells me: 'I think ACO has been in a bad way even before the current situation. I am in the minority of TECers who would like to see us spend the money we give them on something more meaningful. Additionally, there are ethical issues involved in supporting a group of people so eager to throw gays and lesbians under the bus.'

England's 'Pittsburgh' unfolds as parishes seek new bishop

As we report, evangelicals from Reform are at present meeting in London at their annual conference. I'll be popping in for a coffee tomorrow morning, before going on to Lambeth Palace for a briefing on the important Common Word conferencethat has been taking place at Cambridge. But I've just received chairman Rod Thomas' address to the conference, which makes it clear that an 'English' version is being worked out of the solution to the present Anglican crisis, an English version of the 'solution' adopted so dramatically in Pittsburgh a few days ago. Rod, pictured here in Jerusalem during Gafcon, indicated that English parishes who have a bishop embracing 'unbiblical teaching' will seek alternative oversight. And they will go ahead with this, even if the Church, through its General Synod, cannot find a way to 'accommodate' it, he warned.

Dome of St Paul's to become a blog

An extraordinary art project is about to be unveiled at St Paul's in London. Or rather not so much 'at' the cathedral as on the very dome itself of Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece. St Paul's is to be transformed from white into midnight blue by artist Martin Firrell. And the words of you, me or indeed anyone who contributes to the blog now up at Martin Firrell's website will be projected up there in white-on-blue for all to see. In other words, this great cathedral is to be turned into ... a weblog. A weblog on the Meaning of Life, but a weblog nonetheless.

Is Sarah Palin a good Christian?

Given the interest in Sarah Palin, I've decided to run a poll among readers of Articles of Faith:

Online Surveys & Market Research

Newman's death uncovered

As we reported in The Sunday Times and on a previous blog, attempts to exhume Cardinal John Henry Newman have failed because there is no body there to exhume. Libby Purves is among those who welcomed the end they hoped this would bring to a 'ghoulish side-show'. All that remains of this great churchman are a few tassels from his cardinal's hat. This picture shows the sarcophagus that has been built in Italy and can no longer be used to house a non-existent body at the Birmingham Oratory, as had been intended. It has been built, it is in Italy and the Cause will announce next week what is to become of it.

Peter Mullen should have his bottom spanked!

We've been friends for a long time, but as he wouldn't talk to me at all - 'not even you Ruth' he said - I've no choice but to bloggy him without the enlightenment that might have been gained from understanding. The Rev Peter Mullen, former member of the Prayer Book Society and staunch traditionalists, has had to take his website down after rather unwisely writing this bit of doggerell, a poem on the recent St Bartholomew's blessing service for two gay priests, celebrated by the Rev Martin Dudley. You can read our story on it at The Times website.

Mullen wrote:

The Bishop of London is in a high huff,

Because Dr Dudley has married a puff;

And not just one puff - he's married another:

Two priests, two puffs and either to other.'

He also said gay men should have cigarette-style warnings tattoed on their backsides, along the lines of 'sodomy can seriously damage your health' and 'fellatio kills'.

(Update: for more on the gay issue, specifically the ex-gay movement, read Lucy Bannerman's undercover investigation in today's T2, for which I wrote a short accompanying commentary.)

Persecution Index 12: Orissa

As Orissa's troubles continue, a new petition has been launched by the Catholic-Christian Secular Forum and others on behalf of this disgracefully persecuted minority. In Rome recently at a communications seminar seminar, I did this interview with Jyotsna Paul, one of other journalists on the course, who has witnessed at first hand some of the worst of the violence. We spoke after visiting the Scavi. The parallels of persecution were lost on neither of us.

email ruth if you have any stories or suggestions you would like to see written about on this blog or in The Times

The Tomb Was Empty!

On Thursday, having won the battle to exhume Cardinal John Henry Newman's body for its transfer to the Oratory in Birmingham, those paying their respects at the graveside had a bit of a shock. There was no body to exhume, nothing at all. Not a trace of bone, hair, human remains or anything except this plate. It means that he was not buried in the lead coffin that many supposed he had been but a simple wooden affair. It is not apparently unusual for remains to disintegrate totally in this fashion. A few fragments of hair preserved elsewhere will now be placed in a casket for veneration in the Birmingham Oratory, but of course there can be no 'lying in state' for a real body. At least it solves the Peter Tatchell problem. A non-existent body cannot be exhumed. As the spokesman for the Cause, Peter Jennings , has just told me, rarely can there have been a more vivid reminder of the truth of what the priest says at the Ash Wednesday Mass: 'Remember Man, thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return.' As our capitalist world crumbles about us, it seems that Newman is a saint for our times in more ways than we could previously have imagined.

Milk in a monastery

Were a female figure to start spurting milk in a monastery, some denominations might count it a miracle. The truth in this case is more mundane. It is just life as a woman ordinand in the Church of England. An - er - "refreshingly" frank account of combining motherhood and priesthood in our established church has just appeared on my sister Alpha Mummy blog. 'I sat silently spurting milk in chapel,' writes Kerry of her ordination retreat. 'Some Bishops insist that cassocks must be worn on retreat at all times, which is both very unfeminine and smelly in a heatwave.' It turns out the retreat director was opposed to women priests. Lucky it was a silent retreat!

Who stands to gain most from credit crunch?

We've been hearing so much about the losers in the present crisis, I thought it would be fun to focus for a few minutes on the winners. Feel free to add your own suggestions.

1. Gordon Brown. He suddenly looks electable. The Tories, having only yesterday offered prosperity, are now warning of tough times ahead. Coming from capitalists, this feels quite scary. Do we really want proponents of the free market running the country after what the free market has done to us? A canny, wiley, Presbyterian Scot with a reputation for fiscal prudence bordering on meanness today seems quite a deal more attractive than he did even a week ago. It is after all partly if not mostly thanks to him that we are bearing up better than the Americans. I keep thinking of his recent visit to the US, and the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare. I think some in my business  might have been a bit to hasty in writing this old tortoise off.