If you’re planning to attend a carol service tonight, says Celia Walden in the Telegraph, you might want to check out the hymn sheet first, to see that you’re not singing ‘O Come, All Ye Wokeful’. Here’s an excerpt.
You see, priests have been told to edit popular carols this Christmas in order to avoid (I really need to create a custom keyboard shortcut for this phrase) “causing unnecessary offence”. Quite why you would be in a church to begin with if you found Christianity so offensive has not been made clear.
Do you see many vegans in butchers demanding to talk to the managers? Last time you were down the pub, did you notice any teetotallers raging at the landlord about his “disgusting wall of booze”?
Yet according to a whistleblower vicar, Church of England clergy across the country have been contacted and urged to alter various Advent hymns “to avoid upset”. Those singled out as particularly concerning are ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’ (for depicting other faiths as being “outside of God’s grace”) and ‘Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending’ (the clergy have been sent a link to research suggesting the second verse contains “problematic words” by stating Jesus is the “true Messiah”).
In a further email sent to the Birmingham diocese, clergy were advised to: “Try to use language that won’t add further confusion or tension or take away anything from the good news of the Nativity.” And they wonder why the pews are empty?
If the Church of England were a business – and learning to operate like one is probably the only thing that could save it now – it would have gone into receivership years ago. Why? Because you cannot sell people a product while simultaneously apologising for the abject awfulness of that product.
Worth reading in full.
Dr. Will Jones is Editor of the Daily Sceptic. He has a PhD in political philosophy, an MA in ethics, a BSc in mathematics and a diploma in theology. This article was first published HERE
11 comments:
Seriously bonkers.
Mainstream churches in 1981 - Apartheid is evil and against Jesus' teachings. Anyone who supports it in any form is a racist sinner who must repent.
Mainstream churches in 2024 - Apartheid is great if it favours Maori, and must happen. Saying everyone is equal is blasphemy. Anyone opposing Apartheid is a racist sinner who must repent.
Jesus - "Bloody Pharisees. Still the same after 2000 years".
It has been observed in recent times that UK churches with growing congregations tend to be those leaning into more litergical and conservative forms of worship .. as opposed to those wedded to a social justice agenda or Pentecostalism. Perhaps the traditions of the church fathers, rooted in ritual and symbolism, speak more profoundly into the depths of being, and
to our most earnest longings, than does the please all ignorance, political correctness, superficiality and nihilism of our age.
That's interesting, Anonymous, as Revivalism/Pentecostalism seems to have been the main beneficiary of the erosion of conventional Christian belief on most countries.
The mainstream Anglican Church has become so wishy-washy it is switching people right off. The die-hards retreat into more conventional modes of action and thought while others throw all sanity to the winds and head for the fantasyland of charismatic pentecostalism.
We will just have to politically sanitise Xmas carols. One good starting point I came across on the web is "Frosty, the Non-Patriarchal, Non-Cisgendered Snow Person". It may be a bit more challenging to PC-ise the religious ones.
The ''Anglican'' church message to the masses this Christmas was in support of the (radical) version of the treaty and the protests. The main church in New Plymouth is now run by radical clergy including one who sees George Floyd as a Jesus-like martyr. Relics of the British (ie the banners of regiments) have been put in a drawer (If people want to see them) and the church repents for giving shelter to troops (and no doubt settlers) during the land wars. I know a few folk who attend. They are very CRT and all the narratives and if you disagree you are the usual racist, fascist etc. I will have to use anon for this posting. Too ''dangerous'' to be identified.
I have noticed this Christmas one article from a Church calling Jesus a Palestinian Jew. I am not a Biblical expert but don't recall the word Palestinian being applied to Jesus in the Bible. I quickly googled the origin of the word Palestine and it appears to be a Roman word for the region. I have also read articles this Christmas referencing Mary as a poor Palestinian girl. I think there is a political bias at work in these references.
No - just eliminate any Christian ( or other religious) reference. And, see who give in! Easy pickings .
Have some guts!
Maybe they will ban that annoying Snoopy / Red Baron Christmas song as an example of white war-mongering imperialism. It is getting that silly
The whole point of evangelising the world with Christianity is that it is bound to offend people, because frequently people can't handle the truth and will react negatively to it:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." Matthew 10:34
Peace as mentioned in the gospels is not about peace with other people but an individuals peace with God .
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