British mainstream media finally discovers Hillsong

The following article doesn't mention things such as Carl Lentz's church having a sodomite couple in the music ministry, nor does it state that Frank Houston was the actual founder of Hillsong, but it does mention the accusations of child molestation against him. The perceptive reader will note the mention of the notorious Holy Trinity Brompton, responsible for such dubious achievements as introducing "holy laughter" to the United Kingdom.

As reported by Joe Shute of the London Daily Telegraph, July 26, 2019 (links in original):

This week, thousands of teenagers and twentysomethings mustered excitedly about London’s O2 Arena eagerly anticipating the evening’s entertainment. Sporting tattoos and scantily dressed in the summer heat, they might have been queuing for any pop concert. Instead, it was to meet an evangelical church pastor.

Inside the arena, a packed audience, nearly 15,000-strong, cheered breakdancers, rap artists and rock guitarists all espousing the worship of God. And then, at the moment of maximum rhapsody, out strode Hillsong’s lead pastor and founder Brian Houston, wearing a red checkered blazer and declaring: “Jesus, what a beautiful sight…”

As the 65-year-old Australian preached, those in the exultant crowd closed their eyes and raised their arms to the lights. One teenage boy in a tracksuit opposite me wiped a tear away from his cheek.

Chances are you may not have heard of Hillsong, an evangelical movement founded by Brian and his wife, Bobbie Houston, in Sydney in 1983. Now spanning more than 15 countries, its mega-churches are the centre of the fastest-growing religious movement in the world: Pentecostalism, which boasts more than 500m adherents.

The movement emphasises the power of the Holy Spirit and direct experience with God through messages and miracles. As Brian Houston told the London crowd, at Hillsong’s annual conference in Australia earlier this month (attended by the country’s prime minister Scott Morrison), “verifiable miracles” occurred.

The US singer Selena Gomez is an avowed Hillsong worshipper, so too, the Kardashians. Much of this popularity is due to its clever repackaging of the Bible to a modern, younger audience. Hillsong’s social media channels and in-house musicians are as stylised and curated as those of any chart-topping band. Its pastors boast tattoos and ice-white trainers.

Hillsong’s New York church leader Carl Lentz is referred to as “the rock-star pastor” and reportedly baptised the pop singer Justin Bieber in a US basketball player’s bathtub.

Back in London, Dan Blythe is Lentz’s equivalent. The 33-year-old 'creative pastor' meets me backstage during its three-day annual conference in a baggy white T-shirt revealing ecclesiastical tattoos all over his heavy-set arms. The first was inked on his bicep: a scripture from Ephesians 2:8. “It basically says we’re saved by grace,” he explains.

According to Blythe, various British celebrities also worship at the church, which hires out the Dominion Theatre in central London for its Sunday services attracting up to 2,000 people. He won’t name names, but suffice to say they span singers, television presenters and professional footballers. “The nice thing is it’s very chilled,” he says. “Nobody runs up for a selfie.”

Blythe first became a Christian on his gap year to Australia, and in nine years of being a member of Hillsong in London has baptised new followers all over the city – including in a nightclub’s swimming pool in Shoreditch. “It wasn’t our greatest experience of baptism,” he says. “It was a little bit dirty.” A baptism tank has also temporarily been installed at the O2 to douse any of the 3,000 volunteers involved who so wished at the end of the conference – too many risk assessments were required to haul it out into the crowd.

Despite Hillsong’s undeniable popularity, the church has also been dogged by controversy. Brian Houston’s father, Frank Houston (now deceased), has been accused of sexually abusing children while the influential leader of the Pentecostal denomination, Assemblies of God in the Sixties and Seventies. Although Houston sacked his father as a pastor when he discovered his crimes in 1999, an Australian Royal Commission in 2015 found he had failed to report him to the police – something he has been criticised for by his victims.

A Hillsong statement in response to the Royal Commission’s findings said: “We are confident that the actions of Pastor Brian, from the moment he discovered the news about his father, were done with the best intentions towards the victim. The findings of the Royal Commission confirmed that his actions resulted in the perpetrator being immediately removed from ministry.”

The amount of largely tax-exempt money the church brings in has also raised eyebrows (its latest annual report for its Australian operations reveals revenues of more than 100m Australian dollars). By the exits of the O2 arena, giving envelopes were distributed alongside Bibles, although the church emphasises the money goes back into community work.

In London, its leader Gary Clarke resides in a luxury apartment owned by the church currently estimated to be worth £2.5m. “The church bought it as an investment,” the 59-year-old says. “We call that smart because we can sell it to put into a building project. It’s no different from any Church of England manse in central London, but when you’re new on the block and people perceive you as different, it leaves you open to people criticising.”

Hillsong also adopts a strict stance on homosexuality. In a 2015 blog post, Brian Houston stressed that while the church welcomes all people, “clearly, we do not affirm a gay lifestyle, and because of this, we do not knowingly have actively gay people in positions of leadership, either paid or unpaid”.

Yet those queuing outside the O2 seemed untroubled by such sentiments. “I explain it like a modern church but with traditional values,” says Mirjan Kleimann, a 25-year-old from Hamburg who has travelled with two friends to attend the conference. “They are sermons that preach about the topics relevant today, which we talk about together as friends.”

Jesse Hewitt, a 29-year-old in a baseball cap and white socks, who works in a coffee roasters in London and has been a member of the Hillsong congregation for three years, agrees. “It’s the same faith, same beliefs, but just really relevant,” he says.

The popularity of the likes of Hillsong among a younger generation is prompting the Church of England to take note. Trinity Church in Nottingham is one of a number of so-called “plant churches” where a group is sent up to form a new church.

It was established on the request of the Bishop of Nottingham by Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB), the evangelical west London church that wields increasing clout within the Church of England and has initiated dozens of plants, including Birmingham’s Gas Street Church, which opened in a renovated warehouse in 2016. One notable former graduate of HTB is the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

Everything about Nottingham’s newest church, situated in a former auction house, is perfectly on-trend: house plants, refurbished parquet flooring, specialist coffee from a local roastery, artisan pastries, not to mention its leaders who are all 20 and 30-somethings sporting sculpted beards and trendy jeans.

Indeed, on first impressions, there is little inside the entrance hall at Holy Trinity to distinguish it as a church whatsoever – save the guest wifi password: “Revelation”.

In December 2017, the Diocese of London received £3.9 million to train 15 “planting curates”, who, at the invitation of diocesan bishops, will be deployed to 15 “strategic cities” between 2020 and 2022. According to the Church Times, at least ten are being trained at HTB.

The Holy Trinity leadership team, many of whom hail from London, arrived in Nottingham in September 2016 and moved into the former auction yard site, which had been acquired by the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, in Easter 2017.

As with many of the other church plants instigated by HTB, sermons are intended to be a lively affair, with a church band called The Worship Team performing each week on a raised stage backed by a giant wooden cross. Joanne Arton, a 24-year-old Glaswegian, is the worship leader. She describes the music as a mix of reflective songs and ones where “people wave their hands in worship and receive”.

She says she grew up in a Christian household and, despite losing her father at the age of four, has held on to her faith. “My generation are definitely looking for love and connection and structure in their lives,” she says. “Church offers that.”

More and better information on the Hillsong movement can be found in some of the blogs on my blogroll. Hillsong Church Watch hasn't been updated recently, but is an indispensable source of useful information.

Australia recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel's capital

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it...
...In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem...
... In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:2-3, 6, 8-9

As reported by Henry Benjamin of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 16, 2018:

SYDNEY — Australia said it recognizes West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and is now starting a search for a suitable site for a trade office within the city.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke to the Sydney Institute current affairs forum on Saturday where he announced the government’s decision.

“We look forward to moving our Embassy to West Jerusalem when practical, in support of, and after the final status determination,” he said. He reiterated Australia’s support for a two-state solution.

He added that the Australian government also recognizes “the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a future state with its capital in East Jerusalem.”

In the same announcement Morrison said he plans to open a Trade and Defense office in West Jerusalem. Australia-Israel trade is over $1.3 billion a year.

Under Morrison’s leadership, Australia last month opposed six resolutions that attacked Israel in the United Nations General Assembly.

“Jerusalem – the home of the Al Aqsa Mosque, the Wailing Wall and the Via Dolorosa – deserves better than the rancid stalemate and better than the polarization that marks its peoples,” he also said in his announcement.

Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten accused Morrison of putting his political interest ahead of the national interest. The opposition has charged that Morrison took on the issue of Jerusalem in order to pick up a seat in a by-election for Parliament for the Sydney electorate of Wentworth, home to a large proportion of the city’s 60,000 Jews. in order to shore up his razor-thin majority.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry in a statement praised the announcement as “a simple acknowledgement of a reality that has existed since 1950. The Prime Minister deserves credit for resisting pressure from many quarters against taking even this modest step.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry offered a lukewarm response to the announcement, focusing on the trade office and calling it “a step in the right direction.”

Saeb Erekat, a top advisor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, called the announcement irresponsible and noted in a statement that “ll of Jerusalem remains a final status issue for negotiations.”

Meanwwhile, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit called on the Australian government “to correct its position and recognize the State of Palestine and its capital as East Jerusalem without delay. Thus, we will consider its position balanced.”

As reported by Agence France-Presse, December 15, 2018:

...The issue has put a halt on years-long negotiations on a bilateral trade deal.

Canberra on Friday told its citizens travelling to Indonesia to “exercise a high degree of caution”, warning of protests in the capital Jakarta and popular holiday hotspots, including Bali.

Morrison pointed to Australia’s military history in the region, and the country’s interest in a “rules-based” order in the Middle East, to support the shift in foreign policy.

The prime minister vowed Australia would no longer abstain from UN resolutions he said “attacked” Israel, but would instead oppose them, including the “Jerusalem” resolution, which asks nations not to locate diplomatic missions to the holy city.

“The UN General Assembly is now the place where Israel is bullied and where anti-Semitism is cloaked in language about human rights,” Morrison said.

The Jerusalem decision could help the embattled Australian PM - who faces the prospect of an election drubbing next year – with Jewish and conservative Christian voters and win him friends in the White House.

The opposition Labor party slammed Morrison for putting “self-interest ahead of the national interest”.

“Recognising West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, while continuing to locate Australia’s embassy in Tel Aviv, is nothing more than a face saving exercise,” shadow minister for foreign affairs Penny Wong said in a statement.

“This is a decision which is all risk and no gain,” she said, adding it puts Australia “out of step” with the international community.

Trump’s decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv last May prompted tens of thousands of Palestinian protesters to approach the heavily-protected Israeli border. At least 62 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire that day.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously hailed Morrison’s initiative.

The Palestinian government will press for Arab and Muslim states to “withdraw their ambassadors” and take some “meat and wheat” style “economic boycott measures” over Canberra’s decision, Palestinian ambassador to Australia Izzat Abdulhadi told AFP Friday.

The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) on today said Morrison’s move “serves no Australian interest”.

“This sabotages any real possibility for a future just agreement and further emboldens Israel to continue with its daily human rights violations of Palestinians,” APAN president Bishop George Browning said in a statement.

See also my posts:

U.S. President Donald Trump declares Jerusalem to be Israel's capital (December 7, 2017)

Guatemala follows U.S.A.'s lead in announcing that it will move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem (December 25, 2017)

Iran's Parliament passes bill recognizing Jerusalem as capital of Palestine (December 27, 2017)

South Africa downgrades its embassy in Israel to a liaison office (January 2, 2018)

Czech Republic recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital (January 2, 2018)

Romania reportedly intends to move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem (January 2, 2018)

Philippines denies reports that it intends to move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem (January 2, 2018)

Conservative Party of Canada promises to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital--if they ever get back into power (March 1, 2018)

Paraguay and Honduras are reported to be ready "in principle" to move their Israeli embassies to Jerusalem (March 16, 2018)

Honduran Congress votes to move the country's Israeli embassy to Jerusalem (April 18, 2018)

Australian Roman Catholic leaders refuse to violate confidentiality of confession to report child abuse

As reported by Agence France-Presse, August 31, 2018 (links inserted by London Daily Telegraph):

Australian Catholic leaders vowed on Friday that the church's "shameful" history of child abuse and cover-ups will never be repeated, but rejected a national inquiry's call to report such assaults disclosed in confession.

The church was formally responding to a five-year royal commission into institutional child abuse, ordered by the government after a decade of pressure to investigate widespread allegations across the country.

"Many bishops failed to listen, failed to believe, and failed to act," said Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge.

"Those failures allowed some abusers to offend again and again, with tragic and sometimes fatal consequences. The bishops and leaders of religious orders pledge today: Never again."

The commission was contacted by more than 15,000 survivors who detailed harrowing claims of abuse involving churches, orphanages, sporting clubs, youth groups and schools, often dating back decades.

Among the inquiry's recommendations was that priests break the traditional confidentiality of confession if they are told of abuse, but the church said such a requirement impinged on religions liberties and was "non-negotiable".

"This isn't because we regard ourselves as being above the law or because we don't think the safety of children is supremely important - we do," said Coleridge.

"But we don't accept... safeguarding and the seal (of confession) as mutually exclusive. Nor do we believe that abolishing the seal will make children any safer."

In its response the church argued that a perpetrator or victim might be less likely to raise abuse in confession if confidence in the sacramental seal was undermined.

"So an opportunity would be lost to encourage a perpetrator to self-report to civil authorities or victims to seek safety," it said.

The inquiry also called for celibacy among priests to be voluntary, and Australian Catholics agreed to seek expert theological and canonical advice in consultation with the Holy See on the issue.

The royal commission, which heard horrific stories during often emotionally exhausting public and private hearings, delivered its final report in December.

It found that Australian institutions "seriously failed" children in their care with tens of thousands sexually assaulted.

During the hearings, it was told that seven percent of Catholic priests in Australia were accused of abuse between 1950 and 2010, but the allegations were never investigated, with children ignored and even punished when they came forward.

Coleridge acknowledged the church's "colossal failures" in Australia, like elsewhere in the world, had left it damaged.

"We know that only actions, not words, can rebuild trust. And until trust is rebuilt, all the apologies in the world will miss the mark," he said.

"There will be no cover-ups, there will be no transferring of people accused of abuse, there will be no placing of the reputation of the church above the safety of children.

"We will respond swiftly to accusations against church personnel. We will improve our governance structures, we will be more transparent, and we will listen."

Sister Monica Cavanagh, president of Catholic Religious Australia, said the church accepted 98 percent of the recommendations, calling the inquiry "an important and necessary period for the Australian community".

"The process is already under way to reform the church's practices to ensure that safeguarding is integral in all that we do as part of our ministry and outreach in the community," she said.

"Making the church a safer place for our children and vulnerable persons is at the heart of our commitment to mission."

I can't resist mentioning that it was 425 years ago today--August 31, 1593--that Pierre Barrière was executed by breaking on the wheel and dismemberment, four days after attempting to assassinate King Henri IV of France (justice was swift and sure in those days). Mr. Barrière was denounced by a Dominican priest to whom he had confessed the crime; obviously the priest didn't consider the confessional sacred and confidential in that case.

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide sentenced to 12 months for covering up crimes of pedophile priest

As reported by Vatican Insider, July 4, 2018:

ROME - Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide might be able to avoid imprisonment after the Newcastle tribunal, north of Sydney, will evaluate his eligibility for 12-month home detention. The decision will be taken on 14 August. The Prelate will be eligible for parole after serving six months.

Wilson, 67, who suspended himself but did not resign as Archbishop of Adelaide and Vice President of the Australian Bishops' Conference, was sentenced for covering up serious crimes - the sexual abuse of children committed by priest James Fletcher in the 1970s, when both served in the diocese of Maitland, near Newcastle. Fletcher died in prison at the age of 65 in 2006, one year after being sentenced to almost eight years for nine paedophile crimes committed between 1989 and 1991.

"The whole community is devastated in so many ways by decades of abuse and its concealment," magistrate Robert Stone said over pedophile abuse within institutions, in his sentencing. Given the seriousness of the offence and the need for general deterrence, only a custodial sentence can be imposed, whereas a suspension of the sentence would not correspond to this need, he said. The only option is therefore to serve a sentence in prison or at home. Given the age, mental and physical condition of the defendant and the absence of any criminal record, also 12 months of home detention would be an appropriate punishment.

During the trial, the prosecution insisted on a custodial sentence for "deterrence" and "reporting" reasons, in such a high-profile case. Public prosecutor Gareth Harrison had asked the court for an appropriate verdict for the "breach of trust" towards the vulnerable minor who - along with another altar boy - had approached Wilson in 1976 accusing Fletcher, the priest. "A 15-year-old boy had turned to him for help, and the defendant lied in court about his knowledge of allegations of abuse? The root of each of those lies is the unflinching loyalty to the Catholic church and protecting it at all costs," Harrison said.

Ian Temby, the prelate's defender, in turn, had asked to spare him prison time because of his poor state of health and because his safety would be at risk behind bars. And he had presented reports from various doctors with details of his medical conditions including diabetes, Alzheimer’s and heart problems, saying that in prison his health would worsen, while his personal safety would be at risk.

"The Archbishop has not been convicted of any sexual offenses and there are no indications that he has been involved in any of the crimes committed by Fletcher, but could be seen by the prison inmates as a pedophile and thus exposed to assault by other detainees," lawyer Temby said.

Australian Roman Catholic archbishop convicted of covering up child sexual abuse allegations

As reported by Catholic News Service, May 23, 2018:

ADELAIDE, Australia – Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide, who faces a maximum penalty of two years in jail for failing to inform police about child sexual abuse allegations, said he will stand aside from his duties as archbishop while he considers how to proceed legally.

In a statement May 23, the archbishop said he was arranging for management of archdiocesan affairs and would step aside as of May 25.

"If at any point in time it becomes necessary or appropriate for me to take more formal steps, including by resigning as archbishop, then I will do so," Archbishop Wilson said.

"In the meantime, while the remainder of the legal process runs its course, I want to assure the Catholic faithful in the archdiocese of my continued prayers and best wishes and assure everyone that the affairs of the archdiocese will be appropriately managed in my absence."

The local court in Newcastle found that, in 1976, then-Father Wilson had been told by a 15-year-old boy that he had been indecently assaulted by a priest who later died in prison, but that Father Wilson chose not to go to the authorities despite believing the allegations were true.

In a statement May 22, Archbishop Wilson, 67, said, "I will now have to consider the reasons (for the conviction) and consult closely with my lawyers to determine the next steps."

The sentencing is expected in June.

"Archbishop Wilson maintained his innocence throughout this long judicial process," Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, said in a statement.

Archbishop Wilson is the highest-ranking church official to be convicted of covering up abuse charges. He recently was diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimer's disease, and throughout the magistrate's hearing he testified that he had no memory of the conversation.

However, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Magistrate Robert Stone said the weight of multiple prosecution witnesses, "solid, church-going people," helped convince him.

In February 2017, in testimony before a government commission wrapping up more than three years of investigation into the Australian Catholic Church's response to child sexual abuse, Archbishop Wilson said: "Part of the difficulty that we've had in responding to this crisis about sexual abuse was simply based on the fact that people just didn't know and understand what they were dealing with. ... I don't think they really understood the nature of sexual abuse of children and the effect that it had on the children."

The Royal Commission of Inquiry Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, announced in 2012 and launched in 2013, investigated allegations of sexual and physical abuse across dozens of institutions, including schools, sports clubs and several religious organizations.

In his May 22 statement, Archbishop Coleridge said: "The Catholic Church, like other institutions, has learned a great deal about the tragedy of child sexual abuse and has implemented stronger programs, policies and procedures to protect children and vulnerable adults."

"The safety of children and vulnerable adults is paramount for the church and its ministries," he said.

On May 1, after a monthlong pretrial hearing, an Australian judge ordered Cardinal George Pell, on leave as head of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, to stand trial on multiple charges of sexual abuse of minors, charges the cardinal consistently has denied.

Now that the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide has been convicted of failing to inform police of allegations of child sexual abuse, dare we hope that a more notorious Australian clergyman, namely Brian Houston, will face similar charges? Search the blog Hillsong Church Watch for information on Brian Houston's refusal to report the crimes of his father Frank.

50 years ago: "Swinging" Anglicans in Australia attract attention by shocking people

As reported by Gemini News Service and published in the Calgary Albertan, April 20, 1968:

Helen Clayton, 20-year-old wife of an Anglican minister, is once again shocking the parishioners of North Beach, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia's capital.

During Eastern Holy Week she is presenting at her husband's church, St. Michael's, a controversial play called Casey.

The play, set in modern times, centres on three main characters chatting together at the feet of Christ on the cross.

Mrs. Clayton describes her play like this: "Casey is a sergeant in charge of the cross party. From time to time he looks up to address Christ in terms like: 'Hey God, listen to me...' The play is meant to shock people, and I think it will."

Shocking people is no new experience for young Helen Clayton, the latest personality to arise among Western Australia's swinging Anglicans.

This is the tag being earned by a growing band of Church of England characters who have been getting the once-staid old denomination almost as much publicity as the no-transfusion rule of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the weird "org" methods of Scientology.

The methods of the unofficial public-relations teams of the swinging Anglicans, however, take a benign form.

All the Anglicans aim to do is draw attention back to the church, to religion in general. Their theme is tolerance, and if their efforts mean producing a few shocks here and there, they are agreeable.

Take Perth's Anglican Archbishop George Appleton, formerly a social-worker among youth in London slum areas.

Among his latest feats which put the church on Page One was the marriage of a man and woman who had both been divorced. It is believed to be the first Anglican-sanctified union of its kind in Australia. The ceremony took place in Perth's St. George's Cathedral--happily watched by children born while the couple were living together, waiting for somebody to marry them.

Then there's the Anglican Bishop of the North-West, the Right Reverend Howell Witt--supplier of TV scripts to the Mavis Bramston Show, a commercial television program of risque reputation.

Since its very first episode, the weekly all-Australian satirical revue has held uncontested its rating as TV's rudest program. It is usually funny, always startling, often downright vulgar.

The fact that a Western Australian Bishop is among its contributors seems not at all strange to the (mostly English) cast--and perfectly normal to Witty Witt the Bishop, as they call him in the wild North-West.

The Bishop is now offering TMOSH as his latest. That's "Thirty Minutes of Sheer Hell," he explains. "It's sort of what the bishop said to the actress."

A snatch of verse on what a tough life grandma had, slaving for a family of 10 with no labor-saving devices, is typical of the Witt style of getting his message across.

It winds up:

"But Grandmama was 83
When she breathed her last breath;
And Mother wasn't 50 when
She bored herself to death."

In 1968, it was shocking for a divorced heterosexual couple to cohabit and then get married in the Anglican church with the church's approval. The perceptive reader will notice that a church's liberalization on divorce and remarriage is an early sign of apostasy. In the 50 years since this article was published, mainline churches have gone from allowing divorced people to remarry in the church to putting divorced people in positions of leadership; putting women in positions of leadership; ordaining non-practicing homosexuals; and ordaining all manner of practicing alphabet perverts. The 2018 equivalent of Helen Clayton is likely to be the "minister," with a lesbian partner. The so-called "evangelical" churches are heading in the same direction now as the mainline churches were then--and they'll end up in the same place. Coincidence? No--decadence!

The reader will also notice the "swinging" Anglicans' fondness for worldly entertainment, much of it in questionable taste. Nowadays, the same sort of thing is encouraged in evangelical churches, using terms such as "engaging the culture." The world was more shocked by such goings-on in 1968 than the church is now.

Australian royal commission on child sex abuse recommends making celibacy optional for Roman Catholic priests

I doubt that the Roman Catholic Church in Australia or anywhere else will immediately implement the Australian royal commission's recommendation, but it would come as no surprise to this blogger to eventually make such a move, as was the case when the practice of not eating meat on Friday was abolished in 1966. As reported by Jonathan Pearlman of the London Daily Telegraph, December 15, 2017:

Australia’s royal commission into child sex abuse has recommended that celibacy for Catholic priests should be optional and the sanctity of the confessional should be abandoned, as it ended an historic five-year inquiry that exposed horrific cases of abuse and cover-ups.

Releasing a landmark seventeen-volume report after holding thousands of occasionally emotional and harrowing hearings, the commission said the handling of child sex abuse in Australia had been a “national tragedy”.

"Tens of thousands of children have been sexually abused in many Australian institutions," the report said.

"We will never know the true number. It is not a case of a few 'rotten apples'. Society's major institutions have seriously failed."

The commission said the highest number of alleged perpetrators and abused children were in Catholic institutions but it also exposed widespread abuse in other religious organisations, as well as sports and community groups, schools and charities.

“Australian society must never go back to a state of denial about the nature, cause and impact of child sexual abuse in institutional contexts," the report said.

Established by former prime minister Julia Gillard in 2012, the commission has probed virtually every significant institution that deals with children and has already had a profound effect on the way that these organisations care for minors and handle reports of abuse.

More than 15,000 survivors and families contacted the commission, which heard from 8,000 victims, 1,300 witnesses and referred 2,500 alleged cases of abuse to authorities. The commission said as many as 60,000 survivors of abuse may be eligible for compensation.

Issuing more than 400 recommendations, the commission specifically criticised forced celibacy in the Catholic Church, saying it had led to “psychosexual dysfunction”. It recommended that the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference “request the Holy See consider introducing voluntary celibacy for diocesan clergy.”

“While not a direct cause of child sexual abuse, we are satisfied that compulsory celibacy [for clergy] and vowed chastity have contributed to the occurrence of child sexual abuse,” the commission said.

“For many Catholic clergy and religious, celibacy is implicated in emotional isolation, loneliness, depression and mental illness. Compulsory celibacy may also have contributed to various forms of psychosexual dysfunction, including psychosexual immaturity, which pose an ongoing risk to the safety of children. For many clergy and religious, celibacy is an unattainable ideal that leads to clergy and religious living double lives.”

The commission also recommended that the Church end the sanctity of the confessional, saying religious ministers should be forced to speak out when they were told of alleged child abuse.

“Laws concerning mandatory reporting to child protection authorities should not exempt … information disclosed in or in connection with a religious confession,” it said.

Anthony Fisher, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, said he opposed changes to the confessional, saying it was a "distraction".

"I think any proposal to effectively stop the practice of confession in Australia would be a real hurt to all Catholics and Orthodox Christians and I don't think would help any young person," he told ABC News.

"I think if young people are to be kept safe, focusing on something like confession is just a distraction."

The average age of children abused at Catholic institutions was 11 years old. Some survivors reported being sexually abused during confession.

The commission recommended the creation of national child safety standards, additional training for schools and those working with children, and mandatory reporting of alleged abuse by occupations such as religious ministers, early childhood workers and psychologists.

Welcoming the report, Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s prime minister, said the commission had been an “outstanding exercise in love”. He expressed gratitude to survivors who had the courage to tell their stories.

“It’s been very tough, often harrowing work, but above all, I want to thank and honour the courage of the survivors and their families who’ve told, often for the first time, the dreadful stories of abuse that they received from people who actually owed them love and protection,” he said.

December 22, 2017 update: Click on the link for John Robson's column in the Canadian newspaper National Post, Moralizing statists play Caesar to the Catholic Church, December 19, 2017.

40 years ago: Former Archbishop of Canterbury proposes the Pope as head of a unified church

The movement to undo the Reformation and unite all professing Christian churches has been underway for a long time. The ecumenists and syncretists are never quite able to get everything they want, perhaps because if they did it would upset the prophetic timetable, which is controlled by God, and which will be fulfilled according to His schedule. Eventually there will be a movement of all religions united against the Lord Jesus Christ, which He will destroy with the brightness of His coming. Submitted for your approval, the following article, as it appeared in The Edmonton Journal, August 8, 1977:

Melbourne, Australia (Reuter)--Former archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Michael Ramsey proposed today that the Pope should be the leader of any united church of Anglicans and Roman Catholics.

Dr. Ramsey said during the last 20 years there has been great growth in the relations between the two churches.

"My idea of the goal is the Anglican communion not absorbed into the Roman Catholic church but in communion with it," Dr. Ramsey said in an interview with The Age newspaper.

"In this union the Pope would be accepted not as infallible but as president bishop," he said.

Dr. Ramsey, 73, who retired three years ago as archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the Anglican church, is in Melbourne to attend the centenary of Trinity College Theological Hall at Melbourne University.

When he was archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Ramsey met Pope Paul in Rome in 1966 and their discussions led to the formation of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, which has worked on the theological basis for reunion of the two churches.

Dr. Ramsey said the commission had done remarkable work. "They have gone behind the familiar controversies and they indicate a real hope for unity," he said.

But there is now developing an inevitable resistance from both churches and the ecumenical movement might be headed for a "go-slow," he said.

Dr. Ramsey said it is shameful that there still are divisions among Christians. "It is wrong that Christendom should be divided into bodies which are sometimes competing and estranged," he said.

Dr. Ramsey's suggestion that the Pope should lead a unified church was rejected by spokesmen for both the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches in Australia.

The Anglican church's spokesman here, Rev. Allan Nicholls, said Australian Anglicans still are very conscious of the 16th century Reformation which led to the formation of the Anglican church.

"This proposal by Dr. Ramsey is completely unacceptable to us and I don't believe it would be acceptable to the Roman Catholic church either," he said.

The Roman Catholic church spokesman, Bishop Clancy, agreed, saying the Pope's infallibility is not properly understood by Anglicans.

"Infallibility of the Pope isn't something we trade," Bishop Clancy said.

That this move toward Anglican-Roman Catholic union had been going on for some time is indicated by the following Canadian Press report, which appeared in The Edmonton Journal on September 5, 1967:

London (CP) - A modest degree of progress was reported Monday by a commission of Anglican and Roman Catholic theologians working toward unity between the two churches.

After a week of private talks at a secluded country manor, the 24-member international committee--which included two Canadians--found three fields for immediate action.

But it also found its discussions pointed up several "crucial" areas of disagreement.

The positive recommendations of the commission, after its second meeting since being set up last year by the Vatican and the Archbishop of Canterbury:

. Possible joint use of churches and other buildings by the two faiths.

. The "urgent need" to work for common texts in those prayers and formulas --such as the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed--which are common to both churches.

. Greater collaboration in education for the ministry.

The "crucial" points of differences listed in an announcement issued at Westminster Abbey included the divergent attitudes of the two churches toward individual interpretation of the scriptures, the Roman Catholic doctrine of papal primacy and infallibility, different dogmatic views on the Virgin Mary and the Roman Catholic's lack of recognition of the Anglican priesthood.

On the question of papal primacy, Dr. John Moorman, Anglican bishop of Ripon and co-chairman of the commission, said the sessions had not greatly changed the traditional attitudes of both sides.

"But on this and on other subjects generally the attitude was one of frank and open discussion and not that of two teams glaring at each other," he told a news conference.

He also said he did not think much progress had been made in discussing the dogmas concerning Mary. Further guidance would be needed on this and other "crucial" matters.

The Roman Catholic co-chairman--Bishop Charles Helmsing of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri--said he did not look for immediate general action toward the exchange of pulpits among clergymen of the two churches. Because of past tensions, may regions would find this "shocking."

It would have to be left to local authorities for a long time.

Canadians on the commission are Rev. John Keating, secretary of the English section of the Canadian Catholic Bishops' Commission on Ecumenism, and Rev. Eugene R. Fairweather of Trinity College, Toronto, an Anglican.

Next meeting of the commission will be held in December. It is expected to be in Italy.

Dr. Ramsey's words and actions illustrate the willingness of "Christian" leaders to ignore and/or repudiate the teachings of their own churches and the vows that they took when they assumed their offices. The distinctive teachings of the Church of England can be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, which were finalized in 1571 and included in the Book of Common Prayer. Several of the articles express rejection of the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church:

From Article XIX. Of the Church.:
As the Church of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, have erred; so also the Church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of Ceremonies, but also in matters of Faith.

XXI. Of the Authority of General Councils.
General Councils may not be gathered together without the commandment and will of Princes. And when they be gathered together, (forasmuch as they be an assembly of men, whereof all be not governed with the Spirit and Word of God,) they may err, and sometimes have erred, even in things pertaining unto God. Wherefore things ordained by them as necessary to salvation have neither strength nor authority, unless it may be declared that they be taken out of holy Scripture.

XXII. Of Purgatory.
The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping and Adoration, as well of Images as of Reliques, and also invocation of Saints, is a fond thing vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.

XXXI. Of the one Oblation of Christ finished upon the Cross.
The Offering of Christ once made is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin, but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifices of Masses, in the which it was commonly said, that the Priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, were blasphemous fables, and dangerous deceits.

From Article XXXVII. Of the Civil Magistrates.:
The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England.

Australian-made globe pulled from stores after omitting Israel, but including Palestine

I don't know if this resulted from evil intentions or incompetence (or both), but Typo seems an appropriate name for the chain of stores. As reported by Michael Safi of the British newspaper The Guardian, February 1, 2016:

The Australian stationery chain Typo has inadvertently waded into one of the world’s thorniest political conflicts, pulling a line of globes that named Palestine but omitted to label Israel.

The design choice, which saw Israel and 12 other countries represented by a number on the map, corresponding to a legend at the base of the globe, prompted threats of boycott and charges of anti-Semitism by supporters of the Jewish state.

The decision to halt production of the globes led to similar threats by Palestine advocates.

Issues with the original design were first pointed out on 21 January by a flurry of customers on the store’s Facebook page, including one who asked why Typo was selling a globe “that has wiped Israel from the face of the earth”.

Typo said in response the design – a Mercator projection from around 1860 – was “an official map from an international body that has been approved for export” and Israel’s label had been omitted “purely because there wasn’t enough space to include the name”.

Two hours later the chain said it had “decided to remove the globes from sale in-store and online and will halt all future production”.

This decision in turn drew complaints from supporters of Palestine, who have peppered the store’s social media accounts with complaints and threats of boycott.

The ensuing anger bled over into otherwise uncontroversial posts on the company’s Facebook page, including one advertising a travel bag with the tagline, “I just took the road less travelled ... And now I’m lost!”

Among the replies were: “Could you be lost because you don’t know how to use a map. Use the correct one with Palestine and it will help!”

“The road less travelled is one that DOESN’T bow down to Zionist sentiment,” another user said.

(The map also omitted the former Yugoslavian republic of Macedonia, prompting one user to ask: “What is your political agenda Typo?”)

The company, part of the Cotton On Group, tried to stem the damage on Monday, writing on its Facebook page that new globes would be manufactured labelling every country.

“Typo is not removing any country from the globe. We made the decision to recall the current globes from sale as we are sourcing new artwork from our supplier that has every country marked on it but with no need for a key. All countries will remain on the map, the key will not,” it said.

“We never intended to offend anyone with this product.”

Among other errors the map labelled the Caspian Sea twice and misspelled the name of the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan.

Australian Neo-Nazi "ethicist" Peter Singer receives his country's highest civilian honour

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34

Surely some future historian, surveying our times, will note sardonically that it took no more than three decades to transform a war crime into an act of compassion, thereby enabling the victors in the war against Nazism to mount their own humane holocaust, which in its range and in the number of its victims, may soon far surpass the Nazi one. It is significant that, whereas the Nazi holocaust has received lavish TV and film coverage, the humane one goes rolling along largely unnoticed by the media. Malcolm Muggeridge, Sanctity of Life, Chatelaine, December 1979, p. 138

Professor Peter Singer, an "ethicist" whose views on the sancity of human life I find virtually the same as those of the Nazis, was named a Companion (AC) in the General Division of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday 2012 Honours Lists (see page 8 of linked document):

For eminent service to philosophy and bioethics as a leader of public debate and communicator of ideas in the areas of global poverty, animal welfare and the human condition.

John Hawkins of Right Wing News has compiled some revealing quotes from major figures in the animal rights movement. Of interest for this post are these, merely a small sample to illustrate Professor Singer's low view of the sanctity of human life:

An animal experiment cannot be justifiable unless the experiment is so important that the use of a brain-damaged human would be justifiable. — Peter Singer, godfather of the animal rights movement, Animal Liberation: A New Ethic for Our Treatment of Animals, 2nd. edition, 1990.

Surely there will be some nonhuman animals whose lives, by any standards, are more valuable than the lives of some humans. — Peter Singer, godfather of the animal rights movement, Animal Liberation: A New Ethic for Our Treatment of Animals, 2nd edition, 1990.

There are some circumstances, for example, where the newborn baby is severely disabled and where the parents think that it’s better that child should not live, when killing the newborn baby is not at all wrong … not like killing the chimpanzee would be. Maybe it’s not wrong at all. — Peter Singer, godfather of the animal rights movement.

Your dog can show you when he or she wants to go for a walk and equally for nonviolent sexual contact, your dog or whatever else it is can show you whether he or she wants to engage in a certain kind of contact — Peter Singer, godfather of the animal rights movement.

The one thing I would agree with concerning Professor Singer's "eminent service to philosophy and bioethics" is that while many who share his outlook pussyfoot around the implications, Professor Singer isn't afraid to take his views to their logical conclusions and state them.

Although Peter Singer is of Jewish background, that doesn't seem to have had much influence on his philosophy, as reported by Dan Goldberg of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, June 24, 2012:

Although his family has a Passover seder -- “with a beet root instead of a lamb shank” -- and he celebrates Purim with his grandchildren, and Rosh Hashanah, Singer says Jewish traditions “did not play much of a role in my life.”

He concedes, though, that his family history did play a part in the development of his theories.

“As three of my grandparents died in the Holocaust, and the fourth was fortunate to survive in Theresienstadt, that was very much present in my life,” he said. “I am sure that it had some impact on my thought -- on my abhorrence of cruelty, of the naked use of power over the defenseless and, of course, of racism.”

His parents, he says, gave him the choice of whether to have a bar mitzvah celebration. He declined.

“I never believed in a god,” he said. “There may have been times when I wondered if there might be a god, but it always seemed to me wildly implausible that a god worth worshiping could allow the Holocaust to occur.”

Australian court rules against government-paid chaplains in public schools

As reported in the Toledo Blade, June 30, 2012:

CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia's highest court said this week that the government exceeded its constitutional powers by paying for chaplains to run programs in public schools. The attorney general plans to try to keep the work going.

The ruling is a victory for Ron Williams, whose 6-year-old son came home from Darling Heights State School singing gospel songs in 2010.

Mr. Williams sued over the program at the school in Toowoomba in Queensland state.

Six of seven high court judges agreed that the government exceeded its powers by paying Scripture Union Queensland to provide a school chaplain.

About 2,700 schools around Australia have similar programs. Attorney General Nicola Roxon said she is examining the ruling's implications.

She said she would examine ways to legally continue the program, such as changing the law or paying states to provide the services instead of paying the providers directly.

The voluntary programs include support and guidance about ethics, values, relationships, spirituality, and religious issues. It costs the government more than $71 million a year.

The programs were introduced in 2007, when the conservative Liberal Party led the government.

The center-left Labor Party government in power had planned to expand it.

Universe's "missing mass" discovered

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Psalms 8:3-4

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Psalms 19:1

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 4:11

As reported by Monash University on May 23, 2011:

A Monash student has made a breakthrough in the field of astrophysics, discovering what has until now been described as the Universe’s ‘missing mass’. Amelia Fraser-McKelvie, working within a team at the Monash School of Physics, conducted a targeted X-ray search for the matter and within just three months found it – or at least some of it.

What makes the discovery all the more noteworthy is the fact that Ms Fraser-McKelvie is not a career researcher, or even studying at a postgraduate level. She is a 22-year-old undergraduate Aerospace Engineering/Science student who pinpointed the missing mass during a summer scholarship, working with two astrophysicists at the School of Physics, Dr Kevin Pimbblet and Dr Jasmina Lazendic-Galloway...

... Dr Pimbblet, lecturer in the School of Physics put the magnitude of the discovery in context by explaining that scientists had been hunting for the Universe’s missing mass for decades.

“It was thought from a theoretical viewpoint that there should be about double the amount of matter in the local Universe compared to what was observed. It was predicted that the majority of this missing mass should be located in large-scale cosmic structures called filaments - a bit like thick shoelaces,” said Dr Pimbblet.

Astrophysicists also predicted that the mass would be low in density, but high in temperature - approximately one million degrees Celsius. This meant that, in theory, the matter should have been observable at X-ray wavelengths. Amelia Fraser-McKelvie’s discovery has proved that prediction correct.

Ms Fraser-McKelvie said the ‘Eureka moment’ came when Dr Lazendic-Galloway closely examined the data they had collected.

“Using her expert knowledge in the X-ray astronomy field, Jasmina reanalysed our results to find that we had in fact detected the filaments in our data, where previously we believed we had not.”

X-ray observations provide important information about physical properties of large-scale structures, which can help astrophysicists better understand their true nature. Until now, they had been making deductions based only on numerical models, so the discovery is a huge step forward in determining what amount of mass is actually contained within filaments.

Go here to see the abstract of the original article.

Australia expels Israeli embassy official

As reported in The Sydney Morning Herald of May 24, 2010:

Australia said Monday it would expel an official from the Israeli embassy after finding the Jewish state was behind fake Australian passports linked to the killing of a Hamas operative.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australia remained a "firm friend" of Israel but no government could tolerate the abuse of its passports.

"The government has asked that a member of the Israeli embassy in Canberra be withdrawn from Australia," Smith told parliament, without identifying the official. "I have asked that the withdrawal be effected within a week."

An investigation into how four Australian passports were used by the team that carried out the January killing of Hamas operative Mahmud al-Mabhuh in a luxury Dubai hotel found the documents were forgeries, Smith said.

He said the high quality of the forged passports pointed to the involvement of a state intelligence service.

"These investigations and advice have left the government in no doubt that Israel was responsible for the abuse and counterfeiting of these passports," he said.

Smith said this was not the first time that Israel had misused Australian passports, but he declined to comment on the other occasions.

"This is not what we expect from a nation with whom we have had such a close, supportive relationship," he said. "These are not the actions of a friend."

"The government takes this step much more in sorrow than in anger," he added.