Fake Christians & Masons take over Church of England

[TonyGosling]

A sex addict Church of England vicar who took part in orgies, visited gay saunas and collected “perverted” pornography has been sacked after his estranged wife exposed his double life.
Reverend James Day’s actions amounted to “conduct unbecoming and inappropriate,” a Church of England tribunal found. It has banned him from ministry for life.
Speaking at the tribunal in London, Birte Day said she had collected evidence showing her husband had taken part in group sex, attempted to set up meetings with prostitutes and used a fake name to meet new partners.
She said her husband had stored “a substantial amount” of porn on his computer, which she collected on memory sticks presented to the tribunal, according to the Telegraph.
“There were about 50 short films of men and women in scenes of sexual pleasure and orgies, at least 100 sketches of naked women being tortured and burned, a scene of a gladiator being hit and tortured, many images of naked young men… and other sexually explicit material.”
She said her husband became increasingly open about his “sexual addiction,” adding: “He often said the two most important elements in his life were God and sex.”
https://www.rt.com/uk/364404-vicar-sacked-church-sex/

Read more
Church of England told bishops not to apologize to sex abuse victims
https://www.rt.com/uk/356749-church-sex-abuse-apologise/

[TonyGosling]

One third of clergy do not believe in the Resurrection
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1403106/One-third-of-clergy-do- not-believe-in-the-Resurrection.html

By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent

12:01AM BST 31 Jul 2002

A third of Church of England clergy doubt or disbelieve in the physical Resurrection and only half are convinced of the truth of the Virgin birth, according to a new survey.

The poll of nearly 2,000 of the Church's 10,000 clergy also found that only half believe that faith in Christ is the only route to salvation.

While it has long been known that numerous clerics are dubious about the historic creeds of the Church, the survey is the first to disclose how widespread is the scepticism.

Few bishops would now share the views of the former Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev David Jenkins, who caused a scandal in the 1980s when he contrasted the Resurrection with a "conjuring trick with bones".

Nevertheless liberal clergy, who represent about one in eight of the total, remain profoundly uncertain about the Church's core doctrines. In the survey, two thirds of them expressed doubts in the physical Resurrection and three quarters are unconvinced by the Virgin birth.

Similar levels of belief were found in organisations such as Affirming Catholicism, a liberal Anglo-Catholic group of which the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is a founding member.

Although Dr Williams holds firmly orthodox views on the Resurrection and the Virgin birth, the proportion of members of Affirming Catholicism who believe without question in the two doctrines is 35 and 24 per cent respectively.

Doubts are even greater among members of the Modern Churchpeople's Union, a liberal group whose president is the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Rev John Saxbee: only a quarter believe in the physical Resurrection and just eight per cent in the Virgin birth.

The survey, carried out by Christian Research, did find that clergy were more orthodox on other doctrines.

More than 75 per cent overall accept the doctrine of the Trinity and a similar proportion believe that Christ died to take away the sins of the world. More than 80 per cent were happy with the idea that God the Father created the world.

Unsurprisingly, the organisations whose members were the most traditional were Reform, a conservative evangelical group, and Forward in Faith, a traditionalist umbrella body.

The Rev Robbie Low, a member of Cost of Conscience, the traditionalist organisation which commissioned the survey, said: "There are clearly two Churches operating in the Church of England: the believing Church and the disbelieving Church, and that is a scandal.

"Increasingly, positions of authority are being placed in the hands of people who believe less and less. It is an intolerable situation where the faithful are increasingly being led by the unfaithful." He added that doubts about the core doctrines of the Church were higher among women priests and their supporters.

Only just over half of the admittedly small sample of female clergy in the survey said they believed in the bodily Resurrection and the figure fell to exactly a third when it came to the Virgin birth.

The Rev Nicholas Henderson, the general secretary of the Modern Churchperson's Union, said he was not surprised by the figures. Clergy, faced with intelligent and educated congregations, increasingly had to think "very carefully" about how to present complex doctrine credibly.

He was also critical of plans by the bishops to revive heresy trials for clergy who publicly questioned key Church teachings.

Dr Peter Brierley, the executive director of Christian Research, said the survey had been undertaken among 4,000 churches and reflected a representative sample of clergy, in terms of churchmanship and belief.

In findings reported earlier this month, the survey also showed that a quarter of the clergy still described themselves as "implacably opposed" to women bishops.

[Whitehall_Bin_Men]

1 in 7 Church of England vicars don't believe in God.
Don't assume anything if you go to church this Christmas. Ask them what they believe. Expose the closet clergy.
According to a forensic poll of #Anglican clergy, 16% are #agnostics & 2% #atheists. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/survey-finds-2-of-angl ican-priests-are-not-believers-9821899.html

Two per cent of Anglican priests don't believe in God, survey finds
As many as 16 per cent are agnostic
Jonathan Wynne-Jones
Monday 27 October 2014 19:17
According to a poll of Anglican clergy, as many as 16 per cent are unclear about God

As a prerequisite for the job of being a Church of England priest, it would seem not unreasonable to expect a belief in God to be fairly essential.

But this is not the case, according to a poll of Anglican clergy which found that as many as 16 per cent are unclear about God and two per cent think it is no more than a human construct.

It is 30 years since David Jenkins, then the Bishop of Durham, caused controversy by casting doubt on the resurrection, but it appears that such unorthodox views are widespread amongst Britain’s priests.

In addition to those who describe God as a human creation, the YouGov poll found that three per cent believe there is some sort of spirit or life force and 9 per cent argue it is impossible to imagine what God is like.

Clergy were significantly more likely to hold unorthodox beliefs the older they were and the longer they had been in the ministry. Nearly 90 per cent of those ordained since 2011 believe in God compared with only 72 per cent of those who became priests in the 1960s, the research discovered.

The General Synod, the Church’s parliament, rejected moves to introduce “heresy trials” to take action against clergy over “doctrinal, ritual and ceremonial” matters, leaving clergy and bishops relatively free to deviate from doctrine without punishment, though it is unusual to hear priests openly saying they don’t believe in God.

However, there is an organisation called Sea of Faith that rejects the Church’s traditional belief in one personal God and which claims to represent dozens of vicars.

The Rev David Paterson, a retired Church of England priest, said there was no conflict in preaching while being unable to believe in God. “Within my congregation I would take the line that how you feel about God is not in the least dependent on whether you think God exists or not. I preach using God’s terminology, but never with the suggestion that God actually exists,” he told University Times, Trinity College Dublin’s newspaper.


“Once you have accepted that religion is a human creation, then it is like art and literature and things like that. They are an extremely valuable way to understand yourself.”

Alison Ruoff, a lay member of the General Synod, said she did not understand how someone could be a priest at the same time as not believing in God. “They shouldn’t have been selected, but if they have lost their faith it’s a great shame,” she said. “Clergy just preach social clap-trap these days. We expect better from them.”

The YouGov survey interviewed more than 1,500 Anglican clergy from the Church of England, Church in Wales, and Scottish Episcopal Church. It was commissioned by the Westminster Faith Debates.

[Whitehall_Bin_Men]

Wow! Former oil-man CoE boss supporting an illegal war and regime change!
Justin Welby: Criteria for just war in Syria have been met
https://www.christiantoday.com/article/justin-welby-the-criteria-for-a -just-war-in-syria-have-been-met/72347.htm

Carey Lodge Wed 2 Dec 2015 16:56 GMT
Justin Welby
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby

Justin Welby has announced his support for UK air strikes in Syria, telling the House of Lords today that the criteria of a just war have been met.
Speaking in the House as MPs debate the issue today, the Archbishop of Canterbury said: "The just war criteria have to my mind been met, but while they are necessary, they are not by themselves sufficient in action of this kind".

He warned that the UK could "end up doing the right thing in such a wrong way that it becomes wrong thing."

Aerial bombing "plays into the expectation of ISIL and other jihadist groups in the region, springing from their apocalyptic theology," he added.

"The totality of our actions must subvert that false narrative – because by itself will not work. If we act only against ISIL globally, and only in the ways proposed so far, we will strengthen their resolve, increase their recruitment, and encourage their sympathisers.

"Without a far more comprehensive approach, we confirm their dreadful belief that what they are doing is the will of God."

Welby called for a holistic approach to the war in Syria, insisting that "there must be a global theological and ideological component...to what we are doing".

"It must be relentlessly pursued and promoted, and it must include challenging Saudi Arabia and Qatar – whose own promotion of a particular brand of Islamic theology has provided a source from which ISIS have drawn a false legitimisation," he said.

"It must also show clear support for global mainstream Muslim and other religious leaders...Only a holistic, theological and global policy will achieve our aims."

The Archbishop also called for "greater generosity" in the UK's response to the refugee crisis. That hospitality "must be accompanied by a clear strategy that reduces the need for others to seek sanctuary... and enables those who have fled to return," he said.

"The communities that have lived there for 2,000 years should not simply be emptied from that region."

Welby's comments are likely to be supported by other Church leaders. A statement released by the Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, head of the Catholic Church in the UK, today said British air strikes could be "defensible".

"Effective action is necessary to stop the grave harm being inflicted by ISIS on civilians. While indiscriminate violence is never justifiable, specific use of force to protect the vulnerable is defensible, if it is combined with sustained diplomatic and humanitarian efforts," Nichols said.

Related

Syrian priest: 'We can destroy ISIS without bombing'
Syrian priest: 'We can destroy ISIS without bombing'

Christian MPs torn on bombing ISIS in Syria
Christian MPs torn on bombing ISIS in Syria

Tim Farron reverses position, will support Syria air strikes
Tim Farron reverses position, will support Syria air strikes

Britain to vote on Syria strikes tomorrow, PM confident of support
Britain to vote on Syria strikes tomorrow, PM confident of support

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"As Pope Francis has said: where there is unjust aggression, it is licit to stop the aggressor."

Nichols referred to a trip he took to Iraq in April of this year, during which he concluded that "proportionate military intervention" is necessary to stop ISIS and other terror groups.

A joint statement released today by The Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church in Britain and the United Reformed Church was less supportive of military action in Syria, however.

It said that aerial bombing "is unlikely to have a decisive role in defeating Daesh", would likely cause significant civilian casualties, and that the churches are "convinced that Daesh can only be defeated through a comprehensive economic, diplomatic and security strategy".

Though the statement praised the UK's efforts to suppress acts of terrorism, it said that the assertion that British military intervention in Syria "will reduce the terrorist threat to the UK...requires significant qualification".

"Ultimately a more vigorous campaign across the Middle-East as well as in our own country is vital to counter the ideology of Daesh and the propaganda that endorses religious and sectarian violence," the statement added.

"Western military intervention in the Middle East is unhelpful in that it makes sharing on matters of peace, equality and the common good more challenging."

It also said: "Our churches eschew all forms of intolerance and hatred and urge that measures taken to overcome the intolerance demonstrated by Daesh must also seek to promote values that we hold dear."

The UK government published a motion on Tuesday saying that ISIS poses a "direct threat" to Britain, and there is a legal basis for action. MPs are currently debating the issue in the House of Commons, and will vote at around 10pm this evening.

Prime Minister David Cameron today said the air strikes would help to "keep the British people safe" from terrorists.

"Do we work with our allies to degrade and destroy this threat and do we go after these terrorists in their heartlands from where they are plotting to kill British people, or do we sit back and wait for them to attack us?" he asked MPs.

"The question before the House today is how we keep the British people safe from the threat posed by ISIL. This is not about whether we want to fight terrorism, it's about how best we do that."