Cleanliness as catchword for imperialism

Jonathan Bartley asking police whether they have permission to "clean" the steps of St. Paul's.
Making room for the moneylenders is being sold as an action for peace, safety and cleanliness.


Ce n'est qu'un début...

Sedition, subversion, and anarchy: the church's emerging political mission

Hugh Price Hughes Lectures 2009 “Refreshing Church”

Tuesday at 7.30pm and free.

May 12th

Jonathan Bartley

“Sedition, subversion and anarchy: the church's emerging political mission”

Bartley: Easter and Anarchy

In comment is free today Jonathan Bartley tries - as ever - to draw Christian attention away from the protectionism of Christendom religion toward a more radically political understanding of faith.

Easter, he claims, in its pre-Christendom forms was anarchic, subversive, intended to challenge the Roman violence-based empire.

I wonder what Bakunin would have made of this? Is Easter the new carnival of the masses aimed to offer a vision of a world turned up side down, if just for a moment.

I prefer this to Theo Hobson's (Ekklesia associate) vision "Easter Rising" which he unveiled a in 2005 at Greenbelt.

"Easter ought to be a massive public event. It ought to be the biggest event in British culture. It ought to be like every carnival and festival and demonstration rolled into one."

When I challenged him as to the venue for this event suggesting that Parliament Square would be better than Hyde Park would be appropriate because it would challenge the SOCPA laws thus brining us into the Christ-tradition of challenging the centre of power at Easter.... well, he wasn't keen to say the least.

There are all kinds of ways we can make Easter the carnival it could be, with a little imagination. Returning to a pre-Christendom hermeneutic on the gospels but a post-Christendom take on politics and society.

For example, John Hull mentioned a couple of weeks ago the idea of Churches using the issue of asylum (I think it was!) for the Palm Sunday walk through town. Worshippers would be holding up placards associating Jesus with the those on the margins of society today, those crucified by the present ideologies of empire.

I sometimes wonder what Jesus riding on a donkey toward Jerusalem would look like in the hear and now: scores of white vans, factory workers, prostitutes, with crowns on their heads as we make a red carpet for them all the way to Buckingham Palace and demand access to the many rooms.

Yes: with a little thought and fun easter is a very different fish.

Image: Guardian comment is free. Jonathan Bartley, co-director of the think tank Ekklesia

Faith can face challenge of freedom, says thinktank

No need for fearful rhetoric about 'persecution', Convention event will propose

London, UK - February 24, 2009 Rather than resorting to fearful rhetoric about 'marginalisation' or 'persecution', Christians and people of faith in Britain have a real opportunity to contribute to the public good and to defend the civic freedoms upon which we all rely, says the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia.

Commenting ahead of the high profile Convention on Modern Liberty, at the Institute of Education in London and across the UK on Saturday 28 February 2009, Ekklesia co-director Simon Barrow said that the event "embodies the new kind of people-driven politics that can emerge as traditional political institutions waver under growing worldwide pressures, and as they are tempted to resort to authoritarian measures."

"Similar challenges face organisations based around religion and belief," he added. "Fundamental human rights have been supported from many religious quarters, but they have also been challenged or seen as a threat in others."

"There is a choice to be made," said Barrow. "Will faith groups turn in upon themselves, resort to aggressive popularism and shy away from sharing free public space with others? Or can they develop global understandings of citizenship and shared responsibility, rooted in their own specific traditions, which open doors and expose abuses of power?"

Ekklesia argues that a positive way forward is possible.

"We now live in a mixed belief society, rather than one dominated by institutional Christianity," says Simon Barrow. "That may question certain privileges which have existed before, but the removal of these need not be a threat. Rather it is an opportunity to rediscover a more authentic, liberating message and practice; one that has often been obscured or defaced by the collusion of official religion and governing authority."

What is vital, suggests Ekklesia, is that people of all faiths and none find a common agenda around defending the civil liberties that enable shared action and conversation in society.

"That is the opportunity the Convention on Modern Liberty demonstrates," says Barrow.

Ekklesia is backing the Convention, and facilitating a seminar on 'Faiths and Freedoms' that will include voices from a range of religious communities and perspectives.

Think Tank Challenges government on Asylum

Immigration Minister Phil Woolas should be publicly investigating his own government's bias against asylum seekers rather than attacking charities, human rights groups and lawyers for giving vulnerable people support, says the religion and society think tank Ekklesia.

"Mr Woolas' claims that there is an 'industry out there' with a vested interest in taking asylum claims and appeals forward, with the implication that people should be denied access to justice because they are from another country and seeking refuge, is false and shameful," says Ekklesia co-director Simon Barrow.

Vaughan Jones, director of the agency Praxis, which works with displaced people across London, who is also a United Reformed Church minister and an Ekklesia associate described the statement from the new Immigration Minister as "a disturbing development."

"Asylum seekers and migrants are human beings with rights and it is quite proper and legitimate for the law to defend those rights and for people of good will to advocate for and support people in need, vulnerable to exploitation and potential victims of miscarriages of justice," said Mr Jones.

He continued: "Attacking the defenders of human rights is not the most edifying of stands, although it is regrettably not without precedent.

"There are many highly respected voluntary organisations and faith based organisations operating with integrity and within the framework of the law. Their work is well acknowledged and scrutinised by funders and regulators. Their activities should not be repudiated simply because they take a different stance on migration. A mature debate does not begin with mud-slinging."

Ekklesia's Simon Barrow added: "Governments attack human rights workers when they have something to hide. The UK authorities have been rightly criticised for dawn raids, removal of children and other abuses of justice in relation to people seeking asylum - even refusing to accept the legitimacy of their own numerous legal defeats. It is this that needs public investigation."

Image: Phil Woolas, Member of Puppetry

AWE recruitment at Birmingham University continued...

AWE Recruitment presentation at Birmingham University 5 November

Sophie and Keith Hebden attended the AWE event as recruiters for AWE; dressed in smart suits with fake AWE identity badges we looked the part. Our badges read “Human Resources Dept” with our names, “Amanda Hugenkis” and “Dan Teshell”. We arrived half an hour before the event began to properly check out where the presentation was to be held.

Our intention was to intercept students going to the AWE recruitment drive by pretending to work for AWE. There is a long glass-walled lobby with sofas downstairs at Staff House; the presentation was to take place two floors above. We settled ourselves on the sofas with clipboards and fliers ready to intercept any students coming to the AWE recruitment presentation. We then asked people to sit with us to chat about ‘recruitment’, which gave us the chance to tell them the bare facts of what goes on — bomb-making — in an up-beat and ironic way. We wanted unguarded conversations with people who were considering working at AWE but were wrestling with the morality of doing so.

The first jobseeker was a bit of a red herring: he wanted to meet the AWE staff to talk about his marketing company to help them recruit. We took some information from him, thanked him and sent him home. Later we discovered that he was a ‘fake’ as well!

The next to arrive, a physicist, sat and chatted with us for a while. We saw him becoming more confused and concerned as we spoke enthusiastically about the destructive potential of nuclear bombs. It was when Keith told him about the “cultural exchanges” possible if working at AWE – “Hirsohima survivors often hang around the gate and you can wave at them as you drive into work,” – that he grinned and said, “OK, I get it.” We chatted with him for another five minutes as he admitted that he had been unsure as to whether to attend this event but had justified it to himself and wanted to hear them out. He decided not to go to the presentation and to go home. We shook hands and he thanked us.

The next man told us he was studying medical nuclear physics but was wondering about going into defence instead, “because there’s more money than in the NHS”. He spoke about the moral dilemma he faced in choosing between medical and defence. We said after AWE had dropped a bomb we would certainly need medical experts.

We chatted; he looked concerned but took our flier and went upstairs to the presentation.

A couple of girls said they were interested in working in human resources. At first they were hesitant about sitting down, partly because there were late for the presentation, but when they did they looked at us suspiciously from the start. A few minutes later one girl interrupted to ask if we were “Socialists” we said not and carried on for a minute before she interrupted again: “Excuse me, but we’re from ‘People and Planet’”. We all burst out laughing and sent them on their way to the presentation.

Finally a girl set on studying the radiation hazards of the site spoke with us for five minutes. She was very serious and intent on working at AWE; nothing we said could deter her. We listed about how AWE contravenes international treaties, how the UK is considering working on ‘useable nuclear weapons’, and how nuclear weapons target civilians because of their enormous destructive power, to name a few. She hurried off the presentation clutching our leaflet.

All in all, we felt there were some wonderful moments where we really connected with people, but perhaps the most encouraging thing was that hardly anyone came, and more protesters attended than jobseekers. Among the protesters were Gary Hall and John Hull, staff at Queen’s Foundation.

Queen's visit to Aldermaston

To challenge the powers is in part about generating the stories that go on to reproduce themselves in other peoples' lives as the kingdom of God is established.

Here are some of the stories generated at Queen's this week. Ekklesia; Inspire; Church Times; Birmingham Mail; BBC Midlands;

Queen's Foundation trains people for ministry in the Church of England, the Methodist Church, and other independent Churches. As part of the Anglican and Methodist training students are expected to take part in at least one Prophetic action during each year and to reflect on this action in their own spiritual formation and in the life of the worshipping community.

"For many it has already become a radically conversion experience. As I stood at the fence at AWE and received the 'ash of repentance' I cried for the futility of state violence and it's totem - the Trident missile and won't ever be quite the same."

Think Tank calls on Church of England to re-examine it's economic heart

The call comes after revelations that Church finance managers have been using similar tactics to the ones the Archbishops of Canterbury and York condemned City traders for, to maximise profits on the Church's £5 billion assets and investments.

"The key thing is not to apportion blame - either on traders or the Church - but to open up a realistic discussion about economic alternatives", says Ekklesia co-director Jonathan Bartley.

Jonathan has a good heart. How many of us are able to stand aside from Economics and criticise. The truth is we're all culpable and must work to undermine the system within ourselves.