Tonight: Is Britain Christian?

David Cameron believes Britain is a Christian country, but these days less than half of us describe ourselves as Christian, and only 5% of us go to church on a weekly basis.

Nadia Eweida

In ‘Is Britain Christian?’ Tonight asks if the Prime Minister is right, and if it matters if he’s not? Should we accept that Christianity needs to take a back seat in a modern secular society, or will some communities lose more than bricks and mortar?

Britain’s history, laws and traditions are rooted in Christianity. The Queen is head of the Church of England - a tradition that dates back to the Tudors. Some of our greatest art, literature and music is inspired by Christianity. But these days, less than half of us describe ourselves as Christian.

This has left some of those who continue to hold very strong beliefs feeling marginalised. British Airways employee Nadia Eweida and nurse Shirley Chaplin have both fought in the European Courts for the right to display crucifix necklaces as part of their uniform.

But it’s not all bad news for the church: in the UK, membership of Pentecostal churches has risen by around 20% over the past five years, often boosted by immigrant communities.

Read more here

Vicar in the trenches: The story of Reverend Theodore Hardy in the Great War, Robert Gore Langton, Daily Express

B

ut there was one breed of non-combatants that has been rather forgotten: chaplains.

By the end of the war there were 3,500 clergy in khaki, going about their rounds in a dog collar and representing God while all hell broke loose.

They were a mixed bunch and many were frankly worse than useless.

Padres who got the least respect were the ones who preached patriotism behind the lines and frightened the men going to the front. But some performed quiet miracles on the front line, earning undying admiration.

Perhaps the most astonishing of them all was a small, unassuming country vicar and one-time headmaster from near Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria.

He joined up as a relatively old man at 51.

He was to become the most highly decorated non-combatant of the Great War, winning to his considerable embarrassment the DSO, MC and VC.

His name was Theodore Bayley Hardy.

Read more  here

Further reading

1)     Royal Army Chaplains Department

2)   Theodore Hardy, Wikipedia

Obama’s LGBT order ‘threatens religious freedom’

Obama’s LGBT order ‘threatens religious freedom’

President Obama has come under fire for forcing all federal contractors to conform to the administration’s view on sexuality through a so-called ‘anti-discrimination’ executive order.

On Monday, the US president signed the order, which prevents federal contractors from discriminating against people who identify as LGBT, but does not exempt faith-based organisations.

President Obama had received a letter signed by 14 people including a leading pastor, the executive editor of a Christian magazine and the head of a large Roman Catholic charity, urging him to exclude faith-based organisations from the order.