earth watch
Climate ‘crisis’? Really?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Oct 2020
Recently the Environment Minister for Northern Ireland, Edwin Poots, got into a spot of bother for saying publicly that his department didn’t believe there is a climate crisis.
He later retracted his words and his chief civil servant had to apologise for giving the minister a misleading briefing. He really does think there’s a climate crisis, a view also shared by governments and many local councils across the country who have declared a ‘climate emergency’. So that’s all right then.
earth watch
Rising sea levels: what’s the truth?
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Dec 2020
Where I live in the former county of Huntingdonshire is a long way from the sea. But according to some predictions of sea-level rise, it could be a lot closer soon.
In one scenario, with widespread inundation of the Fens, Cambridge could virtually become a coastal city by 2050. London, Cardiff, Blackpool and Hull could all be severely affected. Scenarios like these are alarming and make great media headlines, but what is really going on?
Why do some US evangelicals still support Donald Trump?
By evangelical historian, Martyn Whittock
How strong is evangelical support for Donald Trump now? How has his recent bout of Covid affected that perception? And watching from outside the US, how is it possible Bible believing Christians can back such an extraordinary figure?
After the vote: what next for evangelicals in the US?
(As en went to press, various lawsuits disputing the result were ongoing.)
Gerald Bray reports from Alabama
The coronavirus pandemic has unexpectedly found me in Alabama, where I have enjoyed a front-row seat in the 2020 elections circus.
news in brief
Sex ed man returns
The creator of the sexually-explicit Warwickshire sex ed curriculum removed from use in the county earlier in 2020, has made a comeback with a new curriculum on his Going Off the Rails website.
Jonny Hunt claims his new work closely follows the government Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) ‘curriculum’. A training session must be attended before the materials can be purchased. The self-styled ‘sex ed’ consultant’s biography still includes no academic qualifications in the field of education or RSE (en January 2020).
Nigeria: complex causes,
systematic destruction
All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for International Freedom of Religion or Belief
Date posted: 1 Aug 2020
A report was published on 15 June titled
‘Nigeria: Unfolding Genocide?’
It points out that the violence has claimed
the lives of thousands of people and displaced
hundreds of thousands more. It has caused
untold human and economic devastation and
heightened existing ethno-religious tensions.
Despite the scale of the violence, the conflict
is much less well known internationally than
the ten-year-long Boko Haram insurgency.
defending our faith
Loving the creator’s work
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 1 Jan 2020
One of the topics now dominating public discussion is climate change. From Extinction Rebellion protests to BBC wildlife programmes, we are continually reminded that there is a real issue here.
Even Jeremy Clarkson, in the new Grand Tour series for Amazon, has admitted that climate change is a genuine threat to the environment and human existence. Clarkson, not known for sympathy with anything that would get cars off the road, conceded the point while filming on the Mekong river in Vietnam. Dramatic falls in river levels, destitute fishermen, absent rainfall, are all observed – leading Clarkson to admit there is an environmental crisis.
Culture watching
Billie Eilish: pop queen for an anxious age
Sarah Allen
Date posted: 1 Apr 2020
You still might not have heard of Billie Eilish, so let me enlighten you. She is an eighteen-year-old from Los Angeles who has been making music with her brother in her bedroom.
About four years ago they put out a song on social media. About a year ago her first album was released. Since then she has won five Grammy awards (including Song of the Year; Album of the Year and Best New Artist – the first time anyone has had this haul since 1981) and has released (together with her brother) her latest song – the new James Bond theme. Right now, her YouTube channel has 27.3million subscribers (for comparison, John Piper’s Desiring God channel has under half a million). So, at the stage most teenagers are wondering what to pack for their first term at university, Billie Eilish is negotiating with designer labels which want to clothe her and magazines which want to feature her. And, as this is the 21st century, she’s also facing all kinds of social media ‘trolls’ who want to attack her.
J.I. Packer 1926 – 2020
Leland Ryken
Date posted: 1 Sep 2020
A man who influenced Christendom.
James Innell Packer, better known to many as J.I. Packer, was one of the most famous and influential evangelical leaders of our time. He died on Friday 17 July, at age 93.
New ministry refreshment network launched online
Paul Coulter
Date posted: 1 Sep 2020
We’re tired. Zoom fatigue, confinement, and heightened awareness of death, on top of personal needs, have wearied us.
Christian leaders have faced additional challenges. Lockdown forced an urgent development of new forms of church gatherings and pastoral connections. Emerging from lockdown with social distancing means another rethink, while no one knows yet what the ‘new normal’ for church will be. This is a time of rebuilding.
The modern war on truth
Chris Wright
Date posted: 1 Jan 2020
Chris Wright discusses the ramifications of living in a society where lying is the norm
‘What is truth?’ asked Pontius Pilate. Jesus had just said: ‘Everyone who is on the side of truth listens to me’ (John 18:37-38).
defending our faith
Persuasive, not just loud
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 1 Jun 2020
While many churches have been engaging with social media and establishing an online presence, others among us have felt less enthusiastic for Facebook and Twitter. Such platforms have felt either intrusive or superficial and the concept of virtual church a contradiction in terms.
But all such thoughts are now pre-Covid. Since the virus, even the most technophobe among us have been mastering virtual backgrounds in Zoom and exchanging comments on Facebook Live. For better or worse, the church has fully embraced the Internet age. At Moorlands College we have shifted all our teaching online and my local church now has two Internet Sunday services along with a daily prayer meeting and weekly homegroups. Things will change again as the lockdown unwinds, but ministry will never be pre-Covid again.
AS FEAR GOES VIRAL…
Chris Wright
Date posted: 1 May 2020
‘If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you’ve never spent a sleepless night with a single mosquito.’ So runs a saying we learned while living in India. Tiny things punch way above their weight. And a virus is a lot smaller than a mosquito.
In fact, viruses are among the smallest life forms on our planet. Somewhere between 20–400 nanometres, 100 times smaller than bacteria, and too small to see even with a normal microscope. You’ll need an electron microscope to spot a coronavirus, or Covid-19, as we must now call it, like somebody out of Star Wars. But what an impact that infinitesimally small organism has made!
Discipline and the limits of authority
Andrew Carter
Date posted: 1 Apr 2020
Andrew Carter discusses smacking, abuse, power and liberty in modern society
In October of last year, it became a criminal offence in Scotland for a parent to smack their naughty child. The Welsh Assembly has recently voted for a similar ban and legislation will come into effect in Wales in 2022. In England, the law still allows a parent to smack their child providing they don’t use an implement or leave a mark.
Climate change & persecution?
Dominating the news during the Autumn and early New Year were the reports of ferocious bush fires sweeping across Eastern Australia.
Properties have been destroyed, people killed and from time to time, with high temperatures and strong winds, it was acknowledged that the situation was out of control.