Opinion

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  Gafcon and women bishops: just a tiff or a real rift?

  There appears to be fresh difficulty brewing over the consecration of women as bishops in some parts of Gafcon

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  What can Harry Potter teach Christian preachers?

  Just eight miles separate two very different places of pilgrimage in Hertfordshire, north of London, where I serve as a Christian priest. One is St Albans Abbey. The other is the Harry Potter studios, where the eight blockbuster films were made. Both declare the power of 'the story' – but which, I wonder, resonates more with our 21st century culture?

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  As ageism in society increases, we as Christians need to re-discover the value of being older

  As Christians, we are often guilty of not valuing and plumbing the depths of the older saints around us. We don't call on their wisdom or lean on their prayer enough and perhaps if we did that more, our attitudes towards ageing would begin to shift.

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  A new Channel 4 documentary offers some worrying insights into people's attitudes to sex today

  Sex Actually, a new series on Channel 4, claims to explore what sex really means to people these days by following couples who livestream themselves in the act for money. But not so long ago, society had a word to describe this sort of behaviour ⎼ prostitution.

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  After the Church in Wales' same-sex vote, what options are open to evangelicals?

  Rev Peter Jones, chairman of the Evangelical Fellowship in the Church in Wales

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  Why Boris' climate sermon at the UN was far too simplistic

  Like a bad sermon of the narrowest fundamentalist preacher, it all sounded so simple, so black and white. Which makes you wonder why the Prime Minister did not take on board that message in earlier years – when he was a climate change sceptic.

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  In this age of Twitter diatribes and angry exchanges, can Christians model something different?

  In today's increasingly partisan, intolerant and censoring society, if Christians want to maintain our freedoms to disagree and criticize, to argue and debate, and to hold out Christ as a hope for our world, we need to learn to do it well. Otherwise we may lose these freedoms altogether.

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  Abortion in the USA: What is happening in Texas?

  Abortion has raised deep and conflicting moral and constitutional questions in the US concerning the beginnings of life, personal freedom, and rights. And any constructive dialogue between the proponents of the two positions is almost impossible.

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  If politicians can't stand up for Rosie Duffield, surely the Church should

  In the beginning God made us male and female. A man is an adult human male; a woman is an adult human female. If our politicians can't say that, can our church leaders?

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  In allowing gender dysphoric children to 'decide' treatment for themselves, is society abdicating its duty of care?

  At so many levels, the Keira Bell judgment raises concern.

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  What should we make of the Church in Wales' gay marriage blessings?

  The Church is indeed divided. But the division is not between old and new, but between a secularised sub-Christianity that prioritises sex, romance and the human appetite, and an orthodox Christianity contoured by the Bible, tradition and the Holy Spirit rather than a secular spirit.

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  If assisted suicide is legalised, will conscience be protected?

  Whatever path law reform takes, provision for freedom of conscience is likely to be included, but its effectiveness will depend on the social setting in which it is relied upon.