Opinion

Can the secular media ever understand religion?  Why it's harder than it looks
Can the secular media ever understand religion? Why it's harder than it looks

What often seems to be lacking in how religion is spoken about in the secular media is any sense of how it's actually experienced in the lives of believers.

The politics of Christmas: How to listen to the unheard story
The politics of Christmas: How to listen to the unheard story

How you hear a story depends on what type of story you think you are hearing. You might also say that how you hear it depends on what you are looking for from the story.

Martyn Percy: Why the Church's response to the George Bell inquiry is so shocking
Martyn Percy: Why the Church's response to the George Bell inquiry is so shocking

"If one imagines for a moment that Bishop Bell were one's own father, the point is clearly made. If a system is not good enough for our own fathers, then it is not good enough for anyone." (para. 46, p. 12, Bishop George Bell Independent Review).

Sarah Mullally, like Justin Welby, is no theologian. The CofE is losing its nerve
Sarah Mullally, like Justin Welby, is no theologian. The CofE is losing its nerve

It could be argued that the appointments of Justin Welby, hailed for his experience in the oil industry but a bishop for less than two years when he was translated to Canterbury, and of Sarah Mullally, a former chief nursing officer who has been a suffragan bishop for two years before her translation to London, represent a failure of nerve in the Church of England.

Bishop Bell has been denied justice and the Church should admit it
Bishop Bell has been denied justice and the Church should admit it

Lord Carlile's review contains a damning catalogue of flawed practices and misjudgments which should be specifically addressed in the interests of integrity.

George Bell will be vindicated in spite of the Church of England

It is not a Macavity cat archbishop or a diocese struggling to escape a terrible reputation for failing to handle sex abuse that will vindicate Bell but history.

Why outsourcing your intelligence to Alexa is bad for the soul
Why outsourcing your intelligence to Alexa is bad for the soul

Alexa happily provides simple answers to even the most thorny of questions.

Roy Moore and the day my evangelicalism died

Liberal theology didn't kill my evangelicalism – evangelicalism did that all on its own.

Defining unity: What makes Anglicans Anglican anyway?
Defining unity: What makes Anglicans Anglican anyway?

The ordination of nine men into the new 'Anglican Mission in England' (AMiE) has highlighted divisions not only over sexuality but also different ideas of what it means to be genuinely 'Anglican'.

What does Roy Moore's defeat say to evangelicals?
What does Roy Moore's defeat say to evangelicals?

In the normal way of things, an election for a random US Senate seat would be of very little interest in the UK.

Why it's time to put 'We Three Kings' (and some other carols) in the bin
Why it's time to put 'We Three Kings' (and some other carols) in the bin

What a load of nonsense is written in some Christmas carols.

Why Tim Farron's wrong: There are shared values and they matter
Why Tim Farron's wrong: There are shared values and they matter

'Liberalism is eating itself.' With these widely reported and reviewed words a fallen Party leader – Tim Farron of the Liberal Democrats – has opened a debate over the future of faith and state in our post-Christian society.

What President Trump's Jerusalem proclamation means for Palestinians
What President Trump's Jerusalem proclamation means for Palestinians

Saying it is a united Jerusalem is a term with political implications, but on the ground it's hard to see Jerusalem declared as something it is not.

Why we should try Blue Planet living
Why we should try Blue Planet living

What David Attenborough and the incredible team at the BBC have done for us is provide us with a vision of what our seas and oceans should be like.

Power, abuse and the sense of entitlement
Power, abuse and the sense of entitlement

The language of entitlement is, first and foremost, the language of the rich and powerful. They have succeeded, and promote their entitlement to the full spoils of their triumph.

Ecclesiastes 3: The times they are a'changing
Ecclesiastes 3: The times they are a'changing

This passage is an extraordinarily beautiful summary of the optimistic view of the Christian life.