Opinion

France\'s presidential election is too close to call. What should pastors tell their congregations?
France's presidential election is too close to call. What should pastors tell their congregations?

Mainstream political groups in France look adrift. Both the left and centre/right-wing presidential primaries produced winners that defied the polls. Both are now in serious trouble.

This is the real problem with Sean Spicer\'s Hitler analogy
This is the real problem with Sean Spicer's Hitler analogy

There' s a handy debating tool called Godwin's Law that Sean Spicer, Donald Trump's press secretary, really ought to look up.

Why the Church in Egypt is still the hope of the world
Why the Church in Egypt is still the hope of the world

As those of us who have regularly passed through Westminster on our way to work or just for a visit know, to have been close to the site of an horrific terrorist attack is always unnerving.

Why it\'s time to stop mis-using \'For such a time as this\'
Why it's time to stop mis-using 'For such a time as this'

Christians love to reappropriate lines of Scripture as if they were simply idioms to be quoted as popular wisdom or pinned to a fridge door.

If there was no Resurrection, we\'re following a dead Christ
If there was no Resurrection, we're following a dead Christ

A survey conducted by the BBC suggests that 21st-century Brits might be even more open to the idea of resurrection than 1st-century Greeks.

Easter eggs and the end of Christendom: Why we need to be careful which ditch we die in
Easter eggs and the end of Christendom: Why we need to be careful which ditch we die in

When is the right time for us as Christians to protest and when should we just get on with life?

The Lucky Number that gets you to Heaven: Revelation 15
The Lucky Number that gets you to Heaven: Revelation 15

Continuing David Robertson's Revelation series: In this weeks chapter (Revelation 15) we hear about seven angels, seven plagues, and seven golden bowls.

The Lib Dem Leader says UK Christians have to pretend not to have faith. But is Tim Farron right?
The Lib Dem Leader says UK Christians have to pretend not to have faith. But is Tim Farron right?

Farron said, 'In America you've got to invent a faith to be taken seriously; in the UK you have to pretend not to have one. You shouldn't be ashamed.' Cue breathless reporting about Farron proclaiming that Christians aren't taken seriously.

The Mail's 'Legs-it' headline is disturbing, but are we doing that much better in the Church?

We should be deeply concerned by the subtle and quite frankly not-so-subtle messages underlying yesterday's lead story.

Britain is getting out of the EU – here's what Christians must do now

The church is a declining body of power and influence in British life. We often see that as a bad thing, but I'm not sure that's always the case. Being increasingly on the outside of public life, we have an opportunity to be prophetic to the centre, to speak truth to power.

I\'m glad Alexander Blackman is to be freed – and I\'m glad he went to jail
I'm glad Alexander Blackman is to be freed – and I'm glad he went to jail

Alexander Blackman – 'Marine A' – has been sentenced to seven years for diminished responsibility manslaughter. He could be free in weeks.

Christianity – why our faith is the radical alternative to terror
Christianity – why our faith is the radical alternative to terror

Christianity is a complete antidote and antithesis to terror. There is a double radicalism here. Our means are peaceful and Christ-like. And we do not aim to annihilate whatever is not us, but to be reconciled to it.

Collateral damage: how factional fighting in the Church damages us all
Collateral damage: how factional fighting in the Church damages us all

At times, it can feel to those of us in the middle of internecine Christian conflicts as though our faith is collateral damage. We stand in the middle of the infighting and find our joy being sucked away by the brickbats going back and forth.

Someone in Sinn Fein needs to fill the void left by Martin McGuinness
Someone in Sinn Fein needs to fill the void left by Martin McGuinness

Whatever you think of Martin McGuinness he was a major driver in our peace process. There is little doubt that the Republican shift from violence to the peace process was a strategic move of the mind.

Philip North and Jeffrey John: A Church that is more \'via muddle\' than \'via media\'
Philip North and Jeffrey John: A Church that is more 'via muddle' than 'via media'

The Church of England and Church in Wales need to decide what they believe. It has become easier to appoint people who are slightly less clear on contentious issues, appeasers of different views, rather than teachers of truth – for in today's Anglicanism, it turns out the truth is unclear.

Why Christians cannot afford to bury their talents in the fight against climate change
Why Christians cannot afford to bury their talents in the fight against climate change

We have a moral duty to invest in solutions to burning problems. When it comes to climate change, it just so happens that the solutions can also have a positive impact on our wealth – and ignoring them could put our investments at great risk.