Bože! independent catholic ideas, identity & theology
OC/IC Theology – Social Justice
A Missed Opportunity For Unanimity
I was stunned to discover this morning that according to this Pew Forum On Religion & Public Life study – barely a quarter of Christians in the US believe that the torture of terrorist suspects is never justified. Have I missed a basic tenet of Christian belief and praxis that says it is acceptable to [...]
Personhood, Worth, Speculating God
In a post two weeks ago I raised the question of when personhood begins. Andrew Brown, writing for the Guardian the other day describes a debate between the secular philosopher John Harris, and Professor David Jones of St. Mary’s College (Roman Catholic) which raised an even more useful (and perhaps even more unanswerable) question: what [...]
Movement Within The Movement: Common Cause At Christmas
There are various ways that we “commune” with people not physically present at liturgical celebrations – and by this I mean that we establish, or re-enforce our relationship with them – this is, afterall what sacramentalism is all about – connecting with another. Inspired by Jordan Stratford’s recent posting of the Advent Conspiracy vid on [...]
Looking Toward The Feast
It’s that time of year again – when our community here in London starts looking at which charity we’re going to highlight and make a contribution to for the feast of the Nativity. It’s been our custom for a number of years now to pick one or two and share their work with you – [...]
Witches Made Me Do Theology . . . Differently
Last night I watched a very sad report on Channel 4 documenting the plight of children in Nigeria who are tortured, shunned, and even killed because “Christian” evangelists accuse them of being witches. Before I delve into some of the other thoughts this raised for me I would like to encourage you to click here, [...]
It’s Life . . . . But Perhaps Not As We Now Conceptualise It
This morning we had an interesting conversation about aspects of Colorado’s Proposition 48, defining “personhood” as the moment of conception, which was (I think I read this right) defeated by a 3:1 margin in yesterday’s election. When does “life” begin? My geneticist other half made the comment that – strictly speaking, the genetic code is [...]
Gay "Marriage" – Seeing Relationships In A New Light?
This morning I watched the most recent clips from PBS’ Religion & Ethics Weekly which I often enjoy. In this week’s batch is this report on the challenge faced by Christian communities in California now that gay “marriage” is legal. One point raised in the interviews got me thinking, on the topic in a way [...]
My Kingdom Is Not of This World: An Imperfect Reflection on the Olympic Torch Relay
Over the past few days I’ve been watching with interest the protests facing the Olympic torch as it went from Greece, to London, to Paris, and yesterday to San Francisco. This weekend, prior to its arrival in London, a number of public figures, including Steve Redgrave, spoke out against the protests saying that sport should [...]
Lent
I know that most of the regulars here follow the western liturgical cycle rather than the eastern. As you are coming to the end of Lent, and me and my community are getting ready to enter it, I’m curious – what has been your individual lenten discipline, and what did you gain from it, and [...]
Communion & War – A Question For Reflection
There is an interesting post at The Anglican Scotist which while I confess I’ve not finished reading it, and it is (obviously) related to a point of Anglican thought; and not being an Anglican I feel it would be rude to intrude; but it started me thinking . . . . The basic question is [...]
Late Antique Pagan Theory Determines Contemporary "Christian" Theology – Bullocks to that!
Yesterday the leader of the Roman Catholic community in England and Wales spoke out against an upcoming reform that would allow lesbian women access to IVF treatment. Decrying it as “profoundly wrong” and a move to undermine the traditional family – namely the role of fatherhood, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor joins the Anglican Bishop of Rochester [...]
850 is a Magic Number
We only need $850 to fully fund three grass roots education projects in three deprived areas in Virginia, Chicago, and Washington DC. If fully funded these projects directly help over 150 students! You can choose which of the tree projects you want to support by clicking here. **** OK . . .I’m soo mathematically challenged [...]
A Challenge To My Fellow OC/IC Readers
The vast majority of readers here at Bože! hail from the US. Which, when you consider the number of OC/IC folk in the US compared with here in the UK makes sense. Thanks to a recent blurb on Blogger I’ve been put on to a neat grass roots program that funds educational projects in the [...]
Under-reported Issues
During this year’s Great Fast I wrote Porn & Suffering a reflection on human trafficking and the sex trade. Recently I’ve become aware of two campaigns that I think are worth highlighting within our community – given that we OC/IC folk are historically interested in social justice issues. The first is a London based camapign [...]
Episcopal Endorsements Of Political Partisans
There’s a very interesting discussion arising in a number of places including: Fr. Chris’ , Pastor Bob Cornwall’s, and “EcuBishop”‘s blogs about the appropriatness of religious figures endorsing, or being seen to endorse political candidates. Hmmm . . . . I’ve been thinking about this for the past day now, and I must confess I’ve [...]
Porn & Suffering
Male or female, straight or gay, you’ve no doubt seen pornography at some point in your life. If the statistics are correct, 90% of internet users view porn on their computers, included in that percentage is at least a proportion of those 64% of users who use the net for religious and spiritual purposes. Does [...]