Peter Ould on February 3rd, 2010

Back in the summer I began a series examining the Biblical passages around homosexual behaviour with a view to approaching the texts afresh to explore whether some of theology that I currently have was in any sense assumptive. You can read the first four parts of this series by clicking the links on the right [...]

Continue reading about Sexuality and Slavery – Part Five

Peter Ould on February 2nd, 2010

The Telegraph (via Martin Beckford) has it all!
Benedict XVI claimed that legislation introduced by Labour to end discrimination “actually violates natural law” because it stopped worshippers remaining true to their beliefs.
Rather than making society more equal, the Government’s new rules limited religious freedom, he said.
His strongly [...]

Continue reading about Go the Pope!

Peter Ould on February 1st, 2010

I have a dictaphone taped to my stomach as I arrive at Lynne’s large house, north of London. She had told me beforehand that she would charge me £40 per session and that she always prayed at the beginning and end of the sessions. I’m shown [...]

Continue reading about Ex-Gay “Expose” in the Independent

Peter Ould on January 23rd, 2010

The Bishops (below) have asked Peers to vote in favour of three amendments to the Equality Bill in place of the Government’s compromise amendment. Let me spell out what the different amendments (and the current text) mean.
The first amendment (98) reads as follows.
Page 165, line 5, leave out “application is a proportionate means of complying” [...]

Continue reading about Understanding Monday’s Amendments

Peter Ould on January 23rd, 2010

Something of this kind has been hinted at over the past few weeks, but now it’s official.
A statement issued on behalf of the Rt Revd Michael Scott-Joynt, Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Michael Langrish, Bishop of Exeter and Chair of the Churches Legislation Advisory Service and the Rt Revd Peter Forster, Bishop of Chester, [...]

Continue reading about Church of England Officially Opposes the Equality Bill

Peter Ould on January 14th, 2010

Andrew Marin is writing some brilliant posts at the moment on his blog and here’s his latest on how he responds to those who accuse him of undermining the Gospel.
I do not hide the fact that, theologically, I believe in a traditional interpretation of Scripture. The difference that ultimately leads to others being ‘concerned that [...]

Continue reading about Marin on the Uncomfortableness of Real Mission

Peter Ould on January 14th, 2010

Simon Sarmiento at Thinking Anglicans has highlighted the fact that the Government has tabled in the Lords an amendment to the Equality Bill which would essentially cave into the position held by the Church of England that churches must be free to employ key workers in line with orthodox doctrine.
The amendment would change the wording [...]

Continue reading about Is the Government Backing Down on the Equality Bill?

Peter Ould on January 13th, 2010

I’ve not blogged a lot on the Equality Bill currently going through the UK Parliament, mainly because I haven’t had much to say. There’s also very good coverage on Thinking Anglicans (and very poor opinion in the comments) which is keeping most people up to date with what’s going on.
In the last few days I’ve [...]

Continue reading about Christians and Caesar – Engaging with Issues of Equality

Peter Ould on January 6th, 2010

A new video from Andrew Marin today (click here to see it) and a very interesting comment afterwards:
But the main difference that stuck out to me though, was that from the numbers of straight conservative Christians I talked to in England about the gay community I continued to receive two profound answers that were very [...]

Continue reading about Marin on the UK Situation

Peter Ould on January 5th, 2010

As I’ve mentioned before, Andrew Marin is coming to the UK around Easter time for Spring Harvest. He was last here in 2009 and he’s just begun publishing an interesting series of videos he recorded during that trip to Blighty. Here’s the first, together with his comments.
I will be extrapolating on the broader overviews I took away [...]

Continue reading about Andrew Marin in the UK