Gambling - new perspective from the secular press

This blog has been one of the few parts of the media to question the recent headlong rush into "socially responsible" gambling.

The Methodist Church itself has hopelessly compromised its position and even has a representative, Rachel Lampard, on the Gambling Commission.

However change may soon be upon us. The Edinburgh Evening News reports:

Detectives investigating the murder of 81-year-old Valerie Rockall and the suicide of her son Brian, 43, in Dean Village on Monday night believe his gambling habit may be at the root of the tragedy.

They suspect a row may have broken out after she discovered he was gambling away her benefit money as he desperately tried to make good his losses.

Although clearly at the extreme end of what gambling can lead to, the terrible events nevertheless serve to highlight how gamblers' lives can spiral out of control.

Sadly, as this blog has shown in the past, such tragedies are all too common. What is different here is that the Evening News has picked up the story and started to ask the right questions about the application of the 2005 Gambling Act. This has seen an explosion in the opportunities to bet and with it problems for thousands of vulnerable people.

What is particularly disturbing about the Evening News report is the quote attributed to Andy Todd a support worker for gambling addicts:

"Bookmakers are opening longer than before, people can go to a club and then on to a casino with a late licence, and they can also gamble on the internet. The Act came in in September 2007, so it's very much in its infancy, but I think we are at the tip of the iceberg.

"In that short space of time, we have seen more people with problems associated with traditional forms of gambling, like bookmakers, and also people coming forward more with internet problems."

As well as the effects of the changes in the law, support groups also expect to be trying to pick up the pieces of more people's lives in the coming months as the effects of the recession bite.

"We have already had people reporting they have increased their gambling during the recession to cover rent, mortgage repayments, food, bills," says Mr Todd.

"It's not the best way to cover your daily household bills, but some people see it as a way of making easy money.

"If you can spend £10 on a roulette wheel and win £500, that's very attractive to people."

I have it on good authority that British Methodism is unable to question the progress of the application of the 2005 Gambling Act as this would hurt Ms Lampard's feelings. Surely it is time for us to move on and become more robust in our concerns?

I will still go for organic

A good few people will be disappointed by the findings of a Food Standards Agency study which claims that organic food is no more nutritious than conventionally produced food.

We went organic - as far as is possible given supply and cost - when I went into my local supermarket to see poster saying "wash fruit and vegetables to remove residues of chemicals used to assist growth". Whilst it is always advisable to wash any fruit and veg, I found the poster disturbing, especially as I had three small children.

At about that time a neighbour had started an organic box scheme. Each week he would deliver a selection of organic fruit and veg brought from various organic farms in the West Midlands, many of which were in my constituency of Shropshire, Hereford and Worcestershire.

This does not mean that I am against conventional farming. We rely on the use of intensive farming methods which will include the use of chemical fertiliser to ensure a regular supply of fruit and vegetables to feed our urban population.

Nor does it mean that I regard non-organic fruit and veg as being harmful: on the contrary, over recent years the big supermarket chains have been anxious to improve and upgrade the quality of their produce.

However organic production provides an important counterpoint to conventional methods by providing a different reference point. True organic farming sees the land in a different way and this has, over the years, had a profoundly beneficial impact on the wider farming community and the methods employed.

I'm walking it off

Over the next few days I will be strolling around the Lake District. If I get near a computer I may post and will moderate any submitted comments. If not I'll be back on Thursday full of beans.

Climate change due to nature say boffins

A couple of weeks ago this blog got into hot water for daring to suggest that the Methodist Church had over-reacted to claims that variations in global temperature may be down to nature rather than human activity.

Those of us who were a little more cautious in both our scientific and theological conclusions were described as "sinners" by no less a person than the the Reverend David Gamble, President of the Methodist Conference. As I have shown elsewhere, daring to challenge this extreme position leads to a great deal of abuse from people who should know better

Now I have absolutely no scientific qualifications, not even a GCSE, my theology is limited, having come from my studies as a local preacher, so I am dependent on others to help me understand the issue.

However, another day, another scientific peer review. The respected Journal for Geophysical Research has just published a rather unhelpful paper from three scientists: J. D. McLean Applied Science Consultants, Croydon, Victoria, Australia; C. R. de Freitas, School of Geography, Geology and Environmental Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; and, R. M. Carter, Marine Geophysical Laboratory, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.

They argue that the variations in mean global temperature which have alarmed other scientists during the last 50 years have been caused by natural phenomena.

Now it may be that all three scientists have been paid vast sums of money as part of a global cover up conspiracy by the petroleum industry. On the other hand, it may be that different scientists are saying different things. Read what they say for yourself.

Whatever the cause of changing climate I still know that the ownership and control of economic systems have a detrimental impact on many of the poorest people on God's earth. We shouldn't need the fashionable hobby horse of climate change to address those injustices.

Just imagine that Methodism in 2009 could be wrong about climate change, in which case the climate change argument will turn out to have been a red herring and the injustices will remain.

Meanwhile, please don't call me and others as "sinners" on the basis of a scientific theory that clearly does not command universal scientific respect.

I never read your blog!

Been a busy week and I am winding down for a well earned summer break.

One of the more fascinating aspects of blogging is that I keep on meeting people who tell me that they never read my blog.....but then seem to be experts on its tone and content.

My sitemeter tells me that I have a fairly consistent and growing readership. This is all set to change: the Reverend Dave Warnock, someone whose comments have always been welcome and writes an interesting and challenging blog himself - known as 42 - has made the following announcement after a heated discussion on the Methodist Church embrace of the current theories on climate change:

I have not been back to that blog [that's this blog!] except to create the links above. I no longer track it or visit it.

I find that both strange and sad.

Earlier this week I had a private conversation with one of the people responsible for writing a report called Hope in God's Future It is about climate change and a week or so back created the hoo-ha that has resulted in Dave refusing to read this blog again. Myself and co-author didn't fall out: we are still talking!

Let me commend Dave Warnock's blog. He is obviously a committed Minister and a committed Christian. Every now and then he comes up with a real gem, so it is worth keeping an eye on his material. Sadly he will never read these comments!

On yer bike!

I'm having an enforced break in London at the moment. This morning for a whole saga of reasons I had to get a bicycle from South Ealing to Marylebone station - meaning that I rode a bike for the first time in nearly forty years!

Going through Ealing was almost pleasant. I went through some parks to Ealing Broadway. I was astonished that they allowed me to take the bike onto a train free of charge! No wonder I'm always tripping over the things as I make my way round the country.

Cycling in central London was not so pleasant. However as I saw the more sinful section of the population drive past in their carbon emitting cars I felt a glow of self righteousness. I haven't quite got the hang of the roads after all these years and I did get a torrent of four letter words from one of my fellow travellers. I shan't record my reply.

My goodness, I can still ride a bike. May do it again sometime.

Well, they made me smile......

I'm sure many of you have seen these before: alleged misprints and bloomers that appear in church bulletin sheets. Obviously from the US but they made me smile.

The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
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The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'
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Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
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Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say 'Hell' to someone who doesn't care much about you.
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Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
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Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
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For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
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Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
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Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
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A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.
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At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice
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Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
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Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
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Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
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The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.
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Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.
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The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
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This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
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Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B. S. Is done.
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The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the Congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
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Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.
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The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM.. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
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Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
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The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new campaign slogan last Sunday: 'I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours.

A church moving forward

It is amazing how God works. A few months ago we were all concerned about the future of our church. Yesterday evening we had a three hour, but absolutely positive, Church Council meeting.

Obviously I can't go into details - as Church Council Secretary I still have to write the minutes - but it was good to hear a torrent of good ideas to secure the financial, physical and spiritual life of the cause.

One point I would make: if readers know of anyone moving to Birmingham in the near future we'd be especially pleased to welcome them at City Road Methodist Church. We do have one or two contacts who may be able to help with accommodation in this inexpensive area. In the past we have had a witness to students, au pairs, immigrants and other newly arrived workers to the city.

In fact over a period of twenty years about thirty couples met and married at the Church, myself and Mrs MP included. Who needs speed dating when you have a barn dance, Mrs Smedley's famous cucumber and watercress sandwiches, and an opportunity to chat together over the washing up?

Several of our members have subsequently been ordained and the current Chair of the London Methodist District, Ermal Kirby, cut his ministerial teeth on us. Altogether an exciting and interesting church to join.

You can find us on the net at www.crmc-birmingham.org.uk, we have a group on facebook and a page on Friends Reunited.

One week ablogging

A sixth-former I know is keeping a blog about a week's work experience with the Christian Socialist Movement.

..and talking of blogging

Richard Vauntry the Vice President of Methodist Conference is a GP in real life and makes some interesting comments on the outbreak of swine flu on his blog today.

7000 in care children "lost"

Yesterday I focused on the 140 years of the National Children's Home, now known as Action for Children, Methodism's own charity for children and young people.

In this week's News of the World Clare Tickel of Action for Children reveals that during the last few years 7000 children "in care" have reportedly gone missing. She believes that many of them have been lured or trafficked into the sex industry.

Whilst these days there is a tendency to turn a "blind eye" to some aspects of the sex industry - massage parlours, saunas, and "therapeutic" centres - we should bear in mind that the women who are staffing these places are often young people who have been blackmailed or coerced into the business. Almost certainly some of these women are girls who have previously been in care and lost.

Locally we've had a lot of discussion. One massage parlour was the subject to a high profile police raid, other local brothels are advertised and publish quite explicit "customer reviews" on certain websites. I decided not to provide a link. One of my less savory acquaintances (I was a long standing colleague of his lovely wife) has made a fortune publishing a yearbook listing every brothel and the services provided in the country. There are no secrets about what happens in these places.

There seems to be two issues here.

The first is how we manage the care system. In the seventies and eighties there was a great deal of criticism of residential homes which were invariably seen as "bad". However both in the NCH and with local authorities I saw some first class examples of residential care. Social workers tell me terrible stories of children that just move from one foster parent to another, interspersed by abortive attempts to support a biological parent/child relationship that broke down many years ago.

The second is how we manage the sex industry. At present there is no management. A girl working in a massage parlour can be 16 and still technically in care. She could have been trafficked - some local newspapers carry advertisement "new girls just in from Eastern Europe", as if they are stock in a shop. Organised crime abounds with many brothels run by criminal gangs. On top of all that the places can harbour sexually transmitted infections.

In the old days the vice squad would seek out and close the places. Now we live in more permissive times.

If a blind eye is to be turned to Britain's growing sex industry then it would better to have a system of registration and inspection. These businesses currently operate just beyond the law with disastrous consequences for all involved. Perhaps it is time to think the unthinkable?

Another Birmingham Methodist blogger

I gather we now have another Birmingham Methodist blogger: the Reverend Chris Shannahan who blogs as "Believe in the City".

I must admit that I have never come across Chris whilst preaching in Birmingham for the last twenty five years, but that may reflect the silo effect of circuit boundaries.

I'm not certain what to make of his blog which is, as we say, wide ranging. I'll take an occasional look and add him to my "blogs I watch".

Just idle gossip?

Now here's an interesting piece of gossip that involves money, politics and Methodism.

Action for Children photo gallery

It isn't easy to find unless you know where to look, so here is a link to the Action for Children photo gallery currently featured on The Guardian site.

Action for Children is the new name for the National Children's Home, British Methodism's own charity for children and young persons. This year it celebrates 140 years of service since Thomas Bowman Stephenson, a Methodist Minister, opened the first home. There is more information, and more photos, about the history of Action for Children and NCH on their website.

I worked for the NCH in the 1980s and helped take it forward from a provider of residential accommodation to a campaigning organisation. It does a lot of good work and needs our support.

Letters in the Recorder

I took more than a usual interest in this week's letter page in the Methodist Recorder. Myself and former colleague Terry Wynn have had the opportunity to make two very important points - at least I think so.

There's also a good letter from David Leese who raises the issue of expenses within the Methodist Church - potentially dangerous stuff I can tell him!

Terry raises the issue of how churches and chapels present themselves to the outside world.

Our premises are often on corner sites, along busy roads, that is the sort of positioning I would give my right hand for in my commercial work. My solution would be that we get a national sign contractor to ensure a consistent corporate image. At the moment our external signage is something of a cottage industry. But read Terry's letter, he makes some good points.

My own letter is about the Methodist Church and membership of racist parties like the BNP.

Since writing to the Recorder I realise that very few active Methodists would know a single person who would consider voting or being an active member of the BNP. I have one or two acquaintances that I strongly suspect of BNP sympathies, but I wouldn't call them friends and rarely meet with them socially. Yet I live in a borough with several BNP councillors and the long connection with Methodism that I mention in my letter.

I can't make up my mind whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.

Does it mean that we are out of touch with a large section of the general public?

Or does it mean that we have such a postive influence on all we meet that no one within the social circles in which we circulate would even think of voting BNP?

Anyway here's my letter:

Many Methodists will welcome the news that the Methodist Conference has deemed membership of the British National Party incompatible with membership of a Methodist Church or Chapel.

However, as a denomination we may have a particular interest in this issue which goes beyond our natural abhorrance of racism.

The British National Party seems to be doing particualrly well in areas that historically Methodism has considered our own: the Potteries, parts of the Black Country, and the former industrial towns of the North of England.

Many put this down to the alienation of white working class voters from mainstream economic, social and culural life.

Perhaps we should ponder what role Methodism's dash to the suburbs has contributed to this alienation.

Just a generation or so ago Methodist Chapels provided an important stabilising influence and refuge in many working class communities. This is not the case today. Is there a link?

If so, what can we, as Methodists, do to mitigate the problem other than pass worthy declarations at our Conference?

Lord Kingsland - a tribute

I issued the following statement this morning after hearing of the sudden death of Christoper Prout, Lord Kingsland:

Christopher Prout and I share the honour of being the two people who represented Shropshire in the European Parliament whilst it was part of a single member seat.Christopher took the seat in 1979 and I contested his tenure in 1984, 1989 and 1994. I was always impressed by his strong personal support and deserved reputation as a first class member.

Although we were political opponents he was always polite and played fair. Very much a Tory gentleman of the old school and sometimes a little ill at ease with the brash Brussels bashing from the Conservative government in Westminster.

After my election in 1994 I found out just how hard he had worked to secure cash for Shropshire from the various European Union regional funds. Working closely with the excellent local authority officers they had devised an ingenious scheme that almost defied logic, but ensured that the poorest areas of Shropshire and Hereford benefitted from our membership of the European Union.

One tangible result of this was that many villages were able to use these funds to rebuild and refurbished their village halls and other social amenities.

Christopher Prout's greatest achievement was to lead the Conservative MEPs in the European Parliament into the mainstream centre right group dominated by the Christian Democrats. This gave them an influence and stature which enabled them to have a powerful impact on much legislation. It is ironic that this particular piece of good work has been undone during the last week.

I cannot comment on his work in the House of Lords though I am assured by friends who have worked with him there that he contributed to the same high standards he worked to in the European Parliament on behalf of the people of Shropshire.

Update: this tribute appeared in the Shropshire Star together with details of the Memorial Service.

If I am ever charged with murder.....

I don't expect to face a murder charge in the future, but if I were, I would ask Courtney Griffiths QC to lead my defence.

I see that Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia, now on trial in the Hague has made a similar wise choice.

A few years back I had to sit through an entire murder trial in connection with my work. For me it was an open and shut case - guilty as charged.

However Griffiths was the defence barrister. How he handled the case was jaw dropping. He took every piece of evidence apart with a forensic skill that the very best preacher can only envy.

No detail was to small, and he completely undermined the prosecution case. I can't post about some of the more sensitive issues, but I came to see, as the jury did, that the case wasn't as open and shut as we all thought.

Having read all I have about the charges against Taylor I'd like to see him jailed for life and the key thrown away. But with Courtney Griffiths acting as the defence....well I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Taylor eventually walks free.

Somewhere I still have Courtney Griffiths details. Just in case, you'll understand.

Warming to the Vice President of Conference

I'm beginning to warm to Richard Vauntrey the new Vice President of the Methodist Conference. He certainly seems to be putting some energy into his posts on the President's and Vice President's blog.

He highlighted this fascinating and sadly now unusual Methodist sensitivity to the issue of gambling:

At lunch time I went to the MHA lunch at Molineux, the home of Wolverhampton Wanderers, and had another photo shoot, this time with a Wolves scarf and an embarrassing woolly hat. The original idea had been to pose wearing a Wolves shirt but once we realised that it was sponsored by “sporting-bet” we decided this wasn’t a wise move for the President or Vice President of the Methodist Conference to do.

At present our reputation and policy on gambling has been outsourced to the Gambling Commission who give the impression that we have official representation among the Commissioners. Time somebody showed a little sensitivity there with a quiet word about the wording.

I shall be following Richard's posts with interest.

A reluctant decision

I launched this blog over two years ago as a Lentern witness. Over the succeeding months it became moderately successful within the limits that I had set for myself.

It is read and enjoyed by several people in my circuit and further afield. I've used it to raise several issues that have subsequently been taken up by the wider media. I have some evidence that it is beginning to change the terms of reference around how we handle certain issues within our Methodist family.

Occasionally it has created, or reflected, controversy. This is not a bad thing: I have my own agenda - who doesn't - and I have been pleased and impressed with the opportunities the blog has provided for myself and others.

From the start I was determined that there would be no censorship of the comments submitted by readers. Once or twice I have deleted comments when I felt that they were inappropriate or could cause offence, especially if they were defamatory or racist.

However, by and large, I have let discussions take their course.

Unfortunately, on a number of occasions, two or three individuals have taken advantage of the hospitality that this blog offers to those wishing to comment. On those occasions I have been concerned by the increasingly shrill attacks and very unpleasant personal comments against both myself and other contributors.

Once again this was confined to just one or two people, all of whom, astonishingly, are ordained Ministers and have their own blogs where they can write what they like within the law and their service provider's licensing agreement.

I have spoken to other experts in digital and social media, outside of Methodism, who tell me that this sort of behaviour is normal: one or two individuals get it into their heads that they have a mission to set you on the the right path and no amount of reasoning or politeness will answer their continued attacks.

Eventually it becomes personal and unpleasant as we have seen on this blog in recent days and during other discussions such as the ill thought out comments of the Archbishop of Canterbury on sharia law. The only course of action, so I am told by other more experienced bloggers and specialists in social media, is to simply block the perpetrators, even if they start a thread by commenting on the most innocuous subject.

So taking everything into consideration, having had a number of complaints from readers who dislike the tone of some of the comments posted (including an official at Methodist Church House), and recognising the obvious legal risk of allowing comments to appear unchecked, I have taken the decision that, for the foreseeable future, comments will be moderated.

This is in line with most national newspaper blogs, BBC online and even the blog of the President and Vice President of Methodist Conference (more about that tomorrow!). This is a decision I have been reluctant to take, but at the end of the day, this blog is my responsibility and that extends to the nature of the comments left by readers.

Some comments will be taken on their merit. Others on the basis of their authorship.

Vive la France!

My favourite scene from my favourite film. Happy Bastille Day to all my French friends

Climate change - an impossible debate

Those who have watched these pages in recent days may have shared my concern to find that rational debate about climate change is now impossible - even in the miniscule British Methodist blogsphere.

Apparently, putting an alternative view, at the bottom line makes one an "arse" or a fool.

This morning George Monbiot in the Guardian Comment is Free feature points to the impossibility of rational debate:

On the Guardian's environment site in particular, and to a lesser extent on threads across the Guardian's output, considered discussion is being drowned in a tide of vituperative gibberish. A few hundred commenters appear to be engaged in a competition to reach the outer limits of stupidity. They post so often and shout so loudly that intelligent debate appears to have fled from many threads, as other posters have simply given up in disgust. I've now reached the point at which I can't be bothered to read beyond the first page or so of comments. It is simply too depressing.

I know how Monbiot feels. He places responsibility for this state of affairs in the hands of corporate organisations blogging anonymously. Something which I don't do and for which I occasionally feel the heat. As far as I can see, none of the contributors to this site are employed by any big corporations (except the Methodist Church). I earn not a penny from my blogging - in fact I have a little evidence that it deters some of my potential customers. But we still have the same problems of which Monbiot complains.

Over the years I've found a number of issues which seem to attract the nutters. These are people who just like an argument for the sake of having an argument. For example many sincere people have views on foxhunting and fluoridation of water, but having a rational debate with any of the parties involved quickly becomes immersed in the type of personal gibberish of which Monbiot complains.

Until the last few days I hadn't realised just how far the climate change debate had become part of this genre.

My advice to David Gamble, the President of Methodist Conference, who started this recent discussion by declaring that we should "repent" of our "sin" in relation to climate change, is that perhaps he should tread with greater care in this debate. He should read carefully what Monbiot says.

Incidentally, can't help feeling that someone in the Communications Department at Church House should have had a quiet word with David Gamble before releasing his statements. Down at the Dog and Duck anyone using words like "repent" and "sin" on a whole range of subjects would be considered as something of an eccentric who could be ignored. But then I don't suppose we want the clientele of the Dog and Duck to hear what Methodism has to say. Or do we?

In the future this blog will confine itself to pointing out that there are alternative views on climate change, that the issues of social and economic injustice exist irrespective of climate change and so need addressing, and that British Methodism has slightly higher priorities, nearer to home, with which we should grapple.

The day I ceased to be a pacifist

There arn't many people who can explain how and when they ceased to be a pacifist. I am one such person.

Today's moving and painful article in The Independent on Sunday reminded me of the course of events that changed my philosophy and even to a small extent how I expressed my faith.

I had been elected to the European Parliament in 1994. One issue I could not miss was that of the terrible things that had happened in Bosnia. I have mentioned before a terrible moment when I met the full force of the evil at work in Bosnia:

"I remember a Muslim woman from Tuzla, a Muslim community in the former Yugoslavia, visiting me in my office in Brussels way back in 1995. She told me something of the breakdown of civil society. For some reason I had to leave my office to meet a visiting delegation. When I returned I suggested we (myself and my research assistant, a young woman) prayed for her and her family.

When we finished praying her face was awash with tears. "No Christian has ever prayed for me", she sobbed.

Afterwards my research assistant explained that while I was out of the room the woman mentioned that she had been seriously sexually assaulted by Serbian soldiers who she knew to be Christians because they were wearing crucifixes"

"No Christian has ever prayed for me"

A few weeks later the town of Sebrenica was surrounded by the Serbs. There was a tiny force of ill equipped and out numbered Dutch soldiers, supposedly part of a European peace mission.

The Dutch did not have the stomach for a fight. Neither did the rest of Europe. I well remember the impaasioned speech by a young Green MEP Alexander Langer. He pleaded with the Parliament to dio something, anything to help the people of Sebrenica. He pointed to the sheer evil that was about to unfold. Some of us, breaking party lines, supported his motion calling for military intervention. It was probably the first time in my life I had supported the use of violence.

For Alexander, who had become the voice of Sebrenica, the stress was too much. The weekend after his resolution was defeated, he hung himself. A good man who still had much to give.

A few days later we saw the men and women of Sebrenica being seperated. The men were taken to their deaths, the women because homeless widows.

That is why I am no longer a pacifist, much as I respected good men like Donald Soper, I realised that there were times when the military option was the only option available.

Please read the Independent article. This happened about 600 miles from where I am sitting now. The problem is that I and thousands of others did just that, we sat.

Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone

In recent days I have carried two posts on the issue of climate change. One in response to the suggestion that "sin" is the cause of climate change. The other an open ended question about the non-Christian spirituality which seems to be attaching itself to the issue.

I personally am aware that climate can change and may be undergoing one of its recurrent changes at the moment. I have no evidence to suggest that any climate will stay the same indefinitely - and neither has anyone else.

Some cite the plight of those who live in developing countries. Those problems have been with us for generations. The solutions are far deeper and far more costly than focusing on climate change and the fantasy that humankind is powerful enough to control the weather.

Like any other member of the Methodist Church I am entitled to express my view, as are others who comment on this blog.

No one is forced to read my ideas. If they disagree they are free to say so. I rarely censor comments.

In recent days however I have been taken aback by the sheer ferocity of the attacks on myself and others from a handful of Ministers, all active bloggers. I think the pits were reached when I was described as an "arse".

These people try to portray me as someone who doesn't care for the plight of the poor and the powerless. That they somehow have a monopoly of righteousness.

Let me tell you I joined a trades union when I was 16. I have been involved in industrial disputes and stood my ground on picket lines. I demonstrated against the war in Vietnam, Aparthied in South Africa, and actively worked for the liberation of Zimbabwe.

I supported the miners as their livelihoods and communities were destroyed. I backed asylum seekers long before it was fashionable. I have taken on the rich and powerful and have known defeat and sometimes victory.

I have been spat at, beaten up by police, soldiers and racists, had bullets whizzing around me in the Ardoyne, threatened, lost jobs, been subject to press harassment, betrayed, dragged before the courts (on one occasion by the gambling industry) and spent many, many hours trudging the streets arguing for the cause in which I have believed since my conversion.

The personal abuse of a handful of blogging Ministers. Methodists or URC, is hardly going to make me change my mind or cower me into silence. They should bear in mind that Methodist Preacher may hold his views just as deeply and with as much sincerity as they do.

Global warming - an alternative spirituality?

Over the years I've always been a little wary of anything that seems to worship the creation rather than the Creator.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s I thoroughly investigated the so called "new age" movements and recognised how far their spirituality goes into a pre-Christian paganism. At one level it seems very harmless apart from taking the focus off the Great Transaction of the cross - but then so does fanatical support for Leyton Orient, a love of money or even Church politics.

This "new age" found political expression in the various "green" movements - not all of whom, incidentally, are necessarily on the political left. At that point no one - I mean this - no one, mentioned global warming. The focus seemed to be on preserving creation because creation should in itself be the centre of our life and worship.

But scratch a lot of "new age" paganism and a different picture can - not always - but can, emerge. I found in free and easy "new age" bookshops apparently respected publications that advocated child sacrifice. The more I learnt about Nazism, the more I saw that their ideology - the worship of Woden, the Sun God, and Thor - owed more to paganism than it ever did to Christianity.

Outcomes

So that is where I am coming from as I write this piece this morning. May I preface my remarks by making it clear that I am not suggesting that any regular readers or contributor to this blog would advocate child sacrifice or support Nazi paganism. What I am saying though, is that anything that smacks of worship of the creation rather than the Creator begins a spiritual process that can have some dangerous outcomes.

Earlier this week I dared to contradict David Gamble our newly inducted President of Methodist Conference for his suggestion that we should "repent of the sins" that contribute to climate change. This posting was even taken up on another Methodist blog that rarely links or accepts links from Methodist Preacher.

Both posts led to very lively discussions. What has surprised me is the absolutely certainty, verging on fanaticism, of some of the contributions. In other places, those of us who are mildly sceptical of what looks increasingly like hysteria, are called "climate change deniers", placing us in the same mad and bad category of those who deny the Holocaust! When the discussion gets to that level we need to take a deep breath and start counting to ten.

It now feels that nobody has any right to question the so called "scientific consensus". Anyone who does is clearly in the pay of the extreme right, the oil companies, international capitalism or whatever. But for the record, no one pays me.

Wisdom

I will give you an example of what this misleading propaganda can do. When I joined the European Parliament I believed the then current wisdom that every time I used a few pieces of paper I had somehow deprived the world of another tree in the Amazon. I was going to support massive recycling schemes in order to protect those trees. That was my contribution to bio-diversity and protecting the planet's supply of fresh air. We have had references to saving on paper on this blog in recent comments.

One day I had a visit from representatives of the various wood producers across Scandinavia. Their opening line was "why do you want to move jobs from rural Scandinavia to the urban heartlands of Europe?" That question came as a bit of a shock. I followed up their claim and found that Amazon rain forest wood is hardly used in the production of paper. Europe has sustainable forests that can supply as much paper as we need for as long as we need. Recycled paper creates work in urban areas paid for job losses in rural areas.

There are good reasons for not dumping paper into landfill, never mind "greenhouse gases". It also makes economic sense for a country such as Britain to recycle where it can in order to help our balance of payments. But don't let us accept the fantasy that by recycling paper we are saving endangered species in the rain forests.

Print

Methodist Church please read carefully: we can print all the hymn books and all the conference agendas we need and the impact on the world's non-renewable resources are negligible. When they cut down a tree in Scandinavia, providing much needed work of local people, within a few years the trees grow all over again and will do into the foreseeable future. Don't underestimate the Creator's creation. We are not "sinning" by using paper.

One contributor to my earlier thread assured us that climate change was a matter of great concern to the wider membership of the Methodist Church. I can only speak as one who preaches across one circuit. I don't find this concern. I know that people are desperately worried about the recession, there is a concern about immigration and asylum, there is a worry about the continuing war in Afghanistan.

Outside of the Church - please remember that I knock on doors for a political party and move assignments every few months - I don't find people concerned about climate change. What I do find is a growing groan about the issues of immigration and diversity. Not everyone shares the charitable view of us Methodists towards asylum seekers, many of whom we have welcomed into our churches and chapels.

Absolute

So I have a concern that we are becoming far less questioning and inquisitive about the "scientific consensus" of climate change than we are even of Scripture. Some of the absolute certainty that has been expressed on this blog and in other places makes me fear that concern about climate change will replace our priority to proclaim the Gospel. It borders dangerously on being a new religion, akin to a pagan "new age".

With a resurgent extreme right, a deep recession, growing numbers of problem gamblers, town centres inaccessible due to binge drinking, record levels of sexually transmitted diseases, growing exploitation of the most marginal parts of the labour force and much more, I feel the Methodist Church has enough on our plates without labeling people "sinners" for being skeptical about a fashionable hysteria and then devaluing the use of the word "repent".

As we tuck into our five-a-day

Worth a read, and a reminder that cheap food comes at a price - that someone else bears:

Foreign fruit pickers are taking home as little as £45 a week at a company which provides some of Britain's largest supermarkets with thousands of tonnes of fruit, an investigation by The Independent has found.

S&A Produce, which supplies both Tesco and Sainsbury's, employs thousands of eastern Europeans who are given a specific work visa allowing them to work for the company. They are attracted by the prospect of earning up to £200 a week by picking fruit on its farms in Herefordshire and Kent.

The workers are officially paid the minimum wage of £5.74, a comparatively high sum for foreign nationals who often have an average annual income of less than £3,000 in their own countries. But employee pay slips obtained by The Independent show that the real hourly rate for the company's fruit pickers often amounts to less than half the minimum wage once a series of obligatory charges has been deducted.

Methodist Conference bans BNP

My lunch break trawl through today's emails brought me the welcome news that the Methodist Conference has formally agreed membership of the BNP is incompatible with membership of the Methodist Church.

Over the years I have encountered some racist comments within Methodist churches but am not aware of anyone with dual BNP/Methodist members.

It seems a lifetime away from that difficult year when we elected that lovely man Leon Murray as our Vice President and he received very nasty letters which the President tore up in front of our eyes. On one occasion Leon found a church he was due to visit shut because superglue had been inserted in the lock.

Today's news will have a symbolic value, even if it will not impact on many individuals. The areas where the BNP are doing well - the Potteries, parts of the Black Country, the industrial towns of the North - are exactly those areas that have seen their thriving working class Methodist culture and heritage contract.

If there is one strong driver for a renewed sense of Methodist evangelism it should be the realisation that without Jesus people do some dangerous things, including casting their votes for the BNP.

Conference and business ethics

I've just spent part of my well earned lunchbreak filling in an online form connected with today's Methodist Conference debate on ethics in the workplace.

The assumption seems to be that those of us in work face ethical dilemmas - how can the Church help?

Well actually ethical problems are just one part of it. The biggest problem that those in employment face is stress. These may have ethical dimensions, but the modern workplace, be it in public service or private industry has changed a great deal over the last ten to twenty years.

Obviously the Church should help those in employment and business confront ethical issues, but Conference time may be better spent working out how we support those of us in work handle that stress.

One glaringly obvious support would be to assure us that the staff the Church employ are well trained and well managed. I see behaviour and practises in the Methodist Church that just would not be tolerated in any other workplace.

I know I bang on about this but in recent years I feel that my tithe has been wasted in employing people who are frankly unemployable. So why do we keep them on? Employed people see this state of affairs, realise that its a bad witness, and back away from the Church.

So before we start lecturing the world on employment ethics, let's look at how we behave in our own organsiation - and employing people who are not up to the job is not ethical behaviour.

Toothless watchdog

Regular readers will not be surprised to hear that Gambling Compliance News contains the latest nugget:

The Gambling Commission’s long-awaited report into the impact of high-stake, high-prize gaming machines on problem gambling has recommended no immediate action be taken - a conclusion that has satisfied the UK’s bookmakers.

Earlier this year the Methodist Church took a principled stand on the issue of high stake gaming machines in clubs and pubs. What was omitted from that debate is that these high stake machines are already in situ on every high street at betting shops and amusement arcades. If readers don't believe me, just call in when you are next out shopping. Am I the only Methodist who ever sets foot in a betting shop?

It really is time for the Church to prod the Gambling Commission into taking some action to protect the families of problem gamblers. The more opportunities to gamble, the greater the problem.

Meanwhile the bookies are delighted - thanks to the inaction of the ineffectual Gambling Commission. Perhaps it is all those free lunches?

Welcome to the house of sin

Thankfully the Methodist Conference in Wolverhamptong hasn't set the world's media alight this year. When it does it is normally a negative story.

However a daft press release has just landed in the "in-box". I hope it doesn't get any coverage and thats not intended to discourage our excellent team in the press office.

Apparently leading our lives, making the best use of God's resources, working to feed our kids is now a "SIN".

Based on dubious science we are now going to have to start beating ourselves and everybody else up as the world spins on its axis and climate gradually changes as it has for centuries.

If you want to see what I mean just go onto http://www.streetmap.co.uk/ and type in the word "vineyard". England was once a much hotter place that it is today and is shown by the place names that pop up.

But when we throw around words like "sin" we devalue the prophetic currency of the Christian witness. I wonder if the word "sin" has been used in any other context in any documentation coming out of this year's conference. No wonder people on the outside think the modern church is one big joke.

If you want to read the whole item you can do so here, if not this is a flavour:

The Methodist Church is urging Christians to repent of the sins that contribute to climate change. A report received by the annual Methodist Conference in Wolverhampton today encourages people to acknowledge their complicity in systems that exploit creation and prey on the powerless. But the Church also wants to empower Christians to make positive lifestyle changes, in line with the report’s title, Hope in God’s Future.

Revd David Gamble, the President of the Conference, said, “The first step in making a difference is the recognition of what we’ve done wrong so far. But we can’t just stop there. We must not be beholden to economic growth at the expense of our world and the lives of those who are most vulnerable."

There are a great many people in both developed and underdeveloped country who would welcome a little of that economic growth that our new President of Conference so despises.

As a local preacher I don't always feature sin, but when I do, I point out that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). That was written long before the Methodist Conference was ever convened and it wasn't about composting rubbish or taking the bus.

Someone should have got up at Conference and simply say "Ladies and gentlemen, time to get real".

A day at Methodist conference

I popped over the Wolverhampton today to see the Methodist Conference in session. I spent much of the time meeting and greeting old friends and even one or two old enemies.

When I finally got into a session I was there just twenty minutes, after which the Conference went into closed session. What happened behind those closed doors? Were they defrocking somebody? Had someone run off with the pension fund? Sadly I'm certain it is something much more mundane. It would liven things up to have a good old tabloid scandal.

I spotted Dave Warnock who blogs as 42 and met up with Olive, Methodism's oldest blogger from Reading. I spied Bill Anderson the Chair of our Birmingham District resplendent in the sort of shirt that was specially chosen to draw attention to himself. And I had an interesting encounter that I will post about later in the week. Incidentally Dave Warnock is posting from the conference so his site is well worth a visit during the next few days.

Businesswise I am busy for the next two weeks, so posting will be sparse. After that I am going to restart my work on the Gambling Commission file. Too much goes on there behind closed doors and I need to renew my requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act. But all this takes time and has to be set around other activities.

Great day

Yesterday was a great day for singing and preaching. My visit to Court Oak Methodist Church was the start of a day when, for the first time in some years I was able to preach to well over a 100 people.

After preaching at Court oak I went over to the Hereford/Shropshire border where I preached at the anniversary service for the Wyson Methodist Chapel. I used more or less the same sermon as at Court Oak but discovered that it improved slightly with distance.

We then had a really great tea - made by some fabulous strawberries that had benefited from the recent hot spell and hand picked that morning - followed by a "Songs of Praise" which I also led. There was a little bit of turnover between the two events and numbers were swelled by the local Anglicans. The Chair of Herefordshire County Council was with us, so we took the opportunity to pray for the County's civic leadership.

I have long felt that any revival in this country would see Herefordshire playing a major part and it was heartening to meet a congregation with so many young people. And they sang beutifully.

When I returned home I was shattered but felt encouraged and ready to sort out the problems that we are about to inherit at our own church.

Two Primitive anniversaries - one message

Court Oak Methodist Church Birmingham at 11.00 am. Founded 1903

Wyson Methodist Chapel on the Hereford/Shropshire Border at 3.00 pm. Founded by 1845

Today I will be speaking at two church anniversary services, both previously Primitive Methodist causes. This is a sample of what I will be saying:

Today I preach at two churches, both celebrating anniversaries. One 106 years, Court Oak, the other 164 years Wyson in Herefordshire.

Now both came out of that great movement of God that became the primitive Methodist connexion.

The two great leaders of Primitive Methodism were Hugh Bourne and William Clowes. Both had an uneasy relationship with the increasingly respectable mainstream Wesleyan movement that emerged after the death of John Wseley.

Their most serious challenge was to pioneer the concept of camp meetings. These were large gatherings of people outside of a large city, somewhere in the country. The first camp meetings were held at Mow Cop in 1807, just outside the great industrial centres of Stoke on Trent, Crewe and Lancashire. They were a phenomenal success. Mow Cop is the one we remember, but a similar camp meeting was held on the Wrekin in 1808.

Something happened that gave Bourne and Clowes a real hunger for evangelism. The infant denomination grew rapidly, among its leaders were trade unionists and industrialists. It attracted people such as William Hartley who used the millions made from producing jam to support missionary and social work throughout the world.

Primitive Methodism did not stand still. By the 1820s the new movement recognised that all forms of Methodism were very much urban creations. It consciously decided to move gradually into the country side from its urban bases in the Potteries and Black Country. They would set up a church in one village and once established set up a church in the next. Wysson was part of that movement. The first steps were made to establish a church in 1837 which culminated in the creation of the chapel in 1845.

But the Prims did not stand still. By the early 1900s they were still keen to spread the word. Just on the outskirts of Birmingham was a village called Quinton. The Methodist Minister looked across to the growing suburb of Harborne and set up a new cause at Court Oak.

Niether of these churches are fancy monuments, both are simple. I suspect members of other faiths are surprised how we walk in with our shoes on, and see these “Houses of God” as part of our everyday life.

By 1907 Primitive Methodism commemorated the centenary of the Mow Cop camp mettings and the foundation of their denomination. They produced a plate, no doubt may have seen it. On the reverse I see that mine was number 491, 901 – in other words they produced at least half a million of these plates.

The had 4,905 preaching places, 1,153 ministers, 16,209 local preachers, 210,000 church members, 607,682 adherents, and property valued at nearly £5,000,000 a considerable sum in those days.

Today’s unified Methodist Church is dwarfed by those figures. We have just under 5000 churches. And around 200,000 members.

We have to ask two questions – were have the people gone? Where has our fire gone?

As Methodist Churches become more fancy with candles and coloured cloths on the Lord’s Table the people coming through our doors become less.

The challenge for Methodism on any anniversary is to look again at what drove men like Wesley, Bourne, Clowes and all the other Methodist saints to go into the byways and proclaim the good news.

We need to pray without ceasing. Not just in churches, at the kitchen sink, as we go to work, we must build up prayer triplets among our members. Ask, no plead, with God to give us a fresh understanding of what it means to thirst for the creation of a Holy Place.

Ho, ho, ho

This little paragraph, caught my eye. Another attempt by popular culture to ridicule modern Christianity?

Lisa Isherwood is professor of Feminist Liberation Theologies at the University of Winchester, executive editor of the international journal of Feminist Theology, and author or editor of many books in the areas of sexuality, christology and body theology, the most recent being The Fat Jesus: Feminist Explorations in Boundaries and Transgressions.

Looking for young Christians in the West Midlands

Naomi Stanton has great faith in this blog's ability to reach young people. She has written asking if we can help with her research project:

I am looking for young people in the West Midlands area who would be willing to be case studied over the course of a year. This would involve an interview with me every 3 months or so about their Christian faith and how it is impacting their life, and some observations of them in Christian activities.

I am a Christian myself and in no way wish to manipulate or exploit young people, just hear their stories of faith so I can identify themes relevant to my research. I am happy to talk this through with you, your young people and parents before anybody agrees to take part and they would have the right to withdraw at any time in the process. It would only be done with the consent of the young people and their parents.

I have a facebook group entitled ‘Looking for young Christians willing to talk about their faith’ which is accessible via the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=54806698290#/group.php?gid=75263527606

Please help Naomi if you can. No need to contact her through me, unless you have no facebook account. Naomi's email is n.stanton@open.ac.uk

Time has not been kind

Over the last few weeks time has not been kind. I'm in the midst of a handover (no Ian "handover", not "hangover") and trying to market my services for a future assignment. There is only so much time I have for blogging.

Next Sunday I am leading two anniversary services - both special invites which is always flattering - and both of which are at former Primitive Methodist causes. So lots of work to do.

However the Methodist blogsphere continues to grow even without my regular contribution.

Please welcome Ray Gaston who is an ordained Anglican and Methodist Minister working for the Queen's Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education and the Methodist Church in Birmingham and the West Midlands UK as Inter Faith Tutor and Enabler. He calls his blog "Pure unbounded love". I think he will need it with some of us old lags in the Methodist blogsphere.

Ray, poor soul, is based at Queens College in Birmingham so needs all the encouragement he can get - mind you recently I've met two lecturers from there socially, and neither seemed as whacky as their local reputation would have us believe. Queens needs to do a little more work on its image among those of us with a stake in the place. It would be good to hear something positive about the place.

Meanwhile down in Devon Liz Mackay has established a blog entitled Preaching with a Purpose.

I gather Liz is a local preacher on trial so may have something to say to us veterans. I must admit when I saw the title "preaching with a purpose" I was a little taken aback. But then I gave it some thought and realised that many us grow stale and lose that extra spark. Have you heard a sermon without any purpose? I must admit I have heard sermons without a purpose and on occasions, even delivered one or two myself - other preachers will know what I mean.