Greetings to you and wishing you well in the troubled times through which we live.
I do hope this message finds you well, however you have been touched by 2020’s unwelcome attentions.
The case of Kristie Higgs (pictured) is a sad one. But is the news website Unherd right to say she's a victim of 'soft totalitarianism'? And was an NHS doctor really sacked, as the US Heritage Foundation claimed, for not calling a six-foot bearded man 'she'? See reviews of some recently publicised cases here.
BLM briefing
'Black Lives Matter' is prompting reflection in the UK church. Read my contribution to the conversation here including:
Resources: 6 young UK Christians worth hearing;
What's slavery got to do with it?
Is it all 'Cultural Marxism'?
Do please let me know if you have any thoughts on this or suggested additions to the resources.
Guns and God ...
is a series of podcasts from Bristol Baptist College with Helen Naylor together with Matthew Feldman from York University's Centre for the study of the Religious Right. I recently recorded an episode. The conversation covered my account of The State in the Bible published in October in Anabaptism Today; the fall of Tim Farron; recent work on Roger Williams, the Puritan founder of the first modern democracy; and of course the politics of the Religious Right.
Last word: the panpanic of 2005
'we nearly had a vast panic over the approaching "flu pandemic"... oh the endless meetings and the hype of it all!'
- Tony Blair, A Journey (2010), page 520
May I wish you all the very best for whatever you retrieve of Christmas 2020, and for a 2021 that is better in every way.
