IN DEFENCE OF LIBERAL CHRISTIANITY

This blog in defence of liberal christianity is the blog I was going to write last week however Pope Benedicts shock resignation led me to write a blog on Pope Benedicts resignation instead.

Now it is not trendy being a liberal christian nowadays,it is much more fashionable being a religious fundamentalist or conservative christian. Fundamentalist christianity is on the rise throghout the world particularly in America even amongst young well educated people. While the Catholic church has moved away from the slight liberalism of the second vatican council towards a much more conservative stance both politically and in terms of theology .

I looked up on wikipedia the leading liberal christian theologians both protestant and catholic and what is most noticeable is how old those are that are still alive both catholic and protestant.To highlight the decline of liberal protestantism in America the Los Angeles Times reported inJuly 2006 that liberal protestant churches declined from 40% to 12% of protestant churches in America between 1930 and 2000.

Now I strongly feel that the decline of liberal christianity has been a disaster for the christian faith and also so has the rise of conservative and fundamentalist christianity been a disaster as well.

Liberal christianity is mainly based on the new testament and places heavy emphasis  on the humane compassionate Jesus.It also urges christians to fight against wars and social injustice and also urges christians to get involved in voluntary and charity work. This is unlike religious fundamentalists and conservatives who support social injustices are usually allied to the right wing politically and usually ignore Jesus teachings by supporting unjust wars.

I strongly believe  like the first century christian heretic Marcion that the christian faith should be based on the new testament and Jesus humane and compassionate teachings and not on the totally different god of the old testament.

Myself I am a member of the Sea of Faith a liberal christian group.However I would like to hear from other liberal christians about how to rebuild liberal christianity in our present time as I feel that this is very important.

Have a nice weekend All.

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THE RESIGNATION OF POPE BENEDICT THE 16TH

Well how is this for synchronicity.This Saturday I was going to write a blog in defence of liberal christianity but Pope Benedict the 16th changed my plans so I as you can see I am now writing this blog on Pope Benedicts shock resignation last Monday 11/2/2013.

The question people are asking is there more to the resignation than meets the eye, in other words is it  due to more than bad health.The honest answer is I do not know. Kevin Annett a Canadian vicar has stated that it may be due to a financial scandal however there is as yet no clear evidence to back this up.

Many conspiracy theorists are saying that the next pope will be the last one.This is based on the visions of the 12the century Bishop Saint Malachy.However I feel that this is  a myth based on no clear evidence and that the next pope who will be elected in March 2013 will almost certainly not be the last pope.

So I will comment mainly on Pope Benedicts  record during his reign from 2005 to 2013.

I feel that without doubt the catholic church has taken a wrong turn since 1968 with its humanae vitae statement banning the use of artificial birth control by catholics. A decision which is ignored by most practising catholics.This decision I feel has been the real reason for the dropping away from the church by many catholics.

Both the Polish Pope John Paul the second  and Pope Benedict have been arch conservatives who have allied the church with right wing forces.

Under Pope Benedict priests who have sexually abused children have just been moved to other parishes.The ordination of new priests in Europe has  virtually dried up. Under Pope Benedicts rule the church has intensified its opposition to married and women clergymen ordination.In fact the catholic church issued a statement comparing the ordination  of women protestant priests to the sexual abuse of children.What a filthy statement and a slur on decent honest women clergymen.

Also Pope Benedict quickly welcomed with apparent pleasure the right wing political coups against the democractically elected left wing presidents of Honduras and Paraquay.The former president of Paraquay Fernando Lugo being a former catholic bishop.

So under Pope Benedict the church which has a certain amount of financial interests is in reality on the side of the elite despite its claims to be the ‘church of the poor’.Now personally I would describe myself as a liberal christian who thinks that christianity is a good thing and I really do believe that Jesus did rise from the dead.However in reality the christain religion probably started to go wrong in the early fourth century when it was taken over by the Roman empire.

So I feel that Pope Benedicts reign has been negative.However I also feel that whoever is elected the new pope will not make much of a difference he will be a conservative both in terms of theology and politically taking the side of the elite.

In conclusion what I feel is really need is a new christian church which incorporates the decent elements of the  christian tradition.The case for this new church has been best outlined by Matthew Fox the former catholic priest in his book the popes war.If there is to be a christain renewal based on justice and helping the poor then a new christian movement is urgently needed.

A REVIEW OF STOP THE WAR COALITION.TEN YEARS ON CONFERENCE ON 9/2/2013.

Yesterday 9/2/2013 I attended most of the Stop The War Coalition Ten Years On  conference at Freinds House Eustion Road London. The conference which was quite important in my opinion was to discuss the affects of the war in Iraq in 2003 ten years after the war.

About 600 or so people attended the event.

The talks were  to a certain extent quite predictable.Tariq Ali correctly explained the role of Britain, America and the other western imperialist capitalist powers in using the war against Iraq as an excuse to seize the assets of Iraq for western capitalists countries.Tariq explained that they are doing the same in other third world countries.

There was a very moving speech by the Palestine ambassador to Britain explaining the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians being carried out by Israel. Of course the ambassadors speech was very moving however what must be asked is when is something going to be done about it.

Two Labour Party speakers Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Jones both correctly attacked the evil of the Labour government of Tony Blair in taking Britain into the 2003 war against Iraq. Owen Jones spoke very movingly about the atrocity of the American 2004 attack  on Fallujah carried out using chemical weapons. He correctly attacked the Times correspondent David Arronavitch support for the attack on Fallujah.

However what Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Jones should perhaps consider is what are they doing as members of the same political party,The Labour Party as Tony Blair and David Arronavitch?

However the most interesting session for me was the meeting held in a smaller hall to discuss the conflict in Mali.Victoria Britain gave a very good talk on the different tribes in Mal and the background to the conflict.However to me the best speaker of the day was from the floor who highlighted the fact that some of the islamic jihadists who invaded Mali are western agents.So it is a classical false flag  act the western powers arrange for jihadists to invade Mali so as to give the western powers an excuse to invade Mali.The country is rich in gold and uranium and as far as I am concerned the real battle is between the western powers and China to obtain the resources of Africa.So we may be seeing the recolonization of Africa.

In conclusion the conference was well worth attending. However I shall make  two final points. Firstly the stop the war coalition incorrectly in my opinion will not discuss the subject of false flag terrorism related to New York 9/11 and London 7/7.This is in my opinion a mistake.

Secondly we need to build a big new  anti war movement and anti corporate rule which does not rely on left wing Labour members of parliament for its leadership.We need to build a new independent political movement to fight against war, imperialism and globalist corporate rule.

THE WINTER OF 2012/2013 SO FAR AND THE ENERGY SHIFT.

Regular readers of my blog will no that I am a big fan of winter so I thought that I would write a review of the  winter of 2012/2013 so far.

As you may or may not know I feel that an energy shift did take place on the 21/12/2012 but it is up to us as individuals to tap into this enegy shift. I picked up this energy shift during a meditation that I did between 11am and 11.15 am on the 21/12/2012.

Some people as I have said have already taped into this energy shift but other people will tap into the new energy shift more slowly. The key question is what are the key signs of people engaging with the new energy shift.

Firstly seeing through the global elites lies and refusing to support their wars in places like Syria and North Africa.

2.Developing a greater sense of empathy such a getting involved in voluntary work and helping people less fortunate than themselves.

3.Adopting a less materialist attitude to life and becoming more spiritual  in the approach to life.

4.Stop watching fake television programmes like game shows and commercial sport on TV. Also a general distrust of the corporate media and instead getting most of your news information from alternative media internet websites.

The global elite I feel know that this energy shift has taken place but they are trying to stop the positive actions of the energy shift by starting fake wars and fake terrorist events. However I feel that time on the side of the forces of good.

So if we want it the future for us is very bright as a human race it is just down to us take the right actions.

In conclusion I will be writing some very interesting new blogs in the next few months. On such subject as building a new world, fighting wars and the future of christianity.

Good day all.