Categories: media
Date: 17 May 2010 01:41:06
Looking at the Anglican Mainstream site is interesting because it gives an insight into a particular bit of the church. Now, whilst I don't agree with much of what is said I do respect their right to say it. The posts are actually quite varied and reflect the range of writers who post on there. There have been a couple of things recently to catch my eye, (some of which have been commented on elsewhere).
Firstly, amongst their links to the overtly Christian and pro-life sites one would expect to see, they have a link to CIVITAS (the institute for the study of civil society). This is the main New Right political think tank in this country, promoting the thought of political scientists such as Charles Murray. who gave us Underclass Theory in the late 1990's. This underlines the link that does exist on one level between the religious and political conservative right in this country.
Secondly, and kind of following on, it was interesting to see the claim in an article on the site that the new coalition government is being accused, by pro-life groups, of being even further left than Labour.
Thirdly, I see from an interesting rant they link to, (taken from the Australian), from Melanie Phillips, who worked with Murray on the British Underclass theory, that she has a new book out. The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth and Power. It looks like a book with much which is controversial in, but as she is an influential and well known journalist, (who many of my access class were familiar with when I was teaching New Right theory) it will be worth engaging with. I guess reading Melanie Phillips is a bit like reading Dawkins you know you're going to disagree but need to read it to be able to explain why.
Finally, Dr. Lisa Nolland has called for a boycott of Greenbelt in response to Peter Tatchell's appearance and their general "gayification of the Christian subculture". Now, I actually, when I originally heard about the approach to him, had some reservations. Tatchell has in my view treated the church with real disrespect in the past. However, this talk is going to be a human rights style talk, as I understand it and part of Greenbelts appeal is welcoming a diverse group of people. In some ways I wish Nolland herself had been invited to come and do a q&a type session, explaining the perspective she takes and reasons behind it to Greenbelters. I think this would have exposed some of the sounder points of her arguments, which I'm sure must be in there somewhere, as well as some of the more disturbing, and in my view flawed ones. It would also have highlighted the real diversity of opinion that Greenbelt facilitates.