Homeland: running for change

by | Sep 1, 2014

In Robert Fisk’s fine book ‘Pity the Nation’, he describes encounters with Palestinian refugees, and Israeli settlers. The former fled their homes in response to the arrival of the Israeli army, the latter, survivors of the Holocaust, moved into the...

Terror threat: Let’s not fall for it again

by | Aug 30, 2014

Do they expect us to believe it all again? With weary familiarity, I have been reading the government’s claims that we face a heightened “terror threat”. UK governments have been making this claim every so often since 2001. It is usually followed by a fresh...

A crime, but not a sin?

by | Aug 30, 2014

Stealing is a crime, but is it always a sin? Christian teaching over many centuries has said that to steal to meet an essential need is not in fact a sin, and that the real sin lies in the human systems and values that create such need. Stealing is a crime, but is it...

Sri Lanka must change, urge unions and intellectuals

by | Aug 29, 2014

Many health professionals have gone on strike in Sri Lanka, though this has been suspended for a fortnight by court order. Other workers too are threatening industrial action if their pay is not raised to match the cost of living. Many health professionals have gone...

The infection of terror and the still small voice

by | Aug 26, 2014

To be made to pause and to listen anew can be to experience the subduing of “all our words and works.” It doesn’t happen all that often so to have been offered this grace twice in the space of a week demands that I pay attention to blessing. To be made to pause...