The Tweet illustrated demonstrates this quite nicely. It really got on my wick.

Firstly, there is the idea of voluntarily segregated buses. Now, in the interests of fairness I shall point out that I’ve no experience of any “communities of ultra-Orthodox Jews”. If it is indeed the case that these communities are entirely comprised of people who actually quite like separate buses then I should be fascinated to hear more. I suspect that’s not quite the case though. Peer pressure is quite a strong coercive force in society.

The article claims that the Israeli ruling “permits buses servicing communities of ultra-Orthodox Jews to separate men from women, though only if all the passengers agree [because] in ultra-Orthodox practice men are not allowed to touch any women except their own wives.” It also reports that “In the same ultra-Orthodox area two bus routes recently requested that women sit at the back. Women report being verbally abused or assaulted if they refused to move.” I suspect that “ultra-Orthodox” Judaism does not actually approve of touching women (which I would guess would be necessary in order to assault them) who refuse to move seats. As I understand it, the Torah says very little about mass transportation.

The use of violence makes it plain to me that this is another sad example of people abusing their professed religion simply to get their way. Maybe, if men find it so extremely hard to use a bus without touching a woman they could get off and walk. Here in Preston I never seem to be forced to touch women on buses.

Secondly, there is this idea of ‘proof’. “Proof that religion has no room for equality.” Proof is a powerful word. It trumps all other evidence. The (to put it mildly) quirky act of some “ultra-Orthodox” Jews (and, as far as I can tell, 90% of Jews are not ultra-Orthodox) proves no more about religion than the indivisibility of the number two proves that all even numbers are prime.

I suppose it would be easy here to quote Galatians 3:28 (so why not?)

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And I could argue here that I’ve found some room for equality in religion. Yet one sentence from the Bible doesn’t prove that religions are strongholds of egalitarianism. It is easy to cite examples of how human beings take the names of their religions and of their God(s) in vain. It is easy to cite examples of conflicts “caused by religion”. In all cases I would probably disagree. The troubles in Northern Ireland, for example, were not caused by religion but by years of injustice perpetrated by people whose professed religion specifically condemns such injustice.

Religious organisations have allowed some dreadful things to happen. I suspect they will continue to. They are fallible. They are gatherings of people. And people fail. A lot. (Although, strangely, the sort of atheist who likes to condemn all religion never gets angry.)

I can see no way that anyone can square any form of persecution or subjugation with these words of Jesus:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:3-12

It may sound illiberal. It may sound intolerant. But I heartily believe that every act that fails these two tests (from Luke 10:27) is unchristian:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

Time moves on. Friends moved to different parts of the country. The church became ever more introspective and exclusive.

“We need ladies to cook for us.”

“We need men to put chairs out.”

Women were never mentioned in the church. Only ladies.

In 1995, when we arrived, we were surprised to discover that the only baby-changing facilities were in the ladies’ toilets. Despite mentioning the issue repeatedly, that was still the case when Small was born. I made repeated forays into the ladies’ loos and, in 2006, by which point Small no longer needed such facilities, baby-changing facilities were made available elsewhere.

A request for somewhere to secure bicycles was met with the answer that such facilities would be part of the new building. Six months after the new building opened, there were still no cycle parking facilities.

The work of the church began to look more and more as though it sought simply to provide a social venue for nice middle-class women (and, in fairness, a very good Sunday School).

Both myself and my wife were struck by depression. Nobody in the church noticed.

We started going to church less and less. Nobody noticed. On my first visit to the church in three months the only conversation I had was with someone who wanted to tell me how annoyed she was that the church’s website (which I ran) didn’t work. Replying that I’d spent two days working on resolving the problem, I was met with a stony silence as though I was letting the church down.

We left. Nobody noticed. So we told them.

C.S. Lewis once said that “the church is the only organization that exists for the benefit of non-members.” He was wrong. The church has to exist for the benefit of both.

We’ve found a new church. We now look forward to jumping out of bed on Sunday mornings to go there. We have had more conversations with friendly people in a little over six weeks there than we had in our last two or three years at the other place.

Strangely enough, Highlands always was the area in which Leigh’s higher earners dwelt.

Nowadays, I live in Preston and it recently occurred to me that I haven’t been visited by church-associated carol singers for a long time. I wonder whether this is related to my area’s average income, not least because Fulwood (where we don’t live) seems to have no shortage of carol singers. We were recently invited to a local church’s Christmas party at which an admission charge was levied. We didn’t go. Largely because of the admission charge.

I wonder how many churches consider that Christmas is a fund-raising activity rather than an evangelistic opportunity.

Royal Mail has traditionally alternated between sacred and secular designs for their Christmas stamps and this year it is the turn for a religious image. Royal Mail has issued two sets of designs this year. The main set of designs, available in all the main denominations is of angels, which is vaguely Christian but not explicitly so and certainly not specifically Christmassy. They have also issued a ‘Madonna and Child’ design for first and second class only. Post Office staff have been instructed to only sell this design if people specifically request it, but obviously people can’t request it if they don’t know it exists! If people don’t buy these stamps, Royal Mail will claim there is no demand for religious Christmas stamps and not produce them in future.

This year’s Christmas stamps commemorate the tercentenary of the birth of Charles Wesley, writer of the hymn, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. They could certainly be more blatantly Christian in theme, however I was interested as to whether the Royal Mail have traditionally alternated between sacred and secular stamps for this season so I had a look at what was being sold on eBay and assembled the following:

It is clear then that the Royal Mail has not turned its back on Christianity, indeed it seems to have responded to recent public pressure by releasing more stamps relating to the feast of Christ’s birth than it has in the past. I sometimes wonder whether some Christians in this country, frustrated at not being imprisoned in Guantanamo, at not being allowed to imprison foreign teachers for naming a teddy bear Jesus, at not being the victims of ill-conceived reporting in the Daily Mail and at not being under-represented in the Houses of Parliament, are imagining some sort of persecution.

If righteous rage is what floats your boat, then I can recommend many injustices in this world against which you might wish to fight. Some of them are attacks on Christians. Most of those are not in this country.

Peace be with you.

January 22, 2007

ATTY. VIRGILIO L. MENDEZ
Regional Director
NBI-10

Dear Sir:

Kalinaw!

We, members of the CHURCH-NGO-ACADEME CONVERSATION strongly appeal for the immediate resolution of the murder of ROGELIO BACUS ESTUDILLO, SR., the Barangay Captain of Kinapat, Damulog, Bukidnon.

According to the sketchy information that we received, Mr. Estudillo was shot to death at his residence at about 7:30 PM on January 4, 2007.

The victim is a long-time friend and known supporter of one of our colleagues Mr. Romeo Tiongco of Muslim-Christian Agency for Advocacy Relief and Development (MuCAARD). Incidentally, Mr. Tiongco is challenging the incumbent mayor of Damulog in the May elections this year. The victim at the time he was killed was helping as political organizer for Mr. Tiongco.

Finally, we call for the prompt and speedy investigation into the tragic death of Brgy. Captain Rogelio Bacus Estudillo.

All in the name of genuine peace and justice in our country.

A former mayor in Bukidnon has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to declare Damulog as an �election hot spot.�

In a news conference, former Damulog mayor Romy Tiongco made the call following the killing of Kinapat barangay chair Rogelio Estudillo Jr.
Tiongco said the killing could be politically motivated.

Tiongco did not identify a suspect but he said Estudillo had severed his ties with Mayor Fortunato Gudito and form his own group. The new group endorsed Tiongco as a mayoral candidate in the coming elections.

Tiongco could not help but break down and cry during the news conference as he recounted how Estudillo managed to convince him to seek the mayorship of Damulog when he was still alive.

�Kadto si kapitan m�o ra �to siya�g langaw magsige�g sunod-sunod sa ako hangtud nga nadala ra g�yud ko.� He said.

Tiongco said he now plans to challenge the re-election bid of Gudito.
Tiongco served a total of nine months as mayor of Damulog during the transitional government of then president Corazon Aquino in 1986.

Estudillo was the first elected official to be killed in the country in 2007, a midterm elections year.

The Damulog police station is pursuing two other angles in Estudillo�s death � first, that it was either a crime of passion or second, that the barangay chair was killed by a business rival.

It is feared that the police will not properly investigate this crime unless the international community is aware. Please read the letter below, sign the petition and spread the word.

Dear Friends and Advocates for True Democracy,
I suppose one can call me a reluctant politician. It was not my ambition to become Mayor when I was appointed during the �revolutionary year� under Cory Aquino. I wasn�t even in the Philippines when the decision was made.
When I returned last October, just like all the other previous visits, I went through the same drama of questions and answers. People asked me if I would run and I responded that I had no intention of doing so. But this time there was urgency in their pleas. The May 2007 elections were coming. They knew that I regained my Filipino citizenship and I was back in the country for good. I told them that my family was still in the UK so I would have to spend some time there. I also had work commitments in Sri Lanka. But Damulog was my residence, my home.
A group of about ten people were in the process of organising an �opposition� party. They had no intention of supporting other candidates for the Governorship and the 3rd District Representative for the House of Congress. They were committed to support the Zubiris. But they were decided to launch a challenge against the local official candidate of the Administration. They even had three alternative line-ups for Mayor and Vice-Mayor. I also knew friends who thought of running for the Mayorship post as a protest candidacy, if no-one else stood up against the incumbent Mayor. They were desperate to find a candidate who would stand up against the present Mayor.
Rowing asked the others if he could invite me to one of their meetings. They agreed. I listened to their plans and volunteered to make one last appeal to their first alternative candidate. And then it happened. One of them turned around to me and asked, �Kuya (an address to an older brother), why don�t you run?� I was stunned. I was gob-smacked. I was speechless. Finally, I repeated again that it was not my plan to get involved in the May elections. I had other things to do both local and international. But I admitted that since 1989, I would sometimes asked myself what would have happened to Damulog if I had decided to run as Mayor immediately after my term under the revolutionary government. �What if; what if; what if?� I seemed to have arrived at a point in my life when I no longer wanted to run away from politics because I did want to end up with regrets in the future. May be I should give it a try. I requested for time to talk with other people, asked for their advice and then I would make a decision.
All the �little� people of the Damulog wanted me to run. Some even said that their prayers had been finally answered. But I got no support from the �powerful ones�. Rowing and I talked for a long time about the options. I also talked with other friends. Then I finally decided to run for Mayor in the May elections. But I turned the table around. They were no longer inviting me. I was inviting them to join me. I had made the fight my own. But I also told them that though I had made up my mind, I needed to talk with my family.
We needed ten people to complete the line-up: Mayor, Vice-Mayor and eight candidates for the Municipal Council. We only had the firm commitment of three persons. Rowing did most of the leg work of talking and arguing with possible candidates in our line-up. He was doing most of the strategizing, thinking and talking. On 4 January we exchanged text messages and talked over the mobile phone a couple of times. I said that the line-up should be completed by 13 January. He said that nine people were already committed to join our team. He had a few options on who would fill up the one remaining slot. He was confident that when I got back to Damulog on the 13th, everyone would be there. It would be our first meeting with a complete line-up of candidates.
At 7.30 that evening of the 4th, I received several calls and text messages that Rowing was dead. He told me that he had heard of threats. A sample would be made so that the �opposition would be scared and tremble� and �Tiongco would just end up on the staircase of his house�. But he dismissed them as �psy-war� (psychological warfare). Since the death of Rowing, four colleagues have reported armed men going around their houses at night. Three men in a taxi cab looked for me the day after the media interviewed me. Since the evening of Rowing�s funeral, the incumbent Mayor has surrounded himself with men armed with automatic rifles.

We were all scared. From nine our line-up went down to five. One was dead. Two backed out. One was away and we couldn�t get hold of him.

But I am so glad that we have more than enough people who are resisting their fears from overcoming them. Our political ticket is now complete. Ironically, Rowing�s death made us squarely face the challenges before us. We have no illusions about the threat of violence that we may encounter. But we are determined to stop the politics of Damulog from being debased and prostituted for personal gains and interests.

We face goons and guns. We need all the non-violent help we can get from friends, colleagues and from everyone committed to fair and honest elections to enable the people of Damulog to freely choose the men and women they want to serve them.

Thank you for your support. But please keep us in your prayers, especially those in the front lines. It�s tough and scary out there.

Mabuhi ang Pilipinas! Mabuhi ang Damulog!. Iabante ang limpiyo, makaangayon ug maligdong nga pinili-ay!!! Mabuhi si Rogelio Estudillo! (Long live the Philippines! Long live Damulog! Let�s push forward clean, fair and honest elections!!! Long live Rogelio Estudillo!)

Sa kanunay, (As ever)

Romy Tiongco

Technorati Tags: Christian Aid, Damulog, Philippines, Democracy, Filipino, Sri Lanka, Rogelio, Estudillo, Romy Tiongco

See many more such videos at TheChurchYouKnow.com

Earlier this week, as I came close to being run down by a lorry-load of lights, I realised that I had yet to see so much as one mention of the festival. It may be that shops are now making more of a fuss about Hallowe’en, it may be that they’ve finally twigged that many customers actually dislike having Christmas rammed down their throats for three months. Whatever the reason, thanks.

Oh, and a message to my relatives: you can have my Christmas list once I’ve properly thought about what I want. I’ve not even found a Christmas gift guide in Toys”?”Us (dreadful name) or the Early Learning Centre yet.

Technorati Tags: Christmas, tree