Restorative Justice

I’ve been scratching my head about what it means to forgive and to be forgiven.  We hear of people who, after having been terribly wronged, say, “I forgive that person.”  We hear of others who say, “I can never forgive that person.”  And what of the other person, the person who is considered to be ‘in the wrong’?  Do they need to ‘accept’ the forgiveness in order for it to work?  What of the person who refuses to believe that they are in the wrong?  What of the person who says, “I can never forgive myself”?

And then there are the questions of punishment and restoration.  Which brings me to an interesting little story reported recently in the local news.

A 13-year-old girl who was caught stealing two bottle of orange juice from a village shop has been allowed to make amends by selling Remebrance Day poppies.  The decision was agreed by the shopkeeper and the girl herself, along with her parents.  The girl was also required to pay back the value of the stolen goods and to agree not to enter the shop for the next two months.

Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Sally Calaby said:-

Restorative justice gives young people, who are starting to get involved in crime or anti-social behaviour the chance to work with police and their own community to understand the consequences of their actions and to make amends for them, without automatically heading into the criminal justice system.

I rather like it.  It reminds me that wrongdoing, in order to be resolve, often requires at least the following steps: (a) a confession that wrong has been done; (b) sincere contrition (which might be in the form of an apology); (c) restoration where possible and where appropriate; (d) a determination not to repeat the offence.

Children Need Fathers

A recent change in UK law means that women in same-sex relationships can now register both their names on the birth certificate of a child conceived as a result of fertility treatment.

Instead of the usual allocation of one mother and one father, one would suppose that the child would therefore have two mothers in the sight of the law.  However, this will not be the case: a birth certificate will be used which, instead of having a ‘mother’ and a ‘father’ section, with have two ‘parent’ sections.

Nearly two years ago, Right Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, spoke out against plans to make IVP treatment available to single women and lesbians:-

Children need parents of both genders.  Particularly, boys need fathers for the sake of security, identity and masculinity and relating to people of the same sex and the other sex. Having a child is not a right. What we have to do is consider the welfare of the child.

This statement prompted one critic, Jess Wood, to respond:-

If the Bishop of Rochester was a woman I don’t think he would make such an insensitive statement. Most women want to be mothers and lesbians are no different from any other woman.

With Bishop Nazir-Ali, I think we have to agree that the absence of fathers has a huge effect on social dysfunction.  This is not to ignore the immense courage of single mothers who strive to bring up children alone, but become a single parent through force of circumstance is very different to deliberatley setting out policy where the intention is to bring children into the world without a father in sight.

CMS rethinks Greenbelt seminars

This year’s Greenbelt festival is causing concern in some quarters because of the plans to welcome as a speaker the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson. Greenbelt will also give a platform to other gay rights campaigners such as the Rev Giles Fraser and worship groups OuterSpace and Journey.

By way of response, the Church Mission Society is considering holding seminars in which the orthodox view of human sexuality will be promoted.

One thing that intrigued me about all of this was a comment by the Rev Sharon Fergusson, spokesperson for the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement. While welcoming ‘open discussion’, the Rev Fergusson added,

if it is being done in a way in which homosexuality is considered as wrong then I would have concerns about that sort of thing which, as I have said before, leads to homophobia.

Well, that’s a discussion-stopper if ever there was one. What is being claimed here is that if people disagree with a certain kind of behaviour then they will necessarily end up hating or fearing those who engage in that behaviour. That’s absurd. And you don’t need a certificate in logic, or even in common sense, to see that it’s absurd.

As reported in Church of England Newspaper, 7th August 2009

Watching the English do Religion

Kate Fox, in her book Watching the English (Hodder, 2004, pp 353-357), offers a fascinating account of the ‘rules’ underlying English behaviour.  The book is full of witty and insightful observations.  After all, Fox writes as a trained anthropologist (which she defines as a being a professional ‘nosey parker’).  She talks engagingly about how we English converse about the weather, the way we approach humour, the rules that govern our behaviour regarding driving, work, dress, sex, and so on.

‘Religious’ rules are subsumed under the heading of ‘rites of passage’.  This, she says, is because ‘religion as such is largely irrelevant to the lives of most English people nowadays.’  All that remain for most people are the rites connected with ‘hatching, matching, and dispatching’.

Sir Edward Downes and Assisted Suicide

Distinguished conductor Sir Edward Downes and his wife Joan died last Friday at the Swiss right-to-die centre, Dignitas.  She was suffering from terminal cancer.  He was not dying, but was losing his sight and hearing.

I have admired Sir Edward’s work from a distance, acquainted only with a number of his recordings.  He had a special interest in Russian music, and I have particularly relished his championship of the cheerfully and unprogressively tuneful Rheinhold Gliere.

I don’t have anything particularly profound to say about this latest instance of assisted suicide, but I do think it’s both sad and alarming.

It’s Sunday – But Monday’s Coming! – a Sermon

Text: Isaiah 58  [See here for the Bible Study Notes on this passage.  I have borrowed my title from a thought expressed by John Piper in one of his excellent messages on this passage]

God has no interest in anything I am about to say.

Nor does he much care whether you pay any attention or not.

If fact, God is not impressed by anything we have done our service this evening.

Or any other service, for that matter.

Christianity and Politics DO Mix

John Stott has some wise words about Christian political influence:-

Although it is hardly the responsibility of a church or denomination as such to engage in direct political action, yet Christian individuals and Christian groups should be doing so, and should be encouraged from the pulpit to do so.  For Christian should aovid the two opposite mistakes of laissez faire (making no Christian contribution to the nation’s political well-being) and imposition (trying to force a minority view on an unwilling majority, as with the American liquor laws during the period of Prohibition).  Instead, we remember that democracy means government with the consent of the governed, that “consent” means majority public opinion, and that public opinion is a volatile thing, which is open to Christian influence.  Pessimists will respond that human nature is depraved (which it is), that Utopia is unattainable (which it is), and that socio-political activity is therefore a waste of time (which it is not).  It is really absurd to say that social amelioration by Christian influence is impossible.  For the historical record demonstrates the contrary.  Wherever the Christian gospel has gone and triumphed, it has brought in its wake a new concern for education, a new willingness to listen to dissidents, new standards of impartiality in the administration of justice, a new stewardship of the natural environment, new attitudes to marriage and sex, a new respect for women and children, and a new compassionate resolve to relieve the poor, heal the sick, rehabilitate prisoners, and care for the aged and dying.  Moreover, these new values become expressed, as Christian influence grows, not only in philanthropic enterprise but also in humane legislation.

Stott, I believe in preaching, 166

On Committing Ourselves to Social Justice

John Stott put it well, I think:-

The cross is a revelation of God’s justice as well as of his love.  That is why the community of the cross should concern itself with social justice as well as with loving philanthropy.  It is never enough to have pity on the victims of injustice, if we do nothing to change the unjust situation itself.  Good Samaritans will always be needed to succour those who are assaulted and robbed; yet it would be even better to rid the Jerusalem-Jericho road of brigands.

Authentic Christianity, 342.

Jesus is Lord – of Money, Sex and Power

Tom Wright has an interesting comment on the lordship of Christ.

He reminds us that the three great prophets of late modernity were Marx, Freud and Nietzsche.  What does Paul’s gospel say about their great themes: money, sex and power?

Remarriage after divorce

The Christian church has never reached agreement over the question of remarriage after divorce .

The Catholic church, taking a sacramental view of marriage, has held that a marriage is indissoluble, whereas the reformed churches rejected the concept of indissolubility.

Cranmer had proposed a revised Canon Law (1553), which would have provided for divorce on the grounds of adultery, malicious desertion, prolonged absence without news, attempts against the partner’s life and cruelty.

Verbal engineering

Christian Today tells of the horror of Lisa Saunders, mother-of-three from Northern Island, over the number of words associated with Christianity that have been omitted from the latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary.

Christian-related words like “bishop”, “chapel”, “disciple”, “minister”, “sin” and “devil”, have been replaced by words like “blog”, “biodegradable”, “MP3 player”, “democratic”, and “celebrity”.

Of course, language changes and some old words become obsolete or change their meaning.  But large numbers of people in our country do follow the Christian faith and even those who do not cannot afford to forget who they are and where they come from.

Tony Blair on ‘coming out’ as a Catholic

Tony Blair has recently revealed that, although he converted to Catholicism as recently as 2007,  he has been attending Mass for 25 years and he also brought up his children as Catholics.

Mr Blair said he feared talking about his religious beliefs during his time in Downing Street would lead to people dismissing him as a “nutter”.

But he said he regretted he had not been more adventurous in referring to his own faith while he was prime minister.