Queen enjoys double take with Elizabeth I at new Westminster Abbey gallery

A major exhibition area has been built where dusty relics were once stored, housing precious artefacts which reflect the building’s thousand-year history.

The Prince of Wales joined the Queen for a tour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, set more than 16 metres above the abbey’s floor in its 13th century triforium, an arcade above the building’s chapels.

 

The Very Rev Dr John Hall, the Dean of Westminster, took the head of state on a guided tour of the exhibits, which included the realistic bust of Henry VII, modelled from the monarch’s death mask.

Other items on display included the 13th century Westminster Retable, believed to be England’s oldest altarpiece, which has fragments of its lavish decoration still in place and is thought to have been designed for the abbey’s high altar.

PA

 

The dean said of the Queen’s visit: “Like other people who have been up there, she was very impressed I think, and quite surprised by the amount of space and by the particular things she was able to see.”

The new gallery is home to 300 treasures from the abbey’s collection, many on display for the first time, and it uses four themes to tell the story of the place of worship: building Westminster Abbey; worship and daily life; Westminster Abbey and the monarchy; and the abbey and national memory.

Visitors will reach the galleries, which…

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Paige Patterson Withdraws From Giving Sermon at Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas

(Screenshot: YouTube)Paige Patterson, 75, speaks at the AWAKEN Conference in Las Vegas, NV, in January 2014.

Former Southern Baptist Convention President Paige Patterson, who was recently terminated as president emeritus of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, has decided to withdraw from giving the sermon at the denomination’s annual meeting next week in Dallas, Texas.

The news that Patterson was stepping away from the convention’s sermon was announced Friday morning by Scott Colter, his former chief of staff at SWBTS.

“Paige Patterson has announced his kind withdrawal from the convention sermon and evangelism report at #SBC18 in an effort to bring harmony to the Southern Baptist Convention,” tweeted Colter.

In a letter sent to SBC President Steve Gaines, Patterson explained that he was recusing himself from delivering the sermon following a lot of “soul-searching before our God” and to “contribute to harmony within the Southern Baptist Convention.”

“All of this I do with a heart full of confidence in our God and with the hope that He will favor the Convention and her churches with the benediction of heaven,” wrote Patterson, whose full letter was posted by the Baptist Press.

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100 year old woman ‘prayed for forgiveness’ for her mugger

She died from her injuries on Wednesday, nine days after a mugger attacked her and broke her neck on her way to church.

“She prayed for forgiveness for her killer” Anna Skrytek, a close friend who found her and helped her walk to the church, told The Sun newspaper.

Zofija Kaczan grew up in Poland and had avoided execution under the Nazis after being sent to a concentration camp.

On 28th May 2018, she was approached from behind, knocked over and had her handbag snatched.

The bag was found at the junction of Moore Street and Normanton Road and she was left with a fractured cheekbone but managed to stumble into St Maksymilian Kolbe Polish Church, still clutching one of the bag’s straps.

Derbyshire Police said a 39-year-old man who had previously been arrested on suspicion of robbery has now been arrested on suspicion of murder.

He remains in custody and is being questioned.

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Fending Off the Rising Right, Bavarian Leader Puts Crosses in State Offices

Fending Off the Rising Right, Bavarian Leader Puts Crosses in State Offices



Remember those controversies as some U.S. state officials installed Ten Commandments monuments in their courts and schools? Imagine the uproar if instead the government had ordered the Christian cross to be installed in all state buildings.


The conservative governor of Bavaria, in southern Germany, has done just that, ordering that crosses be displayed at the entrances to government buildings across his state.


The result, predictably, has been confusing and controversial.


Bavaria’s premier, Markus Söder, has presented the move not as a religious dictate, but merely a reflection of the values his fellow Bavarians share. The cross, he says, “has a defining effect on the identity of our society,” and hanging it in public offices shows “our Bavarian identity and way of life.”


Critics have denounced the order as a bald effort to woo Bavaria’s traditionally pious and heavily Catholic conservative voters away from the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, an anti-immigrant party that claimed 94 seats in the country’s Parliament in federal elections last year. AfD’s fortunes have risen on a backlash against the influx of over a million migrants since 2015, mostly Muslims fleeing the Middle East.


Unfortunately for Söder, even the national heads of Germany’s Roman Catholic and Protestant churches — who both live in the Bavarian capital,…

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Bible Society fined £100,000

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) took action after the data leak in 2016.

It found that hackers were able to get access to the personal data of 417,000 supporters – in some cases payment card and bank account details were placed at risk.

 

The Bible Society works both in the UK and around the world in making the Bible accessible. This is often done through translation but the charity is increasingly looking at different ways to be creative and make the Bible relevent to different sections of society.

The charity says it recognises the significance of the incident and has taken it seriously.

In a statement it said: “Following the hack, we immediately contacted any supporters whose data might have been at risk, giving support and advice on what to do next.

“We have also worked closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office over the last 16 months and cooperated fully with them in their enquiry.

“No supporters reported that their accounts had been breached and there is no evidence of any material effect on supporters.

“We remain vigilant regarding cyber security threats and have taken all possible steps to ensure that the risk of a future breach is minimised.

“Payment of the £80,000 fine (following a 20% discount) will not divert any supporter donations away from our mission. We generate funds in a number of different ways, including sales and investments.

The ICO’s Head of Enforcement, Steve…

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Anthony Bourdain has taken his own life

Anthony Bourdain is dead at sixty-one years of age. CNN made the announcement a short time ago, calling him “a gifted storyteller and writer who took CNN viewers around the world.”

The network added, “His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time.”

Bourdain received the Peabody Award in 2013. The Smithsonian once called him “the original rock star” of the culinary world. He was a bestselling author and recipient of two Emmy awards and was considered one of the most influential chefs in the world.

He was in Strasbourg, France, where he was recording an episode of his CNN show, when he was found dead of an apparent suicide in his hotel room.

Suicide rates have increased 25 percent

This tragic news follows the death of fashion designer Kate Spade, who took her life last Tuesday. Her husband later said she had anxiety and depression and had been seeing doctors and taking medication for five years.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported yesterday that suicide rates increased 25 percent nationally from 1999 to 2016. They rose in nearly every state. In 2016, there were more than twice as many suicides as homicides.

According to the CDC, more than half of people who died by suicide did not have a known mental health condition. Factors contributing to suicide include relationship problems, a crisis in the past or upcoming two weeks, problematic substance abuse, physical health problems, job or financial problems, criminal or legal problems, and loss of housing.

However, other studies have found much higher rates of mental health disorders among people at high risk of suicide. “The reason most suicide decedents don’t have a known mental disorder is that they were never diagnosed,…

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Psychology professor Jordan B Peterson reveals Christian beliefs on Premier’s new debate series

Canadian psychology professor and author Jordan B Peterson has revealed that he is religious, arguing that we need God to make sense of life.

He also claimed that most people who claim they are atheists actually aren’t.

The comments, which Peterson made as part of Premier’s new debate series The Big Conversation, were part of a dialogue between the Canadian academic and atheist psychologist Susan Blackmore.

The Big Conversation, which launched online on 8th June, is part of Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable? programme, hosted by Justin Brierley, and will feature a variety of high-profile Christian and atheist voices.

The first episode with Peterson and Blackmore focuses on the psychology of belief and asks “Do we need God to make sense of life?”

 

When asked in the debate to explain his beliefs about the Christian faith, Peterson said: “I would definitely describe myself as a religious man. There’s no doubt about that.

“As a westerner I am conditioned in every cell from the Judaeo Christian world view. I live my life to the best of my ability as though God exists.

“That’s the fundamental hallmark of belief, it is how you act, it’s not what you say about what you think you think.”

During the debate Blackmore highlighted recent polls that show the UK has just tipped over into being a country where the majority are no longer religious. She added that despite this…

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Christian charities among hundreds with new demands for North Korean leader

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is one of the signatories on the letter. The charities welcome increased dialogue between the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (DPRK) and other countries, but state that they have yet to see actions on the part of the government “that would signal clear improvements in the lives of DPRK citizens or their basic rights and freedoms”.

 

The letter urges Kim Jong Un to:

  • Act on United Nations human rights recommendations,
  • Increase engagement with the international human rights system,
  • Respond to and take action on the findings of the seminal 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry
  • End abuses in detention and prisons, including forced labour
  • Establish regular meetings of separated families of any foreign national with relatives in North Korea
  • Accept international humanitarian aid with appropriate monitoring to ensure it reaches needy people and communities.

Benedict Rogers, CSW’s East Asia team leader, said: “It is essential that the human rights crisis in North Korea, which the United Nations Commission of Inquiry described as ‘without parallel’ and as amounting to crimes against humanity, is addressed as part of engagement with the North Korean regime.”

“For that reason, we have come together with other human rights organisations around the world to send this letter to Kim Jong-Un, setting out the issues which he must address…

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Man bitten by severed head of rattlesnake

A man in Texas nearly died when he was bitten by the severed head of a four-foot rattlesnake.

Jennifer Sutcliffe told a Corpus Christi news station that her husband had been clearing their yard over Memorial Day weekend when he saw and decapitated the snake. When he picked up the dead rattlesnake to dispose of it, the head bit him and released an almost fatal amount of venom.

He was flown to a hospital and treated with twenty-six doses of antivenom.

“When poisons become fashionable”

Like the dead rattlesnake, our crucified “old self” can still attack us.

Paul declared, “We know that our old self was crucified with [Christ] in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin” (Romans 6:6-7).

And yet the apostle admitted, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me” (Romans 7:18-20).

Is his dilemma familiar to you? It is to me.

Some sins in the news are beyond our comprehension. For instance, an Arkansas man admitted in court this week that he intentionally contracted HIV so he could expose others to the virus. He also pled guilty to several other heinous crimes.

A twenty-three-year-old driver in Boston allegedly struck and killed an eighty-year-old man on Wednesday. Following the fatal crash, he told reporters that he did not intend to hit the man. “People hit and run people all the time,” he said.

Other sins are more mundane. Lying, coveting, and refusing to forgive people seldom make the news, but they are nonetheless just as sinful as crimes that generate headlines. And just as deadly (Romans 6:23).

C. S. Lewis warned: “When poisons become fashionable,…

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Churches included in list of sites of suffragette protest and sabotage

Some 41 places where suffragettes gathered, protested and targeted for sabotage are having their records on the nation’s heritage list updated to reflect their part in the fight for women to get the vote, heritage agency Historic England said.

They include well-known places such as Westminster Abbey, where services were interrupted and the coronation chair was damaged by a bomb, theatres which hosted suffragette plays or were targeted by protests, and art galleries where paintings were damaged.

 

Also on the list is The Church of St Anne, Aigburth Road in Liverpool. It was attacked overnight to damage property not people, with arson destroying the pulpit, choir stalls and damaging the new organ.

St Edmund’s Church, Hunstanton in Norfolk was the site of a protest in which a woman interrupted a service with a prayer in gendered language referring to the church as “she”.

Other sites include a Birmingham school where two suffragettes were so “charmed with this old-world room” they could not bear to set it on fire, according to a message they left on the blackboard.

Post boxes which were firebombed and Bow Street court, London, where suffragette leaders were tried, have also had their place in the fight recognised.

Historic England/PA Wire

ndated handout issued by Historic England of Emmeline Pankhurst’s tomb in Brompton Cemetery, London, which…

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