BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN For more than two thousand years, two figures have stood at the opposite ends of the human imagination, and we have never been able to look at one without seeing the ghost of the other. Krishna of the Mahabharata, blue skinned and crowned with peacock feathers, who lifts a mountain on one finger and dances in the moonlight with milkmaids whose names … Continue reading Was Krishna Christ?
BY ALEX STORY Societies are defined, in part, by their celebrations. Two of these expose the cultural battlefield on which we currently stand. In one corner, sporting the red of the Poppy, we have the withered, dignified, but dying Remembrance Day; in the opposite one, we have the Rainbow-coloured, indecorous Pride month. To the first is dedicated a single minute of silence, its centrepiece; to … Continue reading Pride and Humility
BY ROGER WATSON Saint Columba achieved the seemingly impossible in converting Scotland from its Druidic pagan ways to Christianity in the sixth century. Travelling across the Irish Sea to Scotland and travelling between the Western Isles of Scotland on treacherous seas in open boats, he faced other dangers on land. Warlike kings, bloodthirsty druids and even the Loch Ness Monster – its first recorded sighting … Continue reading Columba’s Travels
BY MAX WALLER I’ve pretty much given up on the idea of traditional Christianity making a comeback in England—not that I have any real grounds to call for its return, given that my connection to the faith has been limited mostly to singing hymns in school assemblies and later falling in love with Western sacred music dedicated to praising God, such as Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and … Continue reading Nation of Aslan
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN A Strategy to Undermine Christianity (In the style of Paul Harvey’s 1965 broadcast ‘If I were the Devil’) If I were the Devil, I’d have one aim: to tear down Christianity piece by piece, until nothing remains but hollow rites. With a grin, I would drift past the crescent moon and shroud Christian lands, weaving ideologies through the fabric of their societies … Continue reading The Devil’s Manifesto
BY STEWART SLATER “We are all a goldfish and the water that we swim in is Christianity,” said the historian Tom Holland, explaining the thesis of his book Dominion. Our beliefs and behaviours (even those of atheists) are so shot through with Christian assumptions that we no longer realise they are there. What are, in reality, the specific outcomes of a specific faith appear so … Continue reading British Values
BY EFFIE DEANS We need to make a distinction between the believer and what he believes. It is wrong for me to discriminate against Jewish people or to act in a hateful way towards them. But I ought to be allowed to say what I please about the beliefs of Judaism. I can point out for instance that I doubt that God parted the Red … Continue reading Equality Before the Law
BY STEWART SLATER That the West is becoming less Christian is noted so frequently as to have become a cliché and, since nature, or perhaps human nature, abhors a vacuum, enquiring minds have turned to what comes next. Which belief system will supplant it at the centre of our lives? To those of a socially conservative frame of mind, the answer which seems both most … Continue reading The Successor Ideology
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN Henry of Huntingdon tells the story of King Canute who set his throne by the sea shore and commanded the incoming tide to halt and not to wet his feet and robes: Continuing to rise as usual [the tide] dashed over his feet and legs without respect to his royal person. Then the king leapt backwards, saying: ‘Let all men know how … Continue reading Canute Confusion
BY SEAN WALSH We live in Devizes, a town which nudges the contours of Salisbury Plain: an army redoubt devoted to the prevention of significant war, and home not just to military training exercises but to strange goings on. Ghostly goings on, actually, and there is a supernatural component to life here which is pretty undeniable. It is a weird but wonderful place, bifurcated by … Continue reading My Hometown. And Water
BY STEWART SLATER There was, as there so often is, an irony. For barely a week before the census revealed that England and Wales are no longer majority Christian, the nations’ footballers (in alliance with other European teams) decided to mimic their religious forebears by declaring their beliefs universal and attempting to impose them on the recalcitrant natives of a far-off land. It was no … Continue reading A Post-Christian Britain
BY SEAN WALSH “Then Jesus said to Simon: don’t be afraid. From now on you will catch men. So, they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything, and followed Him” (Luke 5) I think this song is a beautiful recuperation of the Gospel message. He walked the shore of Galilee and invited Peter and Andrew into Mission. Not that they could refuse. And then … Continue reading Always Be The Fisherman
BY CAPEL LOFFT It increasingly occurs to me how utterly pointless most of what passes for political debate is. While contemporary politics is conducted within the parameters of a certain set of debased spiritual, moral and cultural norms, engaging in the transitory arguments of this or that ‘debate’ makes no more sense than arguing about the architectural plans while the ground you are preparing to … Continue reading Honour, Virtue & Life
THE CITY GRUMP A little over a weekend ago I was at that traditional gathering of vintage car racing petrolheads known as the Silverstone Classic. As is also traditional, the weather was dire, with the rain and the wind rolling in across the flat Northamptonshire countryside. Just as I was wondering whether to put on yet another layer of clothing in came a text message … Continue reading Thy Kingdom Come in Face Masks
BY JAKE SCOTT Anglicans are a dying breed. The 2011 census found that only 15% of Britons considered themselves to be Anglican – nearly half that at the turn of the century. This figure fell even further to 12% in 2018. The 2021 census will almost certainly return an even lower percentage, as young adults increasingly feel that faith has no place in their lives. … Continue reading Decentralise Not Decolonise
BY PHLEGYAS Let it never be said that the Church of England is lacking in leadership. Always looking ahead to the Big Issues of the day, and in doing so looking out for ourselves, we in the Church have identified a serious pandemic of Sin across the country. Worse, we, who pride ourselves on rooting out the Devil wherever he or they (sic) are lurking, … Continue reading Sin – A Modest Proposal
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well. I know how hard these months have been for many of You and now hope for an end to lockdown and vaccine success. There is nothing wrong with praying for national prosperity. For example, a wealthy Britain affords her citizens vaccines and hospitals. What can be wrong with that? Proverbs 23:5 says: “Cast … Continue reading A Prayer for Prosperity
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN The advantage of church closures this year during lockdowns has been the emergence of Masses and other church services online. “How can virtual services be a positive?” I hear you traditionalists and conservatives chuntering. Well, first up, you can be as rude as you like about a priest’s sermon real-time, without having to put up with the death stares from the blue … Continue reading Render Unto Caesar
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You and Your family are well. I hope You are not too full of Halloween candy. This week I would like us to pray for the United States, which you may have noticed is on the point of conducting another set of elections. The US is of course a close ally of our country and … Continue reading A Prayer for America
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I am hoping that You are well and healthy. As We march through autumn I pray that You have found the time to pray and ponder. I hope that You do not worry too much or get downcast as We see less of the sun. This week I would like to focus on family. Likely You have seen … Continue reading A Prayer for Family
