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All articles in category Comment

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May 2019
Articles > Comment

Online censorship in the name of regulation?

I wouldn’t blame you if it has slipped you by, but the government has released new proposals to regulate the entire internet. It wants to fine websites that fail to tackle ‘online harms’. It proposes to set up a new independent watchdog which will introduce a ‘code of practice’. What’s that got to do with us as evangelicals? Well, the scope of the new proposals is alarming. Everything on the internet will come under the plans – so that includes your church website, or the online content of any Christian organisation, or any pastor who has a blog. The definition of an ‘online harm’ is...

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Article

May 2019
Comment

A sacking on the other side of the world that should trouble us all

Unless you follow international rugby, you may not have heard of Israel Folau. He’s a super-star Australian rugby player who is also a Christian. But it looks like his career as a rugby player may be over. Why? He committed the ‘crime’ of expressing his biblical beliefs on social media, and the politically-correct elite were outraged. We should all be troubled by this development. But first, some disclaimers. I accept that his postings were rather blunt. I also accept that social media may not be the best forum for these things – I myself keep my own posting mostly to family news. And I accept...

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Article

April 2019
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Society only has itself to blame for sexualising our children

The government’s rationale for making ‘relationships’ education compulsory in all schools from September 2020 is that children are bombarded with sexual information and they need help to navigate these difficult issues. Well whose fault is that? Successive governments have continuously side-lined parents and dismantled the family. Divorce reform and the legalisation of abortion in the 60s got the ball rolling. Other social institutions accelerated the trend. The media constantly push the myth of consequence-free recreational sex. And radicals within the education system have long seen ‘sex education’ as a vehicle for pushing their agenda. Whenever parents raise concerns they are pilloried as backward and out...

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Article

March 2019
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Ashers have made a humble, wise and selfless decision

The McArthur family — owners of Ashers bakery in Northern Ireland — have made a humble, wise and selfless decision in not seeking to recover costs of their legal defence from their opponents. No doubt there will be those who wanted to give a bloody nose to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, to make them pay for hounding the McArthurs through the courts. Perhaps a hefty legal bill would have made the Commission think twice before doing something like this again. But throughout the lengthy legal struggle the McArthurs have acted with grace and dignity. They have never expressed any hatred or hostility towards...

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Article

February 2019
Comment

We must be on alert to the transgender agenda

You may be tempted to think the transgender ideology has come from nowhere. From relative obscurity, it is now dominating the equalities agenda wherever you care to look: schools, government, media, public services. But the truth of the matter is, the transgender agenda has been simmering away in the background for many years. And keen observers of the sexual revolution have known for a long time that it would be the next big issue to challenge social norms. Make no mistake about it, the socio-political goal of the movement is to dismantle the biological reality that human beings are either male or female — and...

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By Mike Judge

Article

January 2019
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COMMENT: New year, new design, new editor, but some things must never change

It’s a new year, and we have a new design for ET — we hope you like it  — and myself, Mike Judge, as the new editor at the helm. But there are some things that never change. God never changes, the gospel never changes, and our commitment to the Reformed Evangelical faith will, God willing, never change. It’s only since I have sat in the editor’s seat that I have truly appreciated all the hard work that Roger Fay has done over the years. So, let me put on record my admiration for his many years of faithful service to this paper, and my...

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By Mike Judge

Article

November 2018
Comment

Victory against compelled speech, but it should never have got this far

As we mark 100 years this month since the end of the Great War, it would utterly shock some of those men who gave their lives that we are living in a nation where we are fighting a battle against compelled speech. Yes, we rejoice that Ashers Bakery won their case at the Supreme Court last month, but it should never have got this far. It is blindingly obvious to anyone who cares to look at the case, this was never a matter of discrimination against the customer Mr Lee. He had been served before in Ashers Bakery, and no doubt he will be welcome...

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COMMENT: Boris, burkas and bans
By Mike Judge

Article

October 2018
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COMMENT: Boris, burkas and bans

The discussion sparked by Boris Johnson’s burka comments raises some important points. I want to defend religious freedom, so I don’t like politicians telling people how to observe their religious practices. I want to defend free speech, so I don’t like the way people wanted Boris to be ‘investigated’ for his remarks. I am concerned about the rise of radical Islam, so I don’t like women being forced to hide their faces (yes, I know not every Muslim woman who wears a burka is forced to do so, but many are). All these things are swirling around in my head as I consider this latest...

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COMMENT: Respect those in authority
By Mike Judge

Article

September 2018
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COMMENT: Respect those in authority

I don’t personally know Allan Coote. He’s the man who has been told he’s not allowed to read the Bible on the doorstep of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. As far as I can tell, all he does is read aloud from the Scriptures to members of the public. But security officials at the cathedral say they have standing instructions to remove him whenever he appears. I’ve only watched two videos on YouTube relating to this ongoing matter. Maybe there are more. In the first video I watched, an officer from the City of London Police attempts a compromise. He asks Mr Coote if he...

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COMMENT: When disaster strikes
By Stephen Baggott

Article

August 2018
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COMMENT: When disaster strikes

‘Behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead’ (Job 1:19). Open places of the desert, with few or no trees, are conducive to very strong winds. A blast of wind just before a rainstorm can bring down a dozen or more electric pylons. Mountainous areas where some of the rocks are exposed to the sun’s searing heat and others are in the shade, are favourable areas for whirlwinds to form. A whirlwind can easily raise a heavy ladder, needing two men to lift, and let it...

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By Mike Judge

Article

June 2018
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COMMENT: Millennials are failing the church

A recent press release landed in my inbox suggesting that churches were failing millennials. On the contrary, I believe millennials are failing churches. For those of you who don’t know, ‘millennials’ are young people reaching adulthood in the early 21st century. Research for the Church of England says this group is the ‘hardest to reach’. The picture may or may not be different in independent evangelical churches. Premier, a media company with various Christian radio stations, has announced that 52 per cent of its audience is made up of millennials. Justin Brierley, one of Premier’s presenters, says millennials tune in to his programme because they...

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COMMENT: The right priorities

Article

May 2018
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COMMENT: The right priorities

Only divine wisdom could have enabled the apostle Paul to handle a church like Corinth. And today we need biblical wisdom to avoid the sort of errors prevalent at Corinth. Things were bad in Corinthian culture — in Roman society ‘to Corinthianise oneself’ meant to abandon yourself to unbridled immorality. And things were bad inside the church; Paul’s two letters to the Corinthians reveal how much was at stake. But perhaps that church’s biggest problem was how it viewed itself — as actually in pretty good shape, and considerably wiser than the others! It is this flawed self-knowledge that accounts for Paul’s irony about the...

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