New Zealand Conservative

I suppose many readers might assume that I would be for the continuing teaching of bible classes in state schools. Of the type where the school "closes down" for a little while so that the class can be taught out of school time. Except I don't support this sort of thing at all. The whole notion of closing a school down so a subject can be taught is ridiculous. Either the school has the mandate to teach something or it doesn't. In other words, Bible class should be made part of the curriculum, and then the fight is with the Government, or the school not teach it at all. Any parents that want Bible class need to get together and create some sort of Sunday school. So, in that way I am on the side of Jeff McClintock, who is taking his 7 year old daughter's school and Attorney General, Chris Finlayson to court. From 3 News : A parent fighting bible lessons in schools admits he's feeling a weight on his shoulders as his High Court battles begins. ...

You will frequently hear the proponents of gay marriage compare their 'struggle' for 'equality' with that of Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights protests that took place in America in the 1960s.  I do not believe that gay marriage is a "civil right", especially for the reason of "equality". For “equality”, the two things being compared must be equal, or “the same” with regard to the unique attributes or innate characteristics that define what those things are.  Thus, marriage has always been defined as being between a man and a woman - this is not “the same” or “equal to” two women or two men. Are a male/female couple the same as a male/male couple or a female/female couple? No, they are not. There are differences. For a start, two men or two women can’t have sexual intercourse (coitus). Some might argue that this argument falls apart when we compare it to racial equality - that in the past people have argued that a black man a...

Rocket Scientists don't always have the answers Religion. It's not rocket science.  It doesn't pretend to be. For some though, science is a religion, or at the least, some imagine science can replace it. I seems some people are waking up to the fact that religion doesn't kill people, politics kills people (The biggest criticism of Islam is it is as much a political system as it is religious.) Getting rid of religion just creates a world of atheists, some of which will find other reasons to run their own power-mad agendas. An article over on Salon discusses  the "new atheists" (Hitchens, Harris, Dawkins and others) are (or were, in the case of Christopher Hitchens) are so fixated on the idea that religion poisons everything, they are unwilling to face up to the flawed nature of human nature, and how this plays out in the real world, not their imaginary world built on biased interpretation of religion.  It's not always about religion, it's m...

You wont see this on the News, this is not a protest the Western media have much interest in covering but it is never the less a protest. It is a protest against attacks on the Church by the rabid secular and the protesters numbered in the tens of thousands. The protesters greeted each other " Christos Voskrese! " - Christ is Risen!, in honour of the Paschal season. Times are a changing.

The worm has well and truly turned - A picket in defense of Christians' rights in the UK was held near the British embassy in Moscow on Wednesday. The picket was organized by the Orthodox public movement Narodny Sobor in response to the decision made by the British authorities to fire people for openly wearing crosses, Narodny Sobor told Interfax-Religion. The protesters were holding imperial flags saying "Stop the persecution of Christians!" and "Britain! If you ban crosses, ban your flag too!" "The Moscow division of Narodny Sobor is concerned about the recent developments in the EU in general and in the UK in particular, where discrimination against Christians has become commonplace. We consider it our duty to categorically oppose militant atheism and anti-Christian tolerance in any country of the world," the movement says. According to earlier reports, the British authorities intend to defend the legality of the ban on public wearing of c...

Well what do you know - today is Race Relations Day. The multiculti apparatchiks of the Human Rights Commission have deemed the theme for this year's "Race Relations Day" is - Aotearoa, A Fair Go for All . Apart from applying that designation not much else is happening to celebrate this fine festival of rampant secularism. Next Sunday marks a major Christian Festival - the Annunciation, which despite secularization will still be more widely observed across this land than the UN mandated non event we are celebrating, or not as the case maybe, today.

It's a strange old world - Mr Whale has three posts today promoting unnatural marriage and he had a couple yesterday besides. In one of those posts he suggested Nikki Kaye (National) Auckland Central has on her to do list the promotion of a Gay Pride Parade for Auckland. Gay Pride parades celebrate the culture of hedonism and self worship, which those with wisdom understand is really the culture of DEATH . The video below is of an event with quite different character that promotes and celebrates LIFE - would that our civil authorities would turn their faces in this direction.

Christchurch's "iconic" Cathedral is to go. I wonder how many of the " Heritage campaigners " who are upset worshiped there every Sunday morning?

The incident that prompted this response described in this headline can be seen here . And the story to which it is attached is here .

“What they did is of course a disgrace, but it is a legal disgrace. It is Maslenitsa (1) now. It is a time of buffoonery and turning things upside down. In the times of Peter the Great such pranks were the order of the day then (or, the order of Maslenitsa week). If I was a sacristan of this cathedral, I would give them some pancakes, a cup of mead, and asked them to come back for forgiveness Sunday (2) . And if I was a layman, then I would also pinch them a little at our parting… as a father. To make them wiser.” - Archdeacon Andrei Kurayev Holy things are a challenge for the spiritually unwise - their impurity stands out more starkly against a backdrop of sanctity, which is something intellectually challenged attention seekers find irresistible.   (1) The week before Lent, Carnival. (2) Sunday immediately preceding Lent - which is next Sunday

Nearly 100 clergy revolt over Church ban on 'gay weddings' . They are not in revolt against the Government of course - no actually they want to follow the agenda of the rabid secular - silly muppets. Of course back in the days when the Anglican Church came into being because the Church wouldn't allow old Henry the VIII th to divorce his wife some the Clergy and laity did protest his actions. They held a protest march (and occupy movement, funnily enough) - it was called "The Pilgrimage of Grace". In those days protesting (and occupying) carried a far greater risk than just being bundled into a paddy wagon in front of the TV cameras, if that. Indeed some of the leaders of the "Pilgrimage of Grace" protest movement suffered the indignity of having their genitals cut off and burned before having their intestines similarly removed and burned - all before their dying eyes. Sobering thought.

This should be considered an absurdity but in our litigious times it is par for the course I'm afraid: Dr Jeffrey John: senior Gay cleric plans legal action after bishop role snub He's entitled to be a Bishop? He's willing to inflict further damage on the Anglican Church to make his point? It is darned hard to bring up our children in the Faith that was handed down to us and this sort of circus does not make it any easier.

Every now and then the secular blogs like to pick up a generic story highlighting the evils of religious fundamentalism and open the chat threads for a bit of religion bashing. Kiwiblog has one going at the moment ( Religious Fanaticism ), and the Standard kicked one off recently that kind of backfired: Peter Jackson - Satan's Little Helper . By pointing out how some presumably extremist religious group had identified Sir Peter Jackson's upcoming Hobbit movie as a sell out to the deep and distinctly Christian themes running through the original Tolkien LOTR books, it should have been fair game. But being a left wing blog, Christian bashing had to take a back seat to Jackson's supposed capitalist, anti-union, commercial sell-out motivations. Kiwiblog, on the other hand, has used a story of ultra orthodox Jews acting like the Taleban with regard to the treatment of an 8 year old girl for dressing "immodestly". This has provided an entree for atheists to de...

Apparently she entered the Cathedral to the sound of Native American chants and drumsbeats. More: D.C. gets first female Episcopal bishop

A Cat among the pigeons Christ Church Cathedral has been issued with a demolition notice in a move criticised as "appalling" and "profoundly disturbing". The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) issued the full demolition notice on Friday afternoon, just hours after a press conference where cathedral leaders announced plans for partial demolition and work to make the earthquake-damaged building safe. I wonder how many of those who find this "appalling" and "profoundly disturbing" actually used this building for the purpose for which it was built? The heritage we are loosing my friends is not built out of bricks and mortar - no. The valuable heritage that is disappearing before our very eyes is our Christian Heritage itself. Do I care about Christchurch Cathedral? - well it is kind of sad to see its end but not nearly as sad as living in a culture that has turned its face from God and its back on its really important heritage....

I'm stunned, first there was the religious advertising, and now the song uses the music for a hymn, thus again entrenching this idea that rugby is the religion of New Zealand. Related link: I vow to thee my country ~ Being Frank

Archbishop Chaput, in talking about the desire of secularists to push religious faith out of the public sphere makes the point that we are either Catholic all of the time with our faith guiding how we live and make decisions, or we are phonies. We can't claim to be a faithful husband or wife and then cheat on our spouse. And we can't claim to love God and be a "good Catholic," but then ignore what it means to be Catholic in our business dealings, our social policies and in our political choices. Christian faith is always personal but never private. It either guides our behavior all the time, both in public and in private, or it's phony. And if it's phony, we should stop trying to fool ourselves. We need to be faithful Catholics first. If we're good at that, then every other quality of fruitful citizenship will follow. Related link: Abp. Chaput urges Catholics to fight "for their ideas in the public square"

And did those feet in ancient time. Walk upon England's mountains green: And was the holy Lamb of God, On Englands pleasant pastures seen! William Blake One Trevor Phillips who is Chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in England reckons English Christians practice a faith " incompatible with modern society " . He also said "Muslim communities in this country are doing their damnedest to try to come to terms with their neighbours to try to integrate and they're doing their best to try to develop an idea of Islam that is compatible with living in a modern liberal democracy. "The most likely victim of actual religious discrimination in British society is a Muslim but the person who is most likely to feel slighted because of their religion is an evangelical Christian." He goes on to accuse Christians of picking fights over homosexuality for politcal ends . As reported his interview with the Telegraph seems to be a muddled inconsist...

A bit of angst over Christchurch's Anglican Cathedral and its need for reconstruction. One Alan Goss, an ex Presbyterian Minister believes it should arise anew as a Multi Faith Space, rather than an Anglican Cathedral per se . Of course if the Anglican's have the resources and insurance cover to raise their new Cathedral to its former glory there is no issue. But when public money becomes involved, perhaps there is a case to be made for a "people's cathedral" as Mr Goss described it to be used by people of all faiths and creeds, because Anglican's today are a minority in Christchurch I shudder at the thought though - "people's cathedral" evokes the type of edifices raised in the Soviet Union to replace the Churches. One such was Stalin's "people's palace" planned to rise upon the rubble of Christ the Saviour Cathedral, demolished by the Soviets to make way for this grand monument to the new Soviet world. It never h...

Wisdom - attend ΚΑΤΑ ΜΑΤΘΑΙΟΝ 24:36-44 36 Περὶ δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης καὶ ὥρας οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, οὐδὲ οἱ ἄγγελοι τῶν οὐρανῶν, εἰ μὴ ὁ πατὴρ μου μόνος. 37 ὥσπερ δὲ αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ Νῶε, οὕτως ἔσται καὶ ἡ παρουσία τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. 38 ὥσπερ γὰρ ἦσαν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ταῖς πρὸ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ τρώγοντες καὶ πίνοντες, γαμοῦντες καὶ ἐκγαμίζοντες, ἄχρι ἧς ἡμέρας εἰσῆλθε Νῶε εἰς τὴν κιβωτόν, 39 καὶ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν ἕως ἦλθεν ὁ κατακλυσμὸς καὶ ἦρεν ἅπαντας, οὕτως ἔσται καὶ ἡ παρουσία τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. 40 τότε δύο ἔσονται ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ, ὁ εἷς παραλαμβάνεται καὶ ὁ εἷς ἀφίεται· 41 δύο ἀλήθουσαι ἐν τῷ μυλῶνι, μία παραλαμβάνεται καὶ μία ἀφίεται. 42 γρηγορεῖτε οὖν, ὅτι οὐκ οἴδατε ποίᾳ ὥρᾳ ὁ Κύριος ὑμῶν ἔρχεται. 43 Ἐκεῖνο δὲ γινώσκετε ὅτι εἰ ᾔδει ὁ οἰκοδεσπότης ποίᾳ φυλακῇ ὁ κλέπτης ἔρχεται, ἐγρηγόρησεν ἂν καὶ οὐκ ἂν εἴασε διορυγῆναι τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ. 44 διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὑμεῖς γίνεσθε ἕτοιμοι, ὅτι ᾗ ὥρᾳ οὐ δοκεῖτε ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔρχεται. The mockers are having a field day