Do Not Vote Labour … Say 15 Labour Former MPs UPDATED

Those who follow me, especially my Twitter feed, know I can be tough on the Labour Party.  But I have to admit I am still thankful that Gordon Brown’s government banned indoor smoking in 2007.  That may have saved my health as I studied at Oxford that same year.

But Labour under Jeremy Corbyn has become so extreme and toxic that even many Labour people will be voting against them tomorrow. Especially notable is that fifteen Labour former MPs are publicly urging people not to vote for Labour this time.

I particularly appreciate that they cite Corbyn/Labour anti-semitism as one big reason for their stand:

Despite what Jeremy Corbyn says about anti-semitism, we need to accept that most Jewish people have well founded fears about what Labour has become.  British Jews deserve our support.

I will add that, unless one’s Labour candidate is an exceptionally principled person who has strongly and without equivocation opposed anti-semitism through the years, a vote for Labour is indefensible, especially for Christians. 

Yes, I said it.  Although I have strong political convictions, I am one to allow a lot of leeway for personal political decisions.  But the rampant anti-semitism of today’s Labour Party puts it beyond what is acceptable.  Even many past Labour voters and officials are seeing that.

UPDATE:
On the last night before the election, Labour anti-semitism was on open display, complete with that lovely genocidal chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and more. Watch for yourself.

Bernie Sanders' Anti-Semite

In the UK, it is hard to miss that Jeremy Corbyn and his Labour Party have a serious problem with anti-semitism.  He and the Corbynistas are that blatant at times about their Jew-hate plus the UK has a politically diverse print news media, remarkably so. Yes, there are UK newspapers willing to do actual journalism on the sins of the Left.

The US “news” media lacks such political diversity.  That is one reason it is easy to miss that Democrats also have a problem with anti-semitism.  For example, I bet most of you good readers, though unusually well informed, did not know that Bernie Sanders has added to his campaign as a surrogate the notorious anti-semite Linda Sarsour.  But now you do.

You’re welcome.

Now, yes, Sanders is technically an independent Socialist, but that’s pretty much the same as a Democrat nowadays, and he is again running for President as a Democrat.  I should also say that not all Leftists and Democrats are okay with anti-semitism.  To their credit, some left the Women’s March due to anti-semitism from Sarsour and others.

But the Democrat Party is still the Party of Linda Sarsour, Ilhan Omar and their ilk.

And, not so by the way, I still have heard just about nothing about the Democrat’s anti-semitism problem from the woke church crowd, from the AND Campaign, from the Anglican Multi-Ethnic Network (AMEN), etc.

The AND Campaign tells us, “Christians can hold both parties accountable.” But when it comes to Democrat Anti-Semitism, AND and most other woke churchers are not among said Christians.

NOTE: AMEN has a new director now, the Rev. Canon Lawrence McElrath.  May his leadership be more balanced and edifying than Esau McCaulley’s was.

An Advent Reset

I am using this first week in Advent to do a bit of a reset. That I just traveled to visit my father for Thanksgiving week assists in that as traveling usually gives me a reset.

I guess I should explain what I mean by a “reset.” I, and I suspect most of us, tend to get in ruts.  Said ruts could be a lack of motivation, initiative, and creativity. There could be bad habits. Yes, I saw myself in more than one rut before my trip.

And this first week in Advent is ideal for me to reset and get out of those ruts.  I’ve just traveled and (after a lot of sleep after returning) I am refreshed. I got enough excess during Thanksgiving.  And Christmas excesses have not yet begun, at least not for me.   And this is the beginning of Advent after all.  It is a penitential season, you know, and therefore intended by God for resets.

Yes, Jesus instituted Advent.  I just know it is in those red letters in my Bible somewhere.

Anyway, I am making a point to fast until St. Nicholas Day and probably some more after. (I can’t fast on that happy day!) In addition to cutting several food and booze excesses, I am cutting out online chess as I’ve gotten addicted to that again.  Said addiction has ravaged my time management.  I’m not mentioning this fast to brag as it is so modest it is hardly bragworthy, but to illustrate there are very doable everyday ways to fast and reset this first week of Advent.

And after Thanksgiving and before the Christmas rush, I suspect most of us could do with a reset. Thanks be to God that the traditional church calendar, including the first week in Advent, provides opportunity for those.

The Blocked by Greg Club and Accountability in ACNA

In recent weeks I’ve discovered I’ve become part of a club. I wish I could say it is very exclusive but it does not seem to be as it is growing and getting close to numerous. It is the Blocked by Greg Club, the club of those blocked by the twitter account of Canon Greg Goebel or by the Facebook page of his Anglican Pastor site.  I will say the club seems to be exclusive in one fashion: I only know of traditional Anglicans that have been blocked, not of others.  (There may be others; if so, I am not aware of them.)

The pattern often is that Goebel will post something that provokes traditional Anglicans.  And should one dare to express their provocation and disagreement in a manner displeasing to the Canon, he/she is blocked. 

Now one certainly has the right to act in such a catty manner on a social media account, even a public one.  But it is questionable coming from clergy, much less from a Canon in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).  Yes, all are entitled to private online space where one can include and exclude as one wishes more or less.  But I do not think that applies to public Twitter and Facebook accounts on which clergy comment on churchly matters and other public issues. Church people should be able to know what their clergy is saying in public or semi-public settings about church and political issues.  That is basic accountability.

It is fair to say ACNA handles accountability well more often than not and better than most church jurisdictions.  But there are times it does not, and this is one of them. It is not right for a Canon to block people, especially church people, from seeing what he is saying or doing as a minister, except in extreme circumstances or when privacy is appropriate.  Church people should be able readily to know what their clergy are teaching and advocating. And if clergy cannot handle critical responses to that better than blocking the responders, perhaps other jobs should be sought.

In this case, the problem of lack of accountability goes right to the top in ACNA.  For Greg Goebel is the Canon to the Ordinary in the Diocese of the South, the bishop of which is the Archbishop of ACNA, the Most Rev. Foley Beach.

Sir Stephen Cleobury RIP

Sad news comes this morning of the death last night of Sir Stephen Cleobury, past Director of the Choir of King’s College Cambridge.  He died in his hometown of York after a long illness.

I will leave it to others to note his many musical accomplishments. In person, he was a gracious man as I’ve experienced more than once, particularly when meeting him in Beeville, Texas of all places where he gave a organ recital.

November 22^ndhas not only claimed John F. Kennedy and C. S. Lewis, but now Dr. Cleobury as well.  May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

Tennessee Baptists Denounce Critical Race Theory

I am heartened to see that the Tennessee Baptist Convention has “strongly denounc[ed] CRT and intersectionality as inconsistent with the Biblical worldview and theology.”

I could nitpick the passed resolution, particularly the preamble’s acknowledgement of “the presence of structural and systemic racism.” Those are Critical Race Theory terms that I do not think should be given credence.

Nonetheless, Tennessee Baptists have provided a godly example for the rest of the Southern Baptist Convention and for other church bodies infiltrated by CRT and intersectionality.  Yes, that includes the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).  As I’ve stated here, I think it is needful for ACNA bishops and dioceses to denounce CRT and its cousins, particularly their inherent racism.

May the courage of the Tennessee Baptist Convention multiply.

Blaming the Holy Spirit in ACNA

So many things on which I could post and so little time!  But I am prepared enough for my lecture later this week that I can sneak in a post on the latest from Emily McGowin, Canon Theologian of the ACNA Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO).

She writes vigorously in defense of women’s ordination.  I concede she argues well . . . until this near the end “on the subject of theological method”:

Does the apparent work of the Holy Spirit in setting apart and empowering women for priestly ministry today—not just in the West, but in regions all over the world—have something to contribute to the discussion? Certainly, experience alone cannot be normative within the Anglican tradition, but can it be permitted a seat at the theological “table”?

Ah, yes. Blaming the Holy Spirit for one’s pet innovations. The Holy Spirit has brought about women’s ordination.  Right.

I am amazed that McGowin would make this argument.  Does she not remember that making one’s innovations a work of the Holy Spirit is “the theological method” of apostate bodies, including The Episcopal Church from which The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) fled?  Does she not remember that this is the very method used by those who push any number of ungodly innovations and enormities in the organized church?

Or at least I thought we in ACNA fled from this LibChurch “theological method.”

Really, being as sloppy as apostates in theological reasoning and exalting that even is a more alarming problem in ACNA than women’s ordination.

But the two usually go hand in hand, do they not?