Bishop uses unfortunate analogy to criticise climate change deniers

I'm not saying the Bishop of Stafford's heart wasn't in the right place when he wrote a letter for parish magazines in his diocese, but he certainly chose an unfortunate analogy when he compared those who do nothing about climate change to Josef Fritzl.

Saying that people who make no efforts to prevent global warming are "as guilty as" the Austrian child imprisoner and rapist, Bishop Gordon Mursell sought to justify the comparison:

"Josef Fritzl represents merely the most extreme form of a very common philosophy of life: I will do what makes me happy, and if that causes others to suffer, hard luck. In fact you could argue that, by our refusal to face the truth about climate change, we are as guilty as he is - we are in effect locking our children and grandchildren into a world with no future and throwing away the key."

Unsurprisingly the bishop has found himself in a bit of hot water and was on this morning's Today programme to defend his words, helpfully pointing out that he wasn't "trying to imply that people who ignore climate change are child abusers":

"I am simply trying to use an analogy to get people to wake up to the consequences of what we are failing to do, because if we don't there won't be a future for our children either."

Personally I think it's good to see bishops speaking up on issues like climate change. There are plenty of people out there who will listen to what they have to say, but for future reference it's probably worth remembering that the general public don't take kindly to being compared to incestuous rapists.

Jesus Camp on TV tonight

Readers in the UK might be interested to hear that the Oscar-nominated documentary Jesus Camp is showing on Channel 4 tonight at 11.05pm.

The film profiles the Kids on Fire School of Ministry, a Pentecostal summer camp in North Dakota where fire and brimstone pastor Becky Fisher trains children to join the "army of God".

I haven't seen it, but it was critically acclaimed when it was released in 2006 and it looks suitably disturbing – see the trailer below:

Modern society to blame for Catholic priests' sex abuses

Apologies for the lack of activity on this blog this week. Just thought I'd make a quick observation regarding the Pope's visit to the US. Much has been written of his non-apology for the sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests over there (not to mention elsewhere in the world).

The closest he came to apologising was to say that the scandal had been "sometimes very badly handled" by the Catholic Church, before going on to lay the wider blame on "the degrading manifestations and the crude manipulation of sexuality so prevalent today."

You see, it's all to do with "the values underpinning society". So nothing at all to do with the fact that the Catholic Church denies its clergy the right to explore their sexuality as consenting adults, then?

Baby Bible Bashers

Last night's Channel 4 documentary Baby Bible Bashers really didn't make for pleasant viewing. It introduced us to three child evangelists and their despicable parents as they pursued their mission to convert the world's sinners.

First up – and arguably the "star" of the show – was seven-year-old Samuel Boutwell from Mississippi, who is forced by his parents to stand on street corners urging sinners to repent. We first meet him as he preaches outside his local abortion clinic and we follow him on a road trip to New York, where he hopes to convert those urban heathens. As his Baptist minister father observes, "more people means more sinners. Fact". Needless to say the people of New York prove somewhat unreceptive to the sight of a child preaching fire and brimstone, and his father comes in for some abuse from passers-by. Unable to understand why the urban populace refuses to repent, Samuel eventually breaks down crying.

In case there was any doubt where this child acquired his religious zeal, an interview with his father informs us that, when he was three, Samuel asked him if he was going to Hell. Mr Boutwell responded by asking him if he had ever "sinned against God". Samuel didn't know the answer, so his father asked "have you ever disobeyed your mother?". Samuel answered in the affirmative, so he was kindly informed that yes, if he didn't mend his ways he would burn in Hell for eternity.

Next we meet nine-year-old Terry Durham from Florida, who became the world's youngest ever minister when he was ordained at the age of six. His grandmother, and his followers, believe he has the power to heal everything from the common cold to cancer, while his father seemed more interested in ensuring he becomes a millionaire on the back of his son's work.

Finally it was off to Rio de Janeiro to be introduced to 12-year-old Ana Carolina Dias. She's been preaching since the age of three, and her father has ensured that she's become a national sensation. "My father is everything to me", she tells us. So much so that he shares a bed with her every night while her mother sleeps in another room.

The whole experience was grimly fascinating and left you feeling nothing but contempt for the parents. The fact that the children themselves all seemed quite sweet made it all the more difficult to watch them have their childhoods systematically stolen from them.

Just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, I've tracked down a clip of Samuel on YouTube. There are more clips on the Channel 4 website.

Creators of Intelligent Design movie will pay people to see it

A few months ago we reported how Richard Dawkins had been tricked into recording interviews for Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a documentary film intended to promote the Intelligent Design agenda to the American public.

Now, as the film approaches its April release date, it seems its creators are so confident in the quality of their product that they are willing to pay people to go and see it in order to ensure a successful opening weekend.

Christian schools are being offered cash "donations" for every child they deliver to showings of Expelled, which it is hoped they will do by organising compulsory school trips. Parents would be expected to stump up for the price of a ticket, while the school receives at least $5 for every ticket stub they hand back to the filmmakers. The film gets more viewers, the school gets more cash, the kids get intellectually misled, and everyone's a winner. Except for human progress, obviously.

It all smacks of desperation, of course. And having watched the trailer, it looks suitably dreadful. You'd have to give me more than $5. Call it $50 and we can start talking...

Prayers can stop paedophile priests, says Vatican

Catholics worldwide will now be expected to pray "in perpetuity" in order to cleanse the Church of paedophile priests, The Times reports. An instruction sent to bishops by Cardinal Claudio Hummes, head of the Vatican Congregation of the Clergy states, according to The Times, that "every parish or institution should designate a person or group each day to conduct prayers for the Church to rid itself of the scandal of sexual abuse by clergy".

So there you have it. This is obviously going to work, so there's almost certainly no need to worry about this problem any more. Case closed, I'd say.