Lindsay van Dijk, a humanist, has been appointed by the Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust to lead a chaplaincy team that includes Christian, Buddhist, and Bahai members. As Lindsay told the Guardian, ‘A lot of people don’t have an organised faith, but still have spiritual and emotional needs at difficult times. Often people are trying to […]
Secrets, God and broken glass
Everyone carries secrets. Not necessarily the kind that titillate, but the ordinary, everyday ones that rise to trouble us like a recurring virus. The pain of regret, of knowing that our lives are not perfect, not even close but sometimes a chaotic mix of halfway rational choices and haphazard mistakes. Knowing that this life may […]
Shame on you Dr Billy Graham
Dr Billy Graham, often called one of the most influential Christian leaders of the 21st Century, died on 21st February. He was a powerful influence on my life in the 1950’s and 60’s, and not in a good way. His evangelical preaching filled stadiums worldwide including New Zealand in 1959 but by the time of […]
No religion but still soulful
The moment arrived. I opened the New Zealand Census webpage, filled in my code and with one click of the mouse became a No Religion, one of the fastest growing groups in our community. To be honest, I didn’t feel that I had an option. Although I’ve tangled with what we mean by God for most […]
Support for the End of Life Choice Bill
New Zealand is currently considering David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill through the Justice Select Committee process. My submission is below in its entirety. Support for the Bill I support the intent of this Bill because it emerges from a compassionate approach to human suffering and moves towards a society where every person has […]
on rainbows, chaos, Prof Dawkins and the tail end of an elephant
like rainbows that never reach the pot of gold there’s a kind of beauty in the unrealised the unfinished, the chaotic omnipotent god (the one Prof Dawkins fights with good on him but it’s limited, like only seeing an elephant from the tail end) as I was saying, omnipotent god might feel frustrated in that […]
Absent God
Absent God missing in action, always guardian of open space blankness in my life. Sad? Perhaps but more than this the blankness is for me a symbol of what God might be rather than what God is not. There’s never been a time, God when I’ve felt your presence the kind of presence, people talk […]
Unmixed attention: the lifeblood of professional spiritual care
The conversation had rippled and sparkled. My doctor friend and I juggled theological ideas as they tumbled out and into the space between us. But as he got up to leave my heart sank. ‘Oh no’, I thought, ‘after all that he’s going to say he’ll pray for me.’ I’m ultra sensitive, you could say […]
Neville Duckmanton: the great encourager
Dear Neville I want to tell you, and anyone else in earshot, that you were one of the most encouraging people I’ve ever known. You were also generous, kind, clever and remarkably adept at making archaic systems work for good. You were the school principal of second and third chances, a teacher who’d seen it […]
Standing for Spiritual Independence Alongside Gretta the Heretic
In the old days, we used to burn heretics. Nowadays, there are more subtle approaches. The Reverend Gretta Vosper, a United Church of Canada minister has undergone the new methods by being deemed unsuitable for ordained ministry. Gretta doesn’t take the bible literally, nor does she go in for supernatural ideas about God. She even […]