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the magazine of the student christian movement I issue tl3 | spring 2OO3<br />

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a chaplain speaks<br />

John Vincent's lourney'


ovemen<br />

issue 1-13 | spring 2OO3<br />

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MOVEMENI is the termly ma{azine<br />

the Student Christian <strong>Movement</strong>,<br />

distributed ftw of char{e to memberc<br />

and dedicated to an open-mindd<br />

expl o rati o n of Ch ri sti a n ity.<br />

Editor: Liam Purcell<br />

e: editor@movement.org.uk<br />

Next copy date: 28 February 20O3<br />

Editorial group: David Anderson, Liam Purcell,<br />

Elinor Mensingh, Marie Pattison, Kate Powell,<br />

Rebecca Hawthorne<br />

SCM staff: Co-ordinator Elinor Mensingh; links<br />

Worker Marie Pattison; Office Administrator<br />

Rebecca Hawthorne<br />

SGM office: University of Birmingham, Weoley<br />

Park Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6LL<br />

r (o121) 47t2404<br />

f. (OL2L) 414 5619 mark faxes 'FAO SCM'<br />

e: scm@movement.org.uk<br />

Website: www. movement.org. uk<br />

Printed by: Henry Ling Limited, Dorchester<br />

lndividual membership of SCM (includes<br />

<strong>Movement</strong>) costs f,15 per year (t1O if unwaged).<br />

Subscription lo <strong>Movement</strong> only costs 97 per year.<br />

Disclaimer: The views expressed in <strong>Movement</strong><br />

are those of the particular author and should not<br />

be taken to be the policy ofthe Student Christian<br />

<strong>Movement</strong>.<br />

tssN o306-980x<br />

Charity number 24La96<br />

o 2003 scM<br />

llevencnt<br />

movement<br />

feature:<br />

introducinE<br />

christianity<br />

movement<br />

reviews<br />

platform David Anderson 3<br />

newsfile 4<br />

on campus 6<br />

campaigns 7<br />

diary 8<br />

a headless chicken? Neil EIIiott 9<br />

worldview: germany Ulrich Falkenha$en 70<br />

disarmin$ actions Helen SteYen 72<br />

celebrity theologian Matt Bullimore 73<br />

small ritual Steve Collins 74<br />

evangelism in a $lobalised world Tim Gorrin$e 75<br />

marketing the gosPel 17<br />

iourneying together John Vincent 79<br />

radical discipleship Liam Purcell 2O<br />

ties and binds Jim Cotter 2I<br />

life in all its fullness? Niall Cooper 22<br />

first among equals Claire Connor 24<br />

if nobody speaks of remarkable things<br />

by lon McGre$or 25<br />

the beginning stages of...<br />

by the PolYPhonic SPree 26<br />

sweet sixteen directed by Ken Loach 27<br />

a telling place by Joy Mead 28<br />

shiP of fools 29<br />

resources round-up 30<br />

serpent 31<br />

Have youl say - join <strong>Movement</strong>'s editorial team<br />

Movemlent is pui tog-etner by an editorial group including the editor, SCM staff, and student<br />

representatives. There is a vacancy at the moment for a student representative on the group.<br />

lf you would like to be involved in deciding the content and themes of <strong>Movement</strong>, and could<br />

spare one afternoon a term for meetings, e-mail the editor at editor@movement.orA.uk.<br />

Wanted! Articles, teviews, artwork<br />

We want <strong>Movement</strong> to be as open as possible. All your ideas are welcome. Have you got somethind<br />

to say? An issue you want explored? Ever fancied yourself as a writer?<br />

Send your articles and ideas, or just your details if you'd like to write for us in the future, to the editor<br />

at editor@movement.org.uk. All submissions will be considered by our editorial group.


platform<br />

just war theory<br />

ls the West waging a iust war, or iust a war?<br />

Every time it looks like Western nations<br />

are going to go to war, you get people -<br />

often bishops who should know better -<br />

who tell us that they think it is a just<br />

war. But they don't often seem to say<br />

what they think a just war is, other than<br />

that they personally mean welland think<br />

something must be done. People<br />

arguing agaanst wars don't invoke just<br />

war theory at all. But neither side seems<br />

to understand what the theory is.<br />

Just war theory requires that any proposed<br />

military campaign fulfil seven conditions:<br />

. There must be a just cause.<br />

. The campaign must be declared as a<br />

matter of last resort.<br />

. The campaign must be declared by the<br />

appropriate legal authority.<br />

. The authority must have just intentions.<br />

. The campaign must have a chance of<br />

success.<br />

. The consequences of the campaign must not<br />

be worse than those of not campaigning.<br />

. Only just means must be used in the<br />

campaign.<br />

We've had two debates in the past 2 years<br />

over whether to go to war, first with Afghanistan<br />

and then with lraq. What was worrying about<br />

both debates was that proponents of the just<br />

war seemed to believe that because the<br />

campaign tulfilled the first condition (that there<br />

was a just cause for war) and because they<br />

believed it fulfilled the sixth condition<br />

(something had to be done), it also fulfilled the<br />

other fwe. Meanwhile, some of those opposing<br />

the war seemed to believe that the only way to<br />

deny that the conditions for a just war were<br />

fumlbd was to deny that the attack on the World<br />

Trade Centre was a just cause for any sort of<br />

'action. (Whether it was a just cause for wa$ng<br />

war on the Taliban is another question.)<br />

It seems to me that if anything counts as a<br />

just cause to go to war, then a direct<br />

intentional attack upon innocent civilians is<br />

such a cause. 'lnnocent' here means that the<br />

civilians concerned are not directly engaged in<br />

violent activity. lt does not matter whether or<br />

not they are participating in or maintaining a<br />

system that causes people's deaths: killing<br />

them does not end the exploitation. lt is true<br />

that Western policies towards the rest of the<br />

world could be expected to provoke such an<br />

attack: my GCSE geography textbook<br />

predicted a terrorist attack L2 years ago. But<br />

that is not to say that anybody deserved to die.<br />

However, this still does not mean that the<br />

other six conditions were satisfied. lt is not<br />

clear that all the options for extraditing Bin<br />

Laden were tried before going to war against<br />

Afghanistan. lt is still not clear that the<br />

consequences of the campaign were better<br />

than inaction would have been: although the<br />

Taliban were a fairly unpleasant regime and<br />

Western newspapers were full of pictures of<br />

women taking off their burqas with relief, it<br />

seems that Afghans are still being threatened<br />

by starvation, as well as by unexploded<br />

bombs. lt is not clear that the campaign had<br />

a reasonable chance of success: as I write,<br />

Osama Bin laden is apparently alive and well.<br />

Furthermore, while civilian casualties are<br />

inevitable in any military campaign, the use of<br />

just means requires that one sacrifice military<br />

effectiveness to minimise civilian casualties.<br />

But one cannot assess these claims properly<br />

merely from the incomplete accounts in the<br />

newspapers. The really troubling criterion is<br />

that of just intention.<br />

The requirement that war be waged with a<br />

just intention is not a requirement that the<br />

people going to war should mean well.<br />

Everybody takes themselves to mean well. The<br />

requirement means that those waging the war<br />

should have a definite intention with which<br />

they are going to war, such that once that<br />

intention is realised they stop. lt was never<br />

made clear what the intention in bombing<br />

Afghanistan was. 'Ridding the world of<br />

terrorism' is a definite end, with the problem<br />

that it has no chance of success. 'Dismantling<br />

Al Qaida' is also a definite end, although it's<br />

not clear how far the campaign has achieved<br />

it, given that Al Qaida is supposedly spread<br />

through a large number of countries. As for<br />

bringing Bin laden to justice, the campaign<br />

has failed to do so, and no moves have been<br />

made to establish an international court in<br />

which he could be seen to be tried fairly.<br />

Therc arc limits to just war theory, and with any<br />

approach that applies rules withont refurcnce to<br />

the people who will be directly aftcted by the<br />

decisions made. But at least it is a start.<br />

As I write, internationalweapons inspectors<br />

are operating in lraq. I hope this means that<br />

war will not be declared, unpleasant as<br />

Saddam's regime may be. I<br />

David Anderson<br />

while civilian<br />

casualties are<br />

inevitable<br />

in any military<br />

campaign,<br />

the use of<br />

iust means<br />

requires<br />

that one<br />

sacrifice<br />

military<br />

effectiveness<br />

to minimise<br />

civilian<br />

casualties<br />

rnember ot the rltovemert<br />

edltorlal group<br />

movementl3


NCWS<br />

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new editor, new features<br />

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This issue is the first produced by our new editor, Liam Purcell. We thank Julian<br />

Lewis, now settling into life as a domestic goddess with his baby Melody Sunshine,<br />

for his hard work as editor last year, and David Anderson for steppin$ nobly into<br />

the breach as interim editor for issue 112.<br />

Liam writes... Hi. Some quick<br />

background: I graduated in<br />

English Language and Literature<br />

from Birmingham UniversitY in<br />

L997, where a Buddhist tutor<br />

introduced me to forensic handwriting analysis, t'ai chi<br />

and, most importantly, publishing. I work in my 'day job'<br />

doing design, production and editing on educational<br />

websites, books and magazines for the publisher Christian<br />

Education. But on Fridays, as my alter-ego Space Monkey<br />

Productions, I do freelance design and editing work for<br />

various small charities and a web design and music<br />

company called Silent Space (www.silence.me.uk, if the<br />

site's up by the time you read this).<br />

And now I edit Movetnent as well. I already know the<br />

magazine, as I've handled the design part of the job<br />

alongside Julian and David for the last four issues. With<br />

Julian's departure, I worked up the courage to take on the<br />

whole job, and I'm enjoying the challenge.<br />

quick guest'ons<br />

What's your favourite Possession?<br />

My PowerBook laptop. I like to pretend I'm not a geek because<br />

Apple computers are for creative people. Honest.<br />

What are you reading at the moment?<br />

Doubts and Loves by Richard Holloway, as part of my crash<br />

course in liberal and radical theolog/ and activism for this job!<br />

What is your favourite film?<br />

Clich6d studenty answer, I'm afraid - Withnail and /. And yes' I<br />

can recite all thqbest lines parrot-fashion.<br />

How do you relax?<br />

I do a bit of t'ai chi and yoga, or offer myself as a practice subject<br />

for my girlfriend, who's training in shiatsu massage. lt's a tough<br />

job but someone's got to do it.<br />

What's your favourite iourneY?<br />

Going away on holiday with a car full of friends, camping<br />

equipment and silly toys. The destination doesn't really matter.<br />

What do you like most about yourself?<br />

I have a calmer and more laid-back approach to life than some<br />

people I've known.<br />

I've already introduced a couple of changes: you'll find a<br />

report on current campaigns that groups can get involved in<br />

on page 7, and a round-up of recently published resources of<br />

interest to SCM members on page 30. These will be regular<br />

features. I want <strong>Movement</strong> to help SCM's membership around<br />

the country by offering support for their activities and inspiring<br />

them to get involved in bringing about changes in the world'<br />

It needs to be a two-way process - we want your input'<br />

Elsewhere in these pages you'll read about SCM's revamped<br />

website. We're hoping that the site can support the<br />

magazine by offering further resources backing up our<br />

special features, to help you explore the issues further. And<br />

we're planning an online discussion forum, which will offer<br />

themed debates fired off by our features, and the opportunity<br />

for you to respond to articles that excite or annoy you'<br />

and discuss them with other SCM members around the<br />

country. Comment, suggestions, criticisms and (especially)<br />

new writing are, as ever, very welcome. Send all your<br />

outpourings to me at editor@movement.org.uk. I<br />

What do you dislike about yourselfil<br />

I'm an idle slacker (see my answer to the previous question).<br />

What's your favourite word?<br />

It changes every week, usually to one I've invented myself.<br />

Currently 'pendulumularity', which I'm sure should mean<br />

something.<br />

lf you could be someone else, who would it be?<br />

President of the USA. Not that I really want the job or am qualified'<br />

but it would be hard to do wome than the present incumbent.<br />

When did you last cry?<br />

Embanassin$y, while watching The Full Monty. ln my defence, I<br />

was very tired and emotional at the time.<br />

What are you scared of?<br />

George Dubya Bush.<br />

What do you never miss on W?<br />

I like cult Channel 4 comedy like Spaced and Black Books'<br />

Anything with Bill Bailey in it.<br />

What music do you listen to most?<br />

It varies enormously - from the Chemical Brothers and Bentley<br />

Rhythm Ace to Spiritualized, Pulp, lndigo Girls, Tori Amos.<br />

What pet hates do You have?<br />

I'm a cantankerous old sod and witl grumble about anything.<br />

Particularly advertising, the media and world politics'<br />

4 |<br />

movement<br />

I


stop the war<br />

As with mct potests, the number of<br />

demonstratorc on the Stop lhe War<br />

marcfi in September ditrercd wiHly<br />

according to $rfio pu listened to<br />

after the event. Scotland Yard<br />

estimated ftat 4O,O(n peopb had<br />

tumed ouq fut inqereed that figUrc<br />

later to 150,0(n. On Sund4/, fte<br />

Obsenry quoted tthe orgpnisers' at<br />

250,000, while the Independent<br />

quoted presumably different<br />

organlses at 4(D,OOO.<br />

To me, as one of those who gathered<br />

at London's Embankment on 28<br />

September for the march to Hyde Park,<br />

one thing was clear - whatever the<br />

dispute over quantity, the quality of<br />

demonstrators was very diverse.<br />

Protesters came from all across Britain<br />

and included the UK lslamic Mission,<br />

Socialist Workers, CND, the Scottish<br />

Socialist Pafi, Saudi Arabia fuainst<br />

War, lecturers, priests, trade unionists,<br />

students and families with young<br />

children. lt emerged that many people<br />

were marching for the first time - a<br />

powerful indication of the huge guff<br />

between the govemment's support for<br />

US-planned military action against lraq<br />

and the wishes of people in Britain.<br />

The message was clear - that an<br />

attack on Bagfdad is not the way to<br />

deal with Saddam Hussein's refusal to<br />

complywith UN resolutions. The govemment's<br />

dossier of evidence did not show<br />

that the threat from lraq is any greater<br />

now than 3 years ago, and those who<br />

would suffer in the event of a war are<br />

the lraqi people, who have already<br />

suffered enough under sanctions and<br />

dictatorship. There was also consensus<br />

that American interest in lraqi oil<br />

reseryes is not entirely coincidental with<br />

the threat of military action.<br />

At the time of writing, the UN Security<br />

Council has just voted in favour of a<br />

resolution which threatens'serious<br />

consequences' if Saddam Hussein<br />

does not disarm. These consequences<br />

have not been specified, but American<br />

and British leaders have not left much<br />

room for doubt. So as time ticks away<br />

for lraq, we must not let our guard<br />

down. When the extremists push for<br />

war, the moderates must be ready to<br />

shout louder against it. I<br />

f(ate Powell, <strong>Movement</strong> editorial glroup<br />

NEWS<br />

SGM AGM<br />

On 16 November I was on a train at<br />

stupid a.m. to get to Birmingham for<br />

the AGM. There were those in our<br />

chaplaincy who were convinced I was<br />

mad, but 12 hours later I was equally<br />

convinced they were the mad ones<br />

for missing out!<br />

The day started with a fascinating<br />

address on inter-faith relations by Dr<br />

David Thomas, an Anglican priest who<br />

lectures in Christian-Muslim relations.<br />

The AGM itself opened with reports<br />

from the chair of General Council and<br />

the Co-ordinator on the website, the<br />

staff contracts and handbook, the stall<br />

at Greenbelt, the Trade Justice<br />

movement, and the annual conference.<br />

The accounts were presented, and the<br />

importance of every member taking an<br />

interest in SCM was highlighted. Liam<br />

spoke about <strong>Movement</strong>, and Silke<br />

Lechner updated us on the world-wide<br />

activities of the World Student Christian<br />

Federation.<br />

The elections for this year's GC and<br />

its first meetlng were held, letting us<br />

new members know what we had let<br />

ourselves in for. A bit of a challenge<br />

- let's hope we will rise to it!<br />

The day finished in very sociable<br />

style with cheese and wine. Many<br />

thanks to SCM staff for organising a<br />

great day - interesting, informatlve<br />

and useful, but also great fun! I<br />

Alice Grawford, SGM General Gouncil<br />

the Cospel demands action<br />

'Ghristian Aid?'The question was put to me accusingly, two months into my job as Student<br />

Worker. 'Do you really think you are doing good 'aid' work if you are pushing Ghristianity<br />

at the same time? Why can't you Ghristians just keep it to yourself.)'<br />

I was speaking to<br />

students at a<br />

careers fair in<br />

London, trying to dispel some of the<br />

myths about the work of relief and<br />

development organisations in<br />

general, and Christian Aid in particular.<br />

One look at the 'Christian' in the<br />

title was all this guy needed to start<br />

on a rant about how religion was the<br />

source of all poor people's troubles...<br />

'Actually, I'm not a Christian.'<br />

'Oh,' he said. Funny how that<br />

seems to quieten people.<br />

'We work with people of lots of<br />

different taiths. And we don't "push"<br />

Christianity. lt's an important part of who<br />

we are, and most of us are practicing our<br />

taith through Christian Aid's wort. But<br />

we are here to help end povefi.'<br />

'So if you're not... then how come<br />

you're working for...?'<br />

It's a fair question... but kinda<br />

obvious if you think about it. Loving<br />

your neighbour. Respecting diversity.<br />

Being inclusive. Even striving for<br />

sustainability. These are values which<br />

people here hold as central to<br />

Christianity... and I figure they are<br />

values that most people take to be<br />

universal. Given that, how can<br />

anyone not support Christian Aid?<br />

To me these values, derived from the<br />

gospel, require us to act, to speak out<br />

against the inequality and suffering that<br />

our neighbours experience. To what<br />

extent do you agree? Enough, of<br />

course, and I'm going to try to get you<br />

to look at www.christian-aid.org/<br />

worship and www.christian-aid.orgl<br />

students, to try and encourage you to<br />

act. Not enough? Well, hopefully you'll<br />

give me another chance to explore this<br />

idea (and persuade you!) in the next<br />

issue. I<br />

Patrick Dawes,<br />

Ghristian Aid Student Worker<br />

Look out fot Patilck's rcEulat cotumn,<br />

$artlng In our rext tssue<br />

movementl5


on campus<br />

'{)tl gelrI)pLl.i<br />

news from the universitY world<br />

united and frghtin$<br />

student campai$ners who attended the recent National union<br />

of Students conference, along with others, includin$<br />

supporters of the Gampai$n for Free Education, have come<br />

together in a new student forum with the aim of developing a<br />

broad campai$ning alternative in the student movement.<br />

The Student Campai$n Forum have a website at<br />

www.studentcamoaignforum.org.uk, where they set out their views and<br />

goals. They say:<br />

'We stand for:<br />

. a campaigning, democratic union;<br />

. fi€htin€lracism and fascism;<br />

. solidarity with workers at home and abroad;<br />

. against the privatisation of public services;<br />

Wd@me to he Sar&tl C.mF g, Forun rebsile!<br />

NEw! vistth€ ncw loruhs sedion.<br />

sd6.#rlldEhn'b:orElG<br />

d6lre6rdl)saw:ofttdd<br />

. equality, civil liberties and human rights for all;<br />

We're sorry that the anarchic black and red colour<br />

scheme doesn't corne across on the printed page!<br />

. a clean, safe, sustainable environment.'<br />

They have discussion forums and details of upcoming events on the site. lf you're concerned about proposed<br />

changes in the higher education sector, or just want to get involved in campaigning on other issues, it looks like SCF<br />

could be a good place to start. We'll update you on future developments led by SCF, and other $roups such as People<br />

and Planet, on the new regular Campai$ns page (see page 7). I<br />

Uam Purcell, <strong>Movement</strong> editor<br />

gfiassoots rcport: univercity of walest banSor<br />

iUnty people came to hear Bishop John Shelby Spong, tot 24 years Bishop of Newark, New Jersey,<br />

nunCn the Anglican Ghaplaincy lectures at the University in Bangor on Monday 7 October.<br />

The God of the Bible is immoral and unbelievable, the brains at the church door?' There are different images in<br />

Bishop said: a God who chooses some but not others, the Bible that we can use to talk of God: wind, love, rock'<br />

who drowns his enemies in the sea, who abuses his son The footprints of God are not beyond the sky but in the<br />

by demanding his sacrifice. This God is not worthy of bias in creation towards life, wholeness and consciousbelief.<br />

A God who is seen as an invader from outside ness. He is beyond all images. We don't have to think of<br />

and an examiner of all we do needs re-conceiving. lf him as a person. lf he is the source of life we need to live<br />

God can interyene to help me why doesn't he interuene fully; if the source of love to love wastefully; if the ground<br />

to help everybody? A God who does not interuene is of all being we need to make him more visible.<br />

immoral. A God who cannot is not God.<br />

!l<br />

We must get out of the stereotypical images of the past<br />

We live the other side of Galileo, Copernicus, Darwin, not because they were wrong then but because they are<br />

Einstein and Freud. Faith always changes its form and irrelevant now. Evil is not a condition into which we fell,<br />

the church needs a wake-up call. Only in 1991 did the but is arrested development. Jesus challenges us to do<br />

Vatican admit Galileo was rignt - almost 400 years too more than look to our own survival, the survival of our<br />

late. We can explain miracles without the supernatural. tribe. He challenges our prejudices that exclude people<br />

lf Jesus,ascended'into heaven we know he would not fromfullcommunitybecauseof their$ender,theircolour'<br />

have gone anywhere but into orbit! There never was a their sexual orientation, and calls us to a new humanity.<br />

perfecl creation. lt is evolving. Jesus does not rescue lhe Chaplaincy lectures have been launched in response to<br />

fallen sinners but empowers a new humanity. 'l don't the events of 11 September 20o1: how can reli$ons and<br />

want to be washed in ine btooO of anybody!' cuftures live peaceably togethef How can they be creative<br />

Many reject the story because they reject the way we and credible in the 21st century? 'h was an excellent<br />

have interpreted it. We need a new Reformation, a new begfnningl, saya the University Chaplain, Revd John Butler' I<br />

Christianity for a new wortd. 'Do we have to park our<br />

6lmovement<br />

Anglican Ghaplaincy to the University of wales'<br />

Bangor - an SGM'affiliated chaplaincy<br />

?


campargns<br />

cetrr)petigrt.J<br />

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faith and social justice cannot be separated<br />

ln this new feature, we'll be reportingl on campaigns being run by SGM and other organisations:<br />

campaigns on issues specifically related to student life, and on broader issues that we think concerned<br />

Christians might feel moved to act on.<br />

M E<br />

tuople&Planet<br />

People and Planet (www.peopleandolanet.org)<br />

is a student organisation<br />

running campaigns on a range of environmental and social<br />

justice issues, often with impressive success. We encourage<br />

you to get involved in their current campaigns:<br />

Stop GATS, defend higher education<br />

P&P is campaigning against the new General Agreement on Trade in<br />

Services. GATS is being negotiated now in the World Trade Organisation,<br />

and aims to open up a whole range of seruices to the WTO's free<br />

trade rules and systems.<br />

lf education is one of the seruices opened up in this way, public<br />

funding for higher education could be made illegal as an 'unfair barrier'<br />

to free trade, 'unprofitable' courses at universities could be shut down,<br />

tuition fees would rise due to the need to compete, and academics<br />

would have to rely on private funding, threatening their independence.<br />

GATS could accelerate and lock in place the already alarming commercialisation<br />

of education, which will be even more catastrophic in Africa<br />

and the developing world than it will in the UK.<br />

What you can do<br />

P&P have prepared a detailed report on the implications, and now<br />

aim to persuade the Higher Education Minister Margaret Hodge to<br />

launch an impact assessment before signing higher education up to<br />

GATS. You can co-operate with a P&P group or work in your own<br />

group on the campaign, which has two stages:<br />

. Get action cards from P&P, and send them to the Minister.<br />

Pressure your Student Union and your lecturers' unions to get<br />

involved too.<br />

. Ask your university's Vice-Chancellor to write to Margaret Hodge.<br />

All Vice-Chancellors have already received a copy of P&P's report<br />

on GATS. P&P suggest you apply pressure to your VC by organising<br />

a petition if necessary. lf that doesn't work, protest! P&P groups<br />

nationwide will be arranging stunts and demonstrations in the runup<br />

to ttge WTO's decision on GATS in March.<br />

Kick the arms dealers off campus!<br />

Many universities invest in arms companies, allow them to recruit at<br />

graduate fairs, and even receive funding from them. ln some cases,<br />

they may be investing in regimes which oppress international students<br />

studying at those very universities. These are your universities, and<br />

your tuition fees they're spending. They can be pressured to adopt<br />

ethical policies in all these areas.<br />

Trade tustice<br />

<strong>Movement</strong><br />

SCM is a member of the Trade Justice<br />

<strong>Movement</strong>, a group of organisations<br />

concerned with the harmful impact of current<br />

international trade rules on the environment,<br />

democracy and the poorest people in the<br />

world. The Trade Justice <strong>Movement</strong> calls for<br />

fundamental change of the unjust rules and<br />

institutions governing international trade, so<br />

that trade is made to work for all. ln June<br />

2002, the TJM organised the largest ever<br />

mass lobby of Parliament, which was attended<br />

by SCM members.<br />

What can you do?<br />

. Send a greeting to the new directorgeneral<br />

of the World Trade Organisation,<br />

asking him to make it more democratic.<br />

See<br />

www.tradejusticemovement.orE. ul


diary<br />

I<br />

\<br />

\<br />

I!<br />

5{ Fobrury<br />

Sodd Rorpondbf,lly of/ln $c iortPrrollt f*cOftor<br />

Spisska Kapitula, Slovakia<br />

fhird seminar organised by the Gertral European Sub<br />

Region ol the World Student Ghristian Federation. Plans<br />

to establish a lorum for young people lrterested in<br />

ecumenical, economic and Gertral European issues.<br />

lf you would like to represert SGM at this evert, see<br />

rvww. movemert.orq.uUdiarv.<br />

8 Febntary<br />

lnioFfrlli lppm*hc to fHcbn<br />

Ammerdown Gonference and Retreat Gerte<br />

An irter-faith day on the meaning and aims of mygticism,<br />

its retevance to toda/s spiritual needs and tte<br />

techniques and elqeriences of individuals and diflerent<br />

laith groups.<br />

t20 lincludes vegetarian lunch and relrcshmentsl<br />

cr centre@ammetdown.org<br />

21-Zl Fcblllty<br />

S[oft.ild SptrlbellU<br />

SGM's annual conference.<br />

For details, see page 13 or<br />

www. movemert,orq.uUAnnualGonf erenco.<br />

21-2{ Flbrurt<br />

Soilddild(201lil<br />

The gathering ol the SPEAI( Network. A weekend of<br />

ideas, vision, prayer and discussion, tollowed by a day ol<br />

action: creative prayer and meeting illPs and other<br />

decision-makerc.<br />

E O2072494309<br />

ei soeak@soeak.org,uk<br />

r www.soeak.org.uk<br />

rK, pftars for tIre sllmmer y&l<br />

The Lingua Franca project is looking for voluntary teachers, who<br />

are willing to:<br />

. travel to Central or Eastern Europe during the summer;<br />

. teach language tor 2-3 weeks;<br />

. tearn and experience the history, religion and everyday life of<br />

the hosting country.<br />

The essence of Lingua Franca is that teachers, course organisers<br />

and students mutually benefit from the language courses.<br />

Teachers from different countries teach language for students in<br />

Central and Eastern Europe. ln an ecumenical context, all pafticipants<br />

share the histories and habits of their countries. As<br />

'payment" teachers are fully hosted and get a unique insight into<br />

the everyday life and cultural and religious traditions of the<br />

hosting country.<br />

The program was developed to help youth and students from<br />

throughout the region learn with and from each other... break<br />

down culturati tinguistic and historical barriers and help empower<br />

young people to work together.<br />

Experience a different kind of world!<br />

Lingua Franca is a program of the World Student Christian<br />

Federation, one of the otdest ecumenical organisations and one<br />

of the few world-wide working student organisat,ons.<br />

For more information and an application form, please contact:<br />

WSCF Lingua Franca, c/o Evangelikus Egretemi Gyulekezet,<br />

Maglar Tudosok Korutja 3, H-1118 Budapest, Hungary<br />

e: wscf_lf@yahoo.com I Zsuzsa Rihay<br />

LinElua Franca co-ordlnator<br />

1{-16 ttdr<br />

Wdkild TtlkWGclild<br />

A weekend in the Sheffield inner city ashram. El0lore<br />

some new realities; meet local actMsts and disciples; stay<br />

with Ashram House memberc, ilo a toumeywalkabout.<br />

ashram has produced lhe loumeyitrtroductory course to<br />

radical Ghristianitv (see pages 19-201.<br />

t40 lincludes accommodationl<br />

Revd Dr lohn Vincent, Ashram Gommunity Office, 178<br />

Abbeyfield Road, Sheflield 54 7AV<br />

t0114 243 6688<br />

15tfth<br />

Prcar h Torrlr - llnfrfrhd Bntnll for tie girdt Todry<br />

Maria Assumpta cedre, 23 Kensington Square' london W8<br />

Pax Ghristi, the international Gatholic movement lor<br />

peace, hold their fortieth anniversary conference'<br />

t10 waged/tS unwaged<br />

PilOrfttl Stlceplfs,Watfod Wry' llendon, Landon t{W4 4IY<br />

20tl dt<br />

Qdd Dryior tont<br />

Ammerdown Gonference and Retreat Centre<br />

Wth creative elements, sharing with others and time to<br />

'be', find new strendh as lesus did in the desert.<br />

t12 lincludes lunch and refreshmentsl<br />

cg centre@ammerdown.org<br />

7-13 lprll<br />

USGF tttd ttc Ecunolcd llorunent - Dl*ovedlg our<br />

rlotr ud looldlgto tltc ttttutt<br />

fuand, Finland<br />

The European Regional Assembly ol the World Student<br />

Ghristian Federation. See unu&.EgyruIl9lc,l&Eiery<br />

lor further details.<br />

a date with Marie?<br />

I am scribbling this as the 9.30 Virgin<br />

train to Birmingham pulls out of<br />

Edinburgh. I have just spent 3 days in<br />

lovely Scotland meeting SCM groups at<br />

Glasgow and Edinburgh. This is mY<br />

favourite part of my job, not catching<br />

trains in the freezing November fog that<br />

is, but actually meeting SCMers.<br />

So if you are planning your programme<br />

and would like a visit from SCM it would<br />

make my day if you were to get in touch. I<br />

have visited lots of groups and you don't<br />

have to be in a interesting city with lovely<br />

art galleries for me to agree to visit. I can<br />

turn up and chat to a group or bring a<br />

workshop with me. My box of tricks<br />

includes thought-provoking stuff on a wide<br />

range of topics, including social justice,<br />

body image, the environment, images of<br />

Christ, mission, and many more.<br />

Visiting helps me to keep in touch with<br />

you and also to bring you the latest news<br />

in what is going in the national movement.<br />

For more details about my workshops see<br />

www.movement.org.uldworkshoos or ring<br />

OL21- 47t 2404 and chat to me about it.<br />

And read about me in my guest starring<br />

role in 'First among equals' on page 24.<br />

8 | movement


headless chicken?<br />

Where now for the Ghurch of England?<br />

the church<br />

As I write this, the Ghurch of England is<br />

officially headless. Archbishop George<br />

Carey, who has headed the church<br />

through the ordination of women and<br />

the decade of evangelism, retired at the<br />

end of October, and Archbishop Rowan<br />

Williams starts in January. Meanwhile,<br />

the Church of England is wandering<br />

around twitching like the proverbial<br />

headless chicken (Proverbs 26:6).<br />

Reform and the Church Society, along with<br />

Forward in Faith, the right and left wings of<br />

the church, are in a flap about Rowan's views<br />

on homosexuality, among other issues.<br />

lrrespective of his reassurances to them, they<br />

are determined to find a liberal plot and are<br />

in the of excludi themselves from<br />

the church. A split of some sort seems<br />

inevitable, then we can just remove the<br />

entrails and roast the chicken.<br />

I suspect there are two prime causes of the<br />

problem - disappointment and (ssshh - are<br />

the children in bed?) postmodernity. George<br />

Carey was a big disappointment to the<br />

evangelicals in the Church of England. They<br />

hoped that now 'one of them' was in control,<br />

everything would be OK. The NIV would be on<br />

every lectern, the ASB would be binned, and<br />

a revised BCP would bring us back to the<br />

glories of our reformed foundation. But it all<br />

went wrong. The decade of evangelism<br />

promised much and delivered nothing.<br />

Women got ordained (shock horror). Carey<br />

disappeared from our TVs, and the future king<br />

got divorced and wanted to be the Defender<br />

of Faiths. Society kept turning away from the<br />

church.<br />

ln many ways George Carey was the last<br />

modern arChbishop, and in that he 'fails'<br />

because society has become a postmodern<br />

one. The conseruatives in both wings of the<br />

church see a liberal in Williams, maybe<br />

because he is a theologian. They are wrong.<br />

Rowan Williams is the first postmodern<br />

archbishop of the Church of England. He is a<br />

poet (even his name is poetic) and a prophet.<br />

He accepts difference, but stands clearly for<br />

his own deep understanding of faith. I believe<br />

he understands the fundamental change that<br />

has happened to our society. The issues that<br />

the conservatives have are the issues of the<br />

modernist with a postmodernist. (See the<br />

critique of Rowan Williams'theology by Garry<br />

Williams, tutor at Oak Hill College, London, at<br />

www. lati mertrust.or9theology:of . htm.)All th is<br />

makes me sure that Rowan Williams is exactly<br />

the right person to help the Church of England<br />

at this time of change. The next few years will<br />

be very painful in the Church of England. We<br />

will continue to shrink and lose both prestige<br />

and finance. Failure will be an increasing part<br />

of our experience. Major splits will occur. We<br />

will not just feel like headless chickens but<br />

trussed and roasted chickens. But out of the<br />

fire and suffering, we may discover that we<br />

are not a chicken but a phoenix. I<br />

Nell Elliott<br />

society kept<br />

turning<br />

away from<br />

the church<br />

Rowan Williams,<br />

fully kifted out<br />

to lead a beheaded<br />

chicken into the future<br />

. Noil Elllott is AnElllcan<br />

chaplain at the Unlvelalty<br />

of Gentral England<br />

movement | 9


worldview<br />

yv orl -,1 vie yY<br />

reports from other student Christian movements<br />

The German student Ghristian<br />

movement, the ESG, was founded as<br />

the Deutsche christliche Studentenvereinigung<br />

(DCSV) in 1895. The DGSV<br />

became part of the World Student<br />

Christian Federation (WSCF) in the<br />

same year. Since the DGSV oPPosed<br />

the so-called 'force into line' of the<br />

Third Reich, it was prohibited in 1938<br />

by the Nazis. The colle$e groups<br />

sought protection from prosecution<br />

under the cloak of the institutionalised<br />

Protestant churches. During this time,<br />

the name'Evangelische Studentenge'<br />

meinde' (rouglhly translated,<br />

'Protestant Student SocietY')<br />

developed. After the war, the 'Evan$elische<br />

Studentengemeinden' of<br />

individual college groups drew to$ether<br />

as the successor organisation to the<br />

DCSV, under the name 'Evangelische<br />

Studentengemeinde in der Bundesre'<br />

publik Deutschland' (ESG).<br />

The ESG understands itself as a<br />

community of lesus Ghrist and lives out<br />

the liberating message of the Bible<br />

Secrelary<br />

Generrl<br />

Office<br />

Working<br />

G<br />

b*<br />

E*,tr<br />

f<br />

General<br />

Assembly<br />

t<br />

ESG<br />

Council<br />

F<br />

about 150 local SCMs in GermanY<br />

Society<br />

GV<br />

Assembly<br />

ofKED<br />

scholarship<br />

holders<br />

\<br />

I<br />

Student<br />

Other<br />

Regional<br />

Regional<br />

* Assemblies<br />

Assemblies<br />

Until 1967, this ESG existed as one organasation<br />

in the two German states. ln 1967'<br />

the organisational separation of the ESG'<br />

into one organisation in West Germany and<br />

one in East Germany, was decided and<br />

carried out, without giving up the inner unit.<br />

Up to the year 1989, narrow relationships<br />

existed between the two organisations'<br />

which were both members of WSCF. With the<br />

union of the two German states the prerequisite<br />

for a union of the two SCMs was<br />

achieved.<br />

The ESG fights for iustice'<br />

peace and Protection of<br />

Greation. lt works in an<br />

ecumenical context<br />

Shaped through German history, until<br />

1945 the ESG always committed itself in a<br />

politically progressive and critical wdY,<br />

working outside the church. The special<br />

situation in Germany after 1945 caused the<br />

organisation to develop differently in East<br />

and West. While the ESG in West Germany<br />

kept sight of its autonomy outside the<br />

church in the context of the student<br />

movement of 1968, the ESG in the East<br />

looked for critical proximity. However, basic<br />

democratic elements were preserved in both<br />

organisations.<br />

The ESG understands itself as a<br />

community of Jesus Christ and lives out the<br />

liberating message of the Bible' lt fights for<br />

justice, peace and protection of Creation. lt<br />

works in an ecumenical context. lt is open to<br />

everybody but not to everYthing.<br />

Today about 150 groups ('communities')<br />

are members of the ESG. Each group is<br />

autonomous. The ESG is supported by group<br />

members, the EKD (Protestant church of<br />

Germany), and the government. The ESG is a<br />

member of many other NGOs and involved in<br />

a lot of activities, for examPle: ><br />

10 lmovement


worldview<br />

. Campaign for Clean Clothing - fair trade<br />

of textiles and textile production in<br />

accordance with human rights;<br />

. Adivasi-Tee-Projekt - supporting a teafarm<br />

for native lndians;<br />

. CANAAL - Camerun-Namibia-Allemagne-<br />

Project;<br />

. International meetings;<br />

. Ecumenical meetings and seminars;<br />

. Seminars and conventions on different<br />

topics relating to church and society<br />

(violence in the Bible, development<br />

politics, Europe, gender-gay issues, and so<br />

on). I<br />

Ulrich Falkenhagen<br />

Secretary General of the Evangelische<br />

Studentengemelndo in der Bundesrepubllk Deut3chland<br />

{<br />

0<br />

Jr<br />

rto<br />

! 0b wscF !<br />

Europe 04<br />

gt Q'lrl trro'<br />

SCM and the ESG are<br />

both members of<br />

World Student Christian<br />

Federation Europe<br />

The red cockerel<br />

symbol of the ESG<br />

Some different meanings of the red cockerel are<br />

. The cockerel is a biblical animal which reminds Peter in the New<br />

Testament of his betrayal of Jesus. ('Before the cock crows you will<br />

have denied me three times.') Thus the cockerel warns the church<br />

of betrayal, and shows it when it is rejecting Christ by its actions. We<br />

should not talk our way out - neither in small matters ('That's not my<br />

job', 'The responsible authorities should take care of that') nor in big<br />

matters, where fear of people leaving the church often blocks the<br />

solidarity with the poor and oppressed which is demanded by the<br />

gospel. The cockerel should admonish us, but also we - as a critical<br />

parish - need to admonish our church.<br />

. The cockerel is well-known as the weathercock on church<br />

steeples, where it shifts with the wind. Maybe the church 'trims its<br />

sails to the wind'. But with the cockerel it is completely different.<br />

It turns with its head against the wind: it crows always against the<br />

wind! The cockerel should remind us to be suspicious of opinions<br />

we are told to be normal and prevailing. We must clearly fight the<br />

'normal'xenophobia and become active, for example.<br />

. ln the age of Reformation 'the rapacious gang of peasants' (Martin<br />

Luther) placed the red cockerel (fire) on the roofs of the lords they<br />

were oppressed by. Whose side was Jesus on at the time, when<br />

Luther was on the side of the lords? Whose side is he on today in<br />

Latin America, in Africa, Asia, in all the issues of our 'two thirds'<br />

society? ... Whose side are we on?<br />

An open doo(? Migration in a European context<br />

What do you think of when you hear the word migration?<br />

Bnin dnin to the States - Aussie nurses and Indian computer technicians - Vbtnames e boat people - Refugiees<br />

trn,pped in the Channel Tunnel - Voucherc - Asylum Seekers - Fortness Europe - Green Card - lnter-religious dialogue?<br />

llout mary of your fan$y tnentets or tien& are 'lIXPlo Bitbtr' (or Webh, or Eglish, whatever) in ttre bt ttree generatiors?<br />

Did any of your family emigrate abroad? ls Britain 'abroad' for you?<br />

ls'economic' miglration more ot less important than 'political' migration?<br />

Why do so many people want to settle in Britain? Why do people want to leave?<br />

How important is Britain's past as a colonial empire for us today?<br />

Ibputt**tHslteBiE*l ban ishtd,lrecan be tnrecfiocydontr,tipue leth? ()rdoes itglue us morcresporcllt1B<br />

Did you know that in the 193Os Britain made it difficult for German Jews to immigrate?<br />

Do you know how many Brits have grandparents who settled here because of the Second World War?<br />

\r<br />

a<br />

a<br />

3<br />

a<br />

! aca<br />

Action Reconcfratin Sentice<br />

for Feace isthe UKbrancfi da<br />

@rnn l{@ set up b sed(<br />

rcconciliation with ofter<br />

\r<br />

onties afterthe Secod u/ofi<br />

!a lAhr. ln &itain tt€y hehed to<br />

tebuf,d Itlo<br />

Corcnuy Caffedral, fur<br />

n<br />

I<br />

e.amplq and tpir UK otrce b<br />

Contact: Anne Katrin Schef$uch, ARSP, 7 Priory Row, Coventry CV1 sES<br />

t: O2476 222 487 . f: O24766:1 14 48<br />

e: anne_katrin_scheffbuch@compuselve.com<br />

movement | 11<br />

rc$/ rpc to the cathedral.<br />

ARSP annually sends about 150 long-term<br />

volunteers to countries which were affected by<br />

Germany in World War !1. Presently our volunteers work<br />

in Bel$um, Belarus, the Czech Republic, France,<br />

Germany, lsrael, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland,<br />

Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.<br />

The volunteers are mostly aged between 19 and 26<br />

and work in a wide variety of organisations, where they<br />

do work such as caring for survivors of the Holocaust<br />

living and working with people with special needs oi<br />

with refugees, community work, Holocaust education.<br />

ln the UK ARSP currently has a group of thirteen<br />

Polish and German volunteers.<br />

A weekend seminar<br />

All these stereotypes, images and questions are important. You have the<br />

chance to think about the truth behind them. lf these questions interest<br />

you, come to the seminar on migration organised by Action Reconciliation<br />

Service for Peace (ARSP). The seminar will take place on 24-27 May next<br />

year, probably in South Wales. As well as British students, the participants<br />

will be young people from Germany and Poland who are currently working<br />

on year-long volunteer projects in the UK. Their work ranges from<br />

mediation programmes in inner city areas or the minimum wage campaign<br />

(see page 221, to running the touring exhibition about Anne Frank that you<br />

might have seen on your campus. Together we can address all aspects of<br />

migration from our different European conteKs - on this island and on the<br />

continent as EU members or candidates.<br />

And even if you can't come to the seminar, all those questions we started<br />

with should be more than enough for you to run a workshop evening in your<br />

SCM group...


=-a<br />

disarming acttons<br />

disarming actions I<br />

helen steven<br />

A challenge too far<br />

we<br />

despenmftefiy<br />

meed fi'trrtrt]F"e<br />

wild folk<br />

with<br />

e hafllemgimg<br />

lifestyles<br />

. This is Helen Steven's last<br />

column, as she is moving<br />

on fYom the Scottish<br />

Centre for Non-Violence to<br />

work with the lona<br />

Gommunity. We thank her<br />

for all hev challenging<br />

witingi in Movenlent, and<br />

wish her every success itr<br />

her new role. FYom next<br />

issue, we will be featudng a<br />

new column on activism'<br />

written by Christian Aid's<br />

Patrick Dawes (s€e page 5).<br />

Sometimes we take the ProPhets for<br />

granted and totally underestimate just<br />

how wild and uncomfortable they really<br />

were - including Jesus of course. John the<br />

Baptist confronted the decadence of<br />

Herod's lifestyle at the cost of his life. Or<br />

take Jeremiah for example. People don't<br />

get shoved into miry pits for being polite<br />

around authority. Nor is one crucified for<br />

being kind to little children and healing<br />

the lame. They were all different to the<br />

point of being not only uncomfortable, but<br />

an actual threat to the established order.<br />

Wherr John the Baptist's disciples came to<br />

ask Jesus whether he was the one John had<br />

foretold, Jesus asked them what they had all<br />

gone out into the desert to see. What were<br />

they expecting? Almost certainly not what<br />

they got. A wild hairy man, living on an<br />

unusual diet, who ranted at them all' telling<br />

tlrem they were a bunch of snakes.<br />

John the Baptist called people to repent. And<br />

he was specific in the actual practical lifestyle<br />

changes that people could make' Repenting<br />

means turning again, giving up the old ways'<br />

being radically different: stop cheating on your<br />

tax returns, stop exploiting the poor, if you have<br />

two shirts, give one away. So where is the difference<br />

from our present day demands to drop the<br />

debt, to scrap the IMF and the World Bank?<br />

Except perhaps that it is not so much a question<br />

of shirts any more - rather houses, cars,<br />

estates, and the GNP of whole countries. A call<br />

to change our destructive ways, such as was<br />

made and ignored at Kyoto. 60,000 people are<br />

flying to the World Summit at Johannesburg' To<br />

wlrat end? How many of these are representa'<br />

tives of vested interests determined to hold<br />

back any change that might save the planet, but<br />

damage their profits? We desperately need<br />

more wild folk with challenging lifestyles.<br />

Jeremiah was an out-and-out traitor to his<br />

people. At a time of national disaster he got up<br />

and told folks that they had it coming to them,<br />

that worse would happen unless they turned to<br />

the paths of righteousness. lma$ne Jeremiah<br />

going public to the media on 12 September and<br />

saying that the chickens were coming home to<br />

roost for the rich countries of the capitalist<br />

world; that this was just the beginning of the<br />

terror they could expect. I suspect it migltt be<br />

classed as un-American activity, insensitive to<br />

the point of brutality, and downright treason.<br />

Our world is being dragged to the brink of one<br />

of the most dangerous times in its history to<br />

serve the interests of corporate America, with<br />

the UK following closely in its wake' What must<br />

it be like for an lraqi citizen to hear daily a<br />

discussion as to whether or not her country is<br />

going to be brought to its knees, bombed to<br />

oblivion? lt has been su€gested that Britain's<br />

Trident nuclear submarines be deployed in the<br />

Gulf, so that should the 'nuclear threshold' be<br />

crossed, it will be Britain that becomes the prime<br />

target and not the US. For many years now US<br />

Strategic Air Command has been talking about<br />

'full-spectrum dominance' of space, so that<br />

targets can be pinpointed anywhere in the world<br />

from space. This programme depends on the<br />

telecommunications base at Fylingdales in<br />

Yorkshire for its effectiveness.<br />

So what are we doing about it? Recently I<br />

heard of a Puerto Rican woman called Alexandrina<br />

who protested at her home in Vieques being<br />

used as a bombing practice range. She was<br />

sentenced to 35 years in prison for anti-<br />

American activities. At the present moment the<br />

nofth coast of Scotland is being used for the<br />

same purpose. So why are we not filling up the<br />

jails? Where is our un-American activity? And let<br />

us not stop at bein$ un-American, it is time we<br />

were seen as being actively opposed to British<br />

government policy. We can start with the letters,<br />

but we cannot let it rest there. We can join the<br />

Pledge to Resistance should war be declared on<br />

lraq. We need to oppose injustice and wrong<br />

until it hurts.<br />

ln previous articles I have referred to Jesus'<br />

direct action in the Temple, overturnin$ the<br />

tables. lt is only in the last week after studying<br />

with a colleague of Walter Wink that I began to<br />

realise the tull extent of the Temple Riot. Firstly<br />

the sheer size of the court of the Gentiles in the<br />

Temple in Jerusalem was about three quarters of<br />

a mile long, by half a mile. lt says that Jesus<br />

stopped anyone from carrying anything across it!<br />

How on earth did he do it? How did anyone<br />

notice a few tables being kicked over in a corner<br />

of such a huge area? How did he make himself<br />

seen and heard? lt must only have been<br />

because many other people joined in and it must<br />

have become a full-scale riot, to the point where<br />

he couldn't be arrested because of the crowd.<br />

However, in spite of their challenging<br />

behaviour, in spite of their uncomfortable words,<br />

people still flocked to see these prophets. They<br />

must have been attractive people, fun to be with'<br />

living the life of God's kingdom to the tull. These<br />

are the kind of people we are called to follow.<br />

'Christians should be without fear, happy, and<br />

always in trouble' (D Steere). I<br />

L2 | rrovenrent


celebrity theologian<br />

I<br />

fr<br />

1*.,p<br />

:iG<br />

.+-,<br />

2a't<br />

-rt<br />

Celebrity<br />

Theologian<br />

lohn Milbank<br />

Who is he, and what does<br />

he do?<br />

The Francis Ball Professor of Philosophical Theology at<br />

the University of Virginia. Previously, he was a Reader in<br />

Philosophical Theology at the University of Cambridge.<br />

What has he written?<br />

He did his doctoral worl< on the ltalian thinl


small ritual<br />

tr<br />

small ritual I<br />

Whose story?<br />

steve collins<br />

Whose story<br />

does the<br />

music in<br />

your church<br />

embody -<br />

your own,<br />

or someone<br />

elsets?<br />

lf someone<br />

elsets,<br />

whose?<br />

. Steve Collins is a wtiter<br />

and web designer in<br />

London, and is involved<br />

in alternative worship<br />

Since recorded music was invented a<br />

century ago, all kinds of music have<br />

become available to all of us. For the<br />

first time in human history, we can<br />

have any music we want, whenever<br />

and wherever we want. We choose<br />

from the $reatest varietY of music<br />

available to any society in history. But<br />

our choices are lar$ely determined by<br />

which story we want to Put ourselves<br />

into. Every genre of music embodies<br />

and evokes its own story of social and<br />

personal identity. ln listenin$ we take<br />

part in those identities, even if only in<br />

imagination. Rejection of music is<br />

often about rejecting the identity it<br />

weaves.<br />

But if music embodies life-story, what<br />

about the music in church? Whose story<br />

does the music in your church embody -<br />

your own, or somepne else's? lf someone<br />

else's, whose? Thinking in terms of lifestory<br />

takes us beyond the usual arguments<br />

over 'good' and 'bad', 'contemporary' and<br />

'traditional', and helps us see why musical<br />

style and change are such fraught issues in<br />

churches. The music we use in church can<br />

be a potent representation of our story to<br />

God. lf the music does not represent us,<br />

belongs to another story, we could be<br />

alienated at the point where we most need<br />

connection.<br />

The story embodied in our chosen music<br />

is often an inner story that circumstances<br />

will not allow to be expressed in any other<br />

way. lf this is so it's all the more important<br />

for us to use that music in our dealings with<br />

God, for honesty and freedom's sake. lf we<br />

can do this, church becomes a space of<br />

liberation, where our hidden selves can be<br />

expressed to God and to one another. We<br />

can recover our sense of who we are, and<br />

find strengfh to resist the pressures to be<br />

otherwise.<br />

But the musical menu available in most<br />

churches is very limited by comparison to<br />

the world outside. The music itself isn't<br />

necessarily bad, but the chances are it's<br />

alien both in style and in the way the music<br />

is used. ln limiting the forms of music that<br />

are permitted, churches limit the life-stories<br />

that are permitted expression. Often it has<br />

been forgotten that every story was<br />

someone's story at some time in history'<br />

and churches lapse into essentialism'<br />

saying this story is the only story for<br />

Christians, and to be a Christian you must<br />

walk in it. ln cultures where there are few<br />

musical stories this may suffice as an<br />

argument, but in our own culture we are<br />

aware of a great many musical stories, and<br />

have already placed ourselves somewhere<br />

among them as a part of our growing up.<br />

Story isn't necessarily about following a<br />

single genre. Mostly we weave several, and<br />

creatively appropriate music from<br />

seemingly different storylines into our own.<br />

Nor is it just about musical style, which is<br />

why Christian substitutes 'in the style of'<br />

don't always work. We expect artists to live<br />

up to the stories embedded in their music -<br />

in short, credibility. lt's been said that the<br />

job of the artist is to go through extreme<br />

states on our behalf, so that we can work<br />

through these things vicariously and<br />

survive. lf so it's no wonder that 'Christian'<br />

exercises in decency and moderation failto<br />

heal us.<br />

ln the light of all this, churches need a<br />

much more complex approach to music<br />

than they have generally demonstrated.<br />

Music in this context is a means of<br />

communication and expression between<br />

ourselves and God. lf the music we use in<br />

church represents us, then communion with<br />

God takes place within our own story. And<br />

since the music of our own story runs<br />

throughout our lives, when we discover how<br />

to make communion with God in it in one<br />

place it can, potentially, be a vehicle for<br />

communion with God anywhere, anytime<br />

else. Church is no longer an event outside<br />

our storyline, but an event within it.<br />

I've discussed the issue of life-story in<br />

terms of music, because music is its most<br />

potent carrier in our society, and we all<br />

understand the dynamic. But it's worth<br />

asking the question of all aspects of<br />

church, the liturgical, the visual, the<br />

theological - whose story is this? lf not<br />

mine, whose? Can I take it for my own' or<br />

would it be a charade? And what would it<br />

look like if re-embodied in my story? I<br />

14 | movement


feature: i ntrod uci ng christian ity<br />

introducin$,<br />

christianity<br />

Our feature this issue explores the various courses currently available which try to<br />

introduce non-Ghristians to the church or to Ghristian belief.<br />

The aim of all these courses is essentially to create new Ghristians - although, as<br />

we'll see, different courses may create different kinds of Ghristian! The idea of<br />

evangelasm, in this form or any other, can be problematic in our multicultural<br />

society. So we start with a piece by theologian Tim Gorringe, exploring the deeper<br />

implications...<br />

evangettbm in<br />

a €Iobattbed world<br />

Can we spread the gospel whilst still respecting difference?<br />

When delegates met in Edinburgh in<br />

1910 for the lnternational Missionary<br />

Conference, they were clear that their<br />

agenda was 'the evangelisation of the<br />

world in this generation'. No qualms for<br />

them: the map was coloured red; the<br />

sun never set over the British empire;<br />

humankind was visibly caught up in the<br />

great leap forwards, and the Christian<br />

gospel had to leaven that. What<br />

followed we all know: two world wars,<br />

the Holocaust, and then the carving up<br />

of the world for the profit of the multinational<br />

corporations. As we approach the<br />

l00th anniversary of that conference,<br />

we are in a different world. ln this brief<br />

article I willjust haghlight two points of<br />

difference. First, though imperialism<br />

remains a fact of life, there is a greater<br />

cultural self-confidence on the part of<br />

all humankind's constituents than there<br />

was at that earlier time. We recognise<br />

this in speaking of 'multiculturalism',<br />

the demand that difference be<br />

respected, and the insistence that<br />

there is no Archimedean point from<br />

which all standpoints can be assessed.<br />

Does this mean, then, that evangelism<br />

is just Western arrogance? The question<br />

is serious, and posed to Christians by<br />

many critics.<br />

A sensitive response to this question has<br />

been developed by the Jesuit Michael Barnes.<br />

The heart of his proposal is to understand God<br />

as involved in the experience of otherness.<br />

We are all familiar from Matthew 25 with the<br />

idea that we encounter God in our neighbour.<br />

ln Barnes'terms, God is'the primary Other'. lf<br />

that is the case, then openness to God means<br />

openness to others, and this is at the root of<br />

any Christian theolo$/. The aim of encounter<br />

cannot be conquest or conversion. lt is simply<br />

genuine meeting, the situation in which I<br />

genuinely hear what the other has to say. This<br />

is always fraught with difficulty, and never<br />

perfectly realised. ln every kind of meeting we<br />

always find ourselves in a 'broken middle', a<br />

relationship which is always under negotiation.<br />

Thinking of relationship like this, argues<br />

Barnes, allows us to imagine a situation<br />

where we can be passive in the face of the<br />

other without being crushed by them. He<br />

suggests that this is what we find in the<br />

famous 'Christ hymn' of Philippians 2 which<br />

speaks of Christ 'taking the form of a slave',<br />

but accomplishing redemption precisely by<br />

doing so. Christian theolory is rooted in the<br />

story of the God who is Emmanuel, the Word<br />

spoken in the 'broken middle' of the world,<br />

who still goes on speaking through the spirit<br />

which leads the disciples into all the truth.<br />

What they share is what God can do in and<br />

through human weakness. This is one form of<br />

Christian mission in a multicultural world.<br />

What about the situation of the imperialism of<br />

the multinational corporation, backed up by the<br />

might of US firepower? How does that affect our<br />

concept of evangelism? Another Jesuit, Aloysius<br />

Pieris ftom Sri Lanka, argues that evangelism )<br />

Tim Gorringe<br />

openness to God means<br />

openness to others,<br />

and this is at the root<br />

of any Ghristian theology<br />

movementl15


feature: introduci ng christianity<br />

means quite centrally addressing a society in<br />

the thrall of materialism, of Mammon. ln Jesus'<br />

he argues, the irreconcilable antinomy between<br />

God and Mammon and the irrevocable covenant<br />

between God and the poor are made flesh. True<br />

evangelism is to live this out in fellowship with<br />

the authentic spirituality and liberative<br />

dimensions of other reli$ons. Note, evangelism<br />

does not mean in the first instance displacing<br />

True evangelism is to live in fellowship<br />

with the authentic spirituality and<br />

liberative dimensions of other religions<br />

. Tim GorrinEle has wotked<br />

in parishos' taught<br />

theology in south lndia'<br />

worked a3 a college<br />

chaplain ln Oxfold' and<br />

lectuled at St Andrewg<br />

and Exeter, where he is<br />

now St Luke's Plofeseor<br />

of Thoological Studies. He<br />

was chaptain to SCM ln<br />

the 1970s.<br />

other reli$ons. On the contrary, Pieris argues<br />

that each of the great reli$ons has its own<br />

version of the Sermon on the Mount, the Truth<br />

that sets us free from being tied to things that<br />

cannot $ve us freedom. The Asian churches (but<br />

why just the Asian churches?) have to experience<br />

solidarity with non-Christians by witnessing<br />

to the spirituality common to all reli$ons (by<br />

practising the Beatitudes); and reveal their<br />

Christian uniqueness in proclaimingJesus as the<br />

new covenant by joinin$ the poor against<br />

Mammon's principalities and powers that create<br />

poverty and oppression. ln a $obalised world, I<br />

would argue, that is as true in London,<br />

Birmingham or Glasgow as in Colombo'<br />

The attempt to serve Mammon, whether or<br />

not in the name of God, is the decisive marker<br />

of what is not of God's Spirit. Whatever frees<br />

us from Mammon is of the Spirit. We experience<br />

solidarity with such anti-Mammon forces<br />

and we proclaim Jesus as the new covenant in<br />

solidarity with the Poor.<br />

lf this is a true account of evangelism it<br />

follows that mission campai$ns which rely on<br />

huSe quantities of money, or on the strength<br />

of imperial orders, are confiadictions in<br />

terms. What it actually means to make<br />

disciples of nations is to baptise them into a<br />

spirituality of nonacquisitiveness and<br />

nonaccumulativeness which guarantees a<br />

healthy, ecologically balanced sharing of our<br />

resources. The cross is not, as it is for much<br />

Protestant preaching, 'the price for sinners<br />

paid' but the price fixed by the rich who refuse<br />

to be evangelised by the poor. 'lf one day we<br />

truly take up this cross as a body and go<br />

underground and pay that price for the sake<br />

of our intimidated masses, that day the world<br />

will see the miracle it is yearning to see' a<br />

church which has been evangelised by the<br />

poor, and therefore, a church that has<br />

become Good News to the poor, as Jesus<br />

was'. As each religion discovers that in the<br />

other which liberates from acquisitiveness it<br />

discovers and renames itself precisely in and<br />

through encounter.<br />

Pieris warns that the liberating spirituality of<br />

the religions is gradually being extinguished<br />

by the wave of capitalistic techniculture that<br />

has begun to shake the relisious foundation<br />

of all cultures. 'The market economy (which<br />

thrives on the quest for profit) and<br />

consumerism (which plays to our accumulative<br />

instinct) have enthroned Mammon where,<br />

once, the human Person and the human<br />

community as well as the earth on which we<br />

live, were the sole beneficiary'. This is, I<br />

believe, the key perspective in any contemporary<br />

theoloSl of evangelism. Gospel is good<br />

news, and this has to be addressed to the<br />

situation of the day, in our case one where<br />

the possibility of the continuance of life as we<br />

know it is threatened by the rapacity of<br />

present economic practices, as '2,000<br />

concerned scientists' warned in 1996.<br />

Reviewing my ATheologr of the Built Environ'<br />

rnent, which examines these claims, John<br />

Macquarrie dismissed it as the work of 'an old<br />

fashioned Christian Socialist'. The question<br />

we are left with, though, is what the gospel<br />

can be today, other than a warning and a call<br />

to repentance in the name of the God of life?<br />

Evangelism in our context is, as it was for the<br />

prophets, a sombre business, and it is<br />

certainly not primarily about getting more<br />

bums on pews. lt is, as it has always been, a<br />

callto repentance, but not one which is made<br />

in competition with other religions. On the<br />

contrary, its primary concern is obedience to<br />

the God of life, and engagement with all that<br />

makes for death. I<br />

Tim Gorrin$e<br />

see also,,,<br />

M Barnes, Theolo$y and the Dialo$ue of<br />

Retigions, Cambrid$e: Cambrid$e<br />

University Press, 2002<br />

Pieris, Fire and Water, Maryknoll: Orbis'<br />

1996<br />

'Evangelism is a call to repentanGe, hut not one<br />

which is made in competition with other religions'<br />

16 lmovement


{<br />

feature: introducing christianity<br />

marketin$the Sospel<br />

For years, the Alpha course has been used by many churches and groups as a way of<br />

introducing'unchurched' people to Ghristianity. But dissatisfaction with the Alpha<br />

approach has led to the development of several alternative courses. We compare and<br />

contrast the different courses, and look at people's experiences of Alpha...<br />

Alpha<br />

Did you know?<br />

Accordingj to Stephen<br />

Hunt's book Anyone<br />

tor Alpha?, only<br />

3-4% of participants<br />

in Alpha courses<br />

become Christians<br />

at the end.<br />

Most 'introductory'<br />

courses are actually<br />

attended mainly by<br />

existing churchgoers.<br />

Developed at Holy Trinity Brompton over the last 20 years and now headed by Revd Nicky<br />

Gumbel, Alpha is the longest-established and best-known of the introductory courses. The<br />

organisers say that thousands of courses are now running in many countries. They also say<br />

that it's used in secular locations - prisons, businesses and schools. Alpha bills itself as a<br />

fifteen-session practical introduction to the Christian faith, aimed especially at people who<br />

don't go to church. At Holy Trinity, Alpha courses are held throughout the year and have<br />

hundreds of people attending each week. The syllabus for the course is contained in a book<br />

called Questions of Life. Some courses are held during the day, but most are evening events,<br />

with a light meal followed by a talk. Then participants break into pre-arranged groups of<br />

around a dozen people (in which they remain for the entire course) to discuss the talk. A<br />

team of around three or four 'leaders' or 'helpers' from the host church is attached to each<br />

group. There is also a weekend away focusing on the subject of the Holy Spirit.<br />

The problem for many people is that Alpha introduces participants to a very particular kind<br />

of Christianity. The emphasis is very much on the evangelical, charismatic side of Christian<br />

faith, and on participants 'accepting the Lord Jesus into their heafts' (or words to that effect).<br />

Whilst a dissatisfaction with this approach<br />

has led to the creation of at least one of the<br />

alternative courses now available, it hasn't<br />

stopped people adapting Alpha lo work with<br />

a much more open view of faith. We asked<br />

some SCM members and groups to reflect<br />

on their experiences of Alpha, and you can<br />

see what they thought below.<br />

tii"Jrot<br />

""\^Icomers' . -,..^ment with Atohl<br />

Y: "<br />

il*";,,' y:::l":t Hi!I"*l: i::r:'ffSi,i#Fl<br />

,'<br />

*tr'5fiff{*g*$$g-ffi<br />

postglraduate<br />

student<br />

everyone l".u]ll;,., armosphere.<br />

a warm and trtetrur] uu"--'<br />

,ames,<br />

Gontact<br />

Alpha lnternational, Holy Trinity Brompton,<br />

Brompton Road, London SW7 1rA<br />

:<br />

t; 020 7581 8255<br />

f: O2O 7584 8536<br />

e.' info@alphacourse.org<br />

w: www.alphacourse.org<br />

:,t^:o to hetp read an Atpha cot,,,<br />

;ffi#;lXts:,i"ul #"l:::e<br />

when<br />

aso'<br />

unr€, I was ii:- "t<br />

;t';",,#3rs<br />

tendency to rorll? ilfi ;r"J" at the<br />

;lll',rxn:rxiH;jfi"lf:#<br />

19." : rn e probtJri",-"j' ]rjls .!n at it e n co urquesttons<br />

,^, .il is that it "n."],<br />

;;ffi;#'.;1"T^,"_,f ;;;il;;:'ifr";l<br />

iiii:,:,?#'ix. e*f:["i:;ffi ? fi :l:l<br />

fl-'Tl,:",yl<br />

"; r#"J:u_ aso, €Vonererica<br />

r<br />

ffi ff :J:f "" j::"*;.y."*"SiTl?fi ;<br />

_13:u^y,tn<br />

"il;;r:"', l]lh..,'ourdn't go<br />

ffi**;*li',ffi<br />

Symon, individual SGM rnember<br />

movement | 17


feature: introduci ng christianity<br />

i;ip,;1*ildt:',i{1:{'$ii"$"ritth"ffi<br />

:ilt'H:"Tir#i^x::'"iy#l"lTiffi '<br />

ft 'i:{,riilffi ffi r*:iliL.ik:iFHl:;'diiffi<br />

ff*'ffi ffiEi#itr'H*#ff fi $g#gw<br />

The Holy Spirit weekend supplied a goo(<br />

:lrtr**l+****{tfft#fi*fff*ffi<br />

[tili*'i''ffi ,l:*i+$[ifr i:'l*i*q-qri[*'Tiffi<br />

the kingdom grow<br />

Emmaus: The Way of Faith, launched in 1996 is<br />

an introductory course developed principally<br />

tllllAul within and for the Church of En$and. The<br />

organisers describe it as an enabling resource,<br />

aiming to be flexible and suitable for a range of<br />

r |r ilAus tmditions and using effective educational and<br />

evangelistic methods. They say their theological<br />

view of Christian faith and mission is 'otthodox"<br />

A range of Emmaus books is available from Church House<br />

Publishing, the<br />

Church of England's<br />

publishing company.<br />

Over 50,000 books<br />

have been sold.<br />

Contact<br />

Sheridan James, Emmaus Co-ordinator<br />

e o20 7a98 t524<br />

e; sheridan james@c-of-e.org.uk<br />

w; www.natsoc.ord.ulr/emmaus<br />

Alpha, Emmaus and now Journey are the<br />

best-known introductory courses, backed<br />

up by publications and support networks,<br />

but there are other courses, including<br />

many smaller ones developed at a local<br />

level. Some you may come into contact<br />

with include:<br />

. Essence - just published, again bY<br />

evangelicals within the Church of England,<br />

this is apparently aimed specifically at<br />

people interested in New Age or more<br />

general spirituality. lt claims to offer a<br />

'contemporary meditative journey'.<br />

. Credo - a course written by Lindsay<br />

Owen, Bishop of Horsham in Sussex,<br />

aiming 'to bring people to faith in the<br />

Lord'.<br />

. A Rou9h Guide to Christianity - a local<br />

course in Holloway run bY Dave<br />

Tomlinson. A more open approach, he<br />

says it's suited for 'Alpha dropouts'.<br />

JOtrK N€Y<br />

EaPloulrutt<br />

Jilo<br />

hapluniP<br />

ffi<br />

JOHN VINCENT<br />

rest of this feature<br />

focuses on Joumey, with an overuiew of the<br />

course on page 19 and an interview with its<br />

creator on page 20.<br />

Journey: fuetorations into Discipleship is a new course taking a<br />

rather different approach from that of Npha or Emmaus. The<br />

emphasis is on questioning and exploration, and on a practical form<br />

of Christianity taking its form firstly in social and communal action<br />

rather than specific belief. lt's being developed and run by the<br />

Ashram Community, an experimental Christian community in<br />

Sheffield which has a history of working together with SCM groups.<br />

Joumey promises to offer an honest and fresh way of introducing<br />

people to Christianity in a multicultural society, and of helping people<br />

to think critically<br />

about faith. The<br />

Contact<br />

Ashram Community, 178 Abbeyfield Road,<br />

Sheffield 54 7AY<br />

t: OL784 456 474<br />

e:@or<br />

linda@petermarshall.cix.co.uk<br />

God Made<br />

Simple<br />

,sa<br />

resource<br />

#-." from SCM<br />

which<br />

gives a lively and<br />

accessible synopsis<br />

of many common<br />

questions about God<br />

and theologiical<br />

responses to them -<br />

an excellent resource<br />

for new Christians.<br />

See page 3O for<br />

details of how to<br />

order publications<br />

from SCM.<br />

18 | movement


feature: i ntroduci ng ch ristian ity<br />

1<br />

journeyins<br />

af<br />

toSether<br />

lohn Vincent is responsible for the radical introductory course lourney: Explorations into<br />

Discipleship. This article is based on a talk he gave at the Greenbelt festival in 2002.<br />

Why'Journey'?<br />

I got groups of people all round the country to<br />

meet with me and prepare sections of this<br />

introductory course to radical Christianity. We<br />

thought of the word 'Journey' fairly early on,<br />

and said, 'Let's talk first about people's own<br />

personal journey. Let's assume that faith<br />

takes place in a person's life, and isn't just<br />

related to specific "religious" actions.'<br />

Secondly we tried to look at the journey of<br />

Jesus and see how far it provides an example<br />

of what makes sense of existence for people<br />

today. lf only we could describe the life of<br />

Jesus Christ in such a way that people say,<br />

Yeah, that's something worth following', then<br />

we might have a new version of Christianity<br />

that was based not upon arguing about<br />

people's beliefs, but upon people setting their<br />

own life journey and commitment to God within<br />

the compass of the obediences that they feel<br />

called to in a contemporary violent world.<br />

Thirdly we said, 'This group of people who<br />

get together, hopefully in each other's homes<br />

without benefit of clerg/, needs to take a<br />

journey.' This is not a course where some<br />

clever (or unclever) person delivers lectures,<br />

and everybody asks questions about the<br />

wisdom (or ignorance) that has been<br />

revealed. This is a course where the leaders<br />

are fellow pilgrims. They don't have all the<br />

answers, but they are committed to Jesus<br />

and to discipleship.<br />

We encourage groups to find places where<br />

Christian stuff is going on, and visit them. lt<br />

could be the local charismatic church where<br />

they've got a house group, a group of radical<br />

Ghristians running a coffee bar, a group of<br />

people related to Greenbelt or a local lona<br />

Community group. And within this journey that<br />

the group makes together, we sugg;est that<br />

the fiesorrrces<br />

Jou&Ngy<br />

6<br />

I<br />

ltu<br />

fr&d'A+<br />

m<br />

they go on retreat with a religious community,<br />

and that they spend a weekend in an inner city<br />

Christian community, which confronts you with<br />

visible discipleship to Jesus Christ.<br />

The nature of Christian discipleship<br />

ln the gospel of Mark - the guide behind a lot<br />

of the teachingin Journey - discipleship does<br />

not begin in your head or your heart, it begins<br />

with your feet. The first word in discipleship in<br />

Mark is, 'Follow me'. And the people called<br />

knew pretty much nothing about the caller.<br />

The second thing in Mark is your stomach -<br />

you have meals together. The third thing is<br />

your hands -<br />

you engage in mission. Jesus<br />

sends his disciples out on a mission to teach,<br />

preach and heal, and cast out demons, when<br />

what little they know about him is completely<br />

wrong. And yet he keeps involving them in his<br />

own mission, which I find rather merciful and<br />

useful, as my practice should always be<br />

ahead of my understanding. lf my<br />

understanding had to come before my<br />

practice, I would never have been where I<br />

was as a disciple, and never have made the<br />

discoveries that I've made through my life.<br />

So, begin with your feet, move to your<br />

stomach, move to your hands, and then<br />

perhaps to your heart. Only in chapter 8 of<br />

Mark are the disciples asked, 'Who do you<br />

say I am?', and their answers happen to be<br />

wrong. lt makes absolutely no difference to<br />

Jesus - he couldn't care less whether you call<br />

him Messiah or Son of Man or Saviour or Lord<br />

or anything else. What really matters is what<br />

you do with your guts and your hands and<br />

your feet, and your commitment as a person<br />

in the modern world. I<br />

John Vincent<br />

faith takes<br />

place in a<br />

personts<br />

life, and<br />

isn't iust<br />

related to<br />

specific<br />

'religious'<br />

actions<br />

. John Vlncent lB a former<br />

Prosldent of the<br />

Mothodlst Church,<br />

Dhoctor of the Urban<br />

Communlty In Sheffleld.<br />

The book Journey: Explorations rn Discipleshlp is arranged as a workbook, with twelve stages, each<br />

accompanied by a visual symbol which becomes part of the Joumey programme. lt can be used<br />

alongside a Journey Diary, so that through the twelve stages of the journey, participants have a<br />

workbook that they can do their own journey search in. lt's not prescriptive but it's encouraging. Most<br />

of the questions that we ask are practical ones, like 'Where are we going?', 'Why Jesus?' - what to go<br />

for in life, who to be with, how to act, how to prophesy, how to find appropriate communities, and so<br />

on. They're about the journey a person takes on when they become a disciple of Jesus Christ.<br />

There is also a Group Leader's Guide. The first page which tells you how to be a leader is very helpful,<br />

because it tells you that you're no good and that you'll do better by allowing the leadership to become,<br />

as soon as possible, a corporate activity of people who together will find out the way you should go.<br />

lourney t6 O Diary tJ2 O Guide E! O Postage fI O trom Ashram Press (address on page 18)<br />

movementl19


feature: introduci ng christianity<br />

radical dtbcipleshiP<br />

ln this interview, lohn Vincent, the creator ol lourney, talks about its usefulness for<br />

students, and lays down a challenge for SCM members!<br />

There needs<br />

tobea<br />

recognition<br />

of the widest<br />

possible<br />

number<br />

of options<br />

available to<br />

people. We<br />

have nothing to<br />

fear from this<br />

lnspired by John<br />

Vincent's ideas of<br />

community<br />

discipleship?<br />

Then contact the<br />

Ashram CommuniV<br />

(see page 78).<br />

And see Common<br />

People, an SCM<br />

resource about<br />

rnodels of Christian<br />

community, available<br />

for the special Price<br />

of f,2.5O (including<br />

postage) until April<br />

2O03. See page 30<br />

for details of how to<br />

order SCM resources.<br />

<strong>Movement</strong><br />

20 lmovement<br />

Does .lourney address the interrelationships<br />

between Christianity and other faiths?<br />

We have a section which just asks, 'What was<br />

Jesus' attitude to other faiths?' He didn't<br />

obserue some of his own faith's rituals, he<br />

challenged the Old Testament interpretation of<br />

the law, he challenged the Jews' monopoly on<br />

God and called religious leaders hypocrites. He<br />

went beyond basic moral requirements in his<br />

attitude to the Samaritan woman and in the<br />

parable - talking about 'The Good Samaritan'<br />

then was like talking about 'The Good Muslim'<br />

now. And the Samaritan leper who comes back<br />

and says thank you. And the Gentile centurion<br />

who calls him son of God' These are all people<br />

who are raised up by Jesus. And the parable<br />

says that entrance to the kingdom doesn't<br />

depend on saying, 'Lord'to Jesus. Those things<br />

are very important. We're in a postmodern time<br />

and there needs to be a recognition of the<br />

widest possible number of options available to<br />

people. We have nothing to fear from this. The<br />

sooner we get out of a Christendom situation'<br />

in which people are under oppression by any<br />

denomination or religion, the better. ln that<br />

sense, I think people who live in inner cities are<br />

very privileged, because they can see and<br />

welcome the pluralistic situation that in the<br />

end is going to come to all of us.<br />

lourney is intended to be used by small<br />

groups outside church institutions, and you<br />

talk a lot about the future of Christianity<br />

lying in 'para-communities' outside the<br />

traditional church. How do you think that<br />

would affect campai$ning organisations'<br />

such as Jubilee 2000? Willwe lose some of<br />

the ability to co-operate on a national level?<br />

No, I don't think so at all. I think that you would<br />

have to say, instead of 'Christian Churches<br />

Together in Britain and lreland', 'Christian<br />

Communities Together in Britain and lreland'.<br />

And you've got to find out what the alternative<br />

Christian communities are in your area. There<br />

are already many Christian churches - black<br />

churches, community churches, charismatic<br />

churches, house churches, and so on - that<br />

don't belong to the so-called Churches Together.<br />

So this is all going to happen in the next 10 or<br />

2O years. What is important is that there should<br />

be radical Christian communities alongside the<br />

much more conservative ones that invariably are<br />

the ori$n of the house church movements.<br />

Given the pluralism and multiculturalism of<br />

our society, why should 'outsiders' want to<br />

explore and $et involved in Christianitf<br />

I think that Christianity is a viable way of<br />

confronting the contemporary world with a<br />

radical challenge to alternative living. And I<br />

don't see that radical challenge coming from<br />

any other source. There is great interest in<br />

other faiths, in New Age, in all kinds of spirituality.<br />

What I'm interested in is getting a<br />

hearing for radical Christianity as a challenge<br />

to the normal waY of living life.<br />

Do you have anY comments on using<br />

lourney in a universitY setting?<br />

It has been used in a number of university<br />

contexts. I expect it should work there pretty<br />

well, because university students would<br />

respond to the practical approach: going round<br />

visiting places, being exposed to different<br />

Christian communities and philosophies'<br />

meeting Christian disciples, with the intention<br />

of forming some kind of alternative group to<br />

discover what the discipleship and vocational<br />

implications are for Christians. I think that this<br />

element has been missing from the Student<br />

Christian <strong>Movement</strong>, actually. There was a time<br />

in the sixties and seventies when SCM was very<br />

closely allied to experimental Christian<br />

communities in inner city areas. The Ashram<br />

Community in the seventies used to work very<br />

closely with the university chaplaincies in<br />

encouraging people to consider a year or<br />

longer of experiential and vocational<br />

'testing', if you like, in inner city communities.<br />

This all bears out what l've said about the<br />

importance of location, and of experimental<br />

living with one's life: firstly as a way of discovering<br />

what wisdom is, what reality's about, but<br />

secondly as a way of exposinS oneself to<br />

influences outside of the university academic<br />

world - which would determine the way that<br />

people get called into doing significant things'<br />

I can remember times when I would be<br />

visiting half a dozen SCM Eroups every year'<br />

talking about vocation, talking about the<br />

Urban Theologl Unit's study year, talking<br />

about the possibilities of people taking a year<br />

out to do inner city experience. I think that is<br />

a vital element, and I would hope that we<br />

could see a return to that kind of interest from<br />

SCM groups, in practical pieces of community<br />

disciPleshiP. I<br />

Lian Purcell


ties and binds<br />

I<br />

ties and binds I jim cotter<br />

innocence and experience<br />

Crocodile Dundee was an 'innocent<br />

abroad'. What we mean by the word<br />

'innocent' in that sentence is that he<br />

was inexperienced in city life, that he<br />

wasn't streetwise enough for Los<br />

Angeles. ln a subsequent film he was,<br />

what shall we say, 'bushwise' in the<br />

Australian outback, leading a bunch of<br />

city roglues a merry dance - merry,<br />

that is, for Grocodile Dundee.<br />

(Whoops, I hope I haven't given the<br />

Republican Party in America a new<br />

adjective for their President...)<br />

Back to the word 'innocence'. A baby, an<br />

infant who is not yet conscious of the<br />

motives and consequences of human<br />

behaviour, is innocent in two senses:<br />

without much experience and without $uilt,<br />

not yet mature enough to be held to<br />

account for his or her actions. Of course in<br />

a court of law we seek to establish<br />

innocence or guilt in very particular circumstances,<br />

those of a crime which the<br />

accused may or may not have committed.<br />

When both those meanings of innocence'<br />

are combined in the person of the very<br />

young, we can see why we are horrified<br />

when a baby is tossed on the bayonet of an<br />

enemy soldier. So it is that nearly every<br />

report of an atrocity, say a bomb which kills<br />

a dozen people or more in a bus or cafe,<br />

contains a phrase like, 'innocent people<br />

were killed'. I know what the reporters<br />

mean but I am uneasy. They were<br />

bystanders perhaps, but'innocents'? I can't<br />

help thinking that there is a subtle implication<br />

that it might have been all right to blow<br />

them up if they hadn't been innocent:<br />

summary execution of those thought to be<br />

guilty, but without the due processes of law.<br />

The trouble is that we are so used to think<br />

only of tlie innocence or guilt of individuats<br />

in relation to specific acts. We rarely reflect<br />

that there is no adult who has no share in<br />

adding to the gonewrongness of things,<br />

either by actions that harm or by colluding,<br />

even by silence, with injustices and crimes.<br />

I can hope that I shall not be caught up in a<br />

terrorist attack, random in its selection of<br />

those who are killed, but if I am I wonder in<br />

what sense I could call myself innocent', a<br />

reasonably comfortable and well-fed<br />

westerner who could have done more and<br />

could still do more to help eradicate the<br />

causes of such attacks. I am convinced, by<br />

reference to any mature system of law, that<br />

those who perpetrate such terrible acts are<br />

indeed guilty, but so are those retaliators<br />

who, on the basis of secret information and<br />

suspicion, can fire a weapon from a 'drone'<br />

more than 20,000 feet above the ground<br />

onto a jeep whose number plate has been<br />

identified from a powerful camera. And if<br />

such a weapon goes astray and kills a<br />

farmer and his family, I want to cry out with<br />

those reporters, 'But they are innocent of<br />

great offence'. ln the Middle Ages soldiers<br />

returning from the wars had to confess to a<br />

priest if they had killed anyone, and the<br />

more they had killed they greater their<br />

penance. Even if the conflict had been a<br />

'just' one, they were still guilty because<br />

they had killed fellow human beings. How<br />

much more so if you can kill at such a<br />

distance by computers and buttons!<br />

I offer these reflections without any<br />

solutions, but I do think it important that we<br />

are as precise as we can be when we<br />

handle such an ambiguous word as<br />

'innocence'. And there is one further<br />

thought. I wonder if the word can apply to<br />

the attitudes and actions of a few rare<br />

people, usually elderly, experienced (not<br />

innocent in that context), those who have<br />

seen it all, know what is in the human heart<br />

- including their own - and have become so<br />

forgiving that it would be impossible for<br />

them, even for a moment, to contemplate<br />

harming others ever again. Come to think of<br />

it, a bit like Jesus of Nazareth, and maybe<br />

the God he embodied... I<br />

there is no<br />

adult who has<br />

no share in<br />

adding to the<br />

gonewrongness<br />

of things, either<br />

by actions<br />

that harm<br />

or by colluding,<br />

even by silence,<br />

with injustices<br />

and crimes<br />

. Jim Cotter runs Cairns<br />

Publishing, an<br />

independent Christian<br />

imprini<br />

movement |<br />

21


poverly<br />

Iife in aII its fullness?<br />

Gan you help challenge debt on your own doorstep?<br />

CHURCH ACTION<br />

ON POVERTY<br />

Church Actlon on Poveltt/t<br />

vlalt ld4&gbglgts<br />

I9tgtE4It&I|&r wrlte to<br />

Church Actlon on Povertyt<br />

Gentral Bulldlngs, Oldham<br />

Strc€t, Mancheeter M1 lJT,<br />

or call 0161 236 9321.<br />

Throughout the Bible we read how God<br />

and his prophets railed agaanst<br />

injustices, inequitable treatment of the<br />

poor, the vulnerable and the most<br />

marginalised in society. Jesus called<br />

the poor 'blessed' while he talked of<br />

sending the rich away empty. Through<br />

Jubilee 2OOO, the churches were<br />

immensely successful in highlighting<br />

the modern day scandal of international<br />

debt. But have we Elot what it takes to<br />

tackle poverty and debt on our own<br />

doorstep?<br />

How we fail the poor<br />

Whilst it's true that the government has made<br />

a commitment to 'ending child poverty within<br />

a generation', the reality is so far falling way<br />

short of the rhetoric. For all the government's<br />

best intentions, poverty, debt and low wages<br />

continue to blight the lives of millions of<br />

people in this country.<br />

We had a month of living on f,25 per week<br />

(Child Benefitl because we didn't get paid<br />

until the end of the month and it took 2<br />

weeks for the Working Families Tax Gredit<br />

to be sorted out. By the time things were<br />

sorted out we already owed money.t<br />

Penny, mother of two, from the<br />

In the work that Church Action on Poverty<br />

has done with people in poverty over recent<br />

years, one theme which consistently crops up<br />

is the way in which poor peoPle feel<br />

'invisible'. People's own direct experiences of<br />

poverty, and their own attitudes and ideas<br />

about what can be done to tackle it, are held<br />

to be of no value whatsoever.<br />

Debt on our doorstep: time to act<br />

Mary, a lone mother living on a council estate<br />

in south London, struggled to make ends<br />

meet. Her weekly income from child benefit<br />

and income support was barely enough to<br />

keep a roof over her family's head. So when<br />

a neighbour proposed a f-2OO loan to help her<br />

pay off some bills, and buy a pair of new<br />

shoes for her child, she jumped at the offer.<br />

With no job and no bank account, she was in<br />

no position to apply for a loan from a<br />

mainstream lender.<br />

However, Mary ran into difficulties with the<br />

repayments. The neighbour reassured her by<br />

offering her another loan of f,,500 to cover the<br />

outstanding balance. Again, Mary strug$led to<br />

keep up regular payments. This time she was<br />

offered a f,,1,000 loan to help 'settle' the<br />

debt. By last month, what began as a 92OO<br />

loan to pay for bare essentials had turned<br />

into a f.1,,L7O debt she had no means of<br />

paying.<br />

Mary was charged a rate of interest that<br />

anyone familiar with the world of credit cards,<br />

personal loans and overdrafts would consider<br />

extortionate. The loans she took out were<br />

charged at between LTOo/o and 330% APR.<br />

But Mary was not the victim of an illegal loan<br />

shark. Her neighbour was an agent for<br />

Provident Financial, a completely legal<br />

company which, since Victorian times, has<br />

specialised in offering home credit to people<br />

living in communities bypassed by the banks.<br />

Provident Financial is just one of a growing<br />

number of companies reaping huge returns<br />

from the financially excluded.<br />

This is why GAP set up the Debt on our<br />

Doorstep Network - a coalition of over 150<br />

organisations committed to campaigning for a<br />

fair deal for people currently being exploited by<br />

extortionate lending. Compared to many other<br />

EU member states, where caps on interest<br />

rates and tough licensing laws keep check on<br />

lenders targeting the poor, the UK industry has<br />

been left to run a devastating course. lt is an<br />

issue the government is doing little about. >


poverty<br />

Four ways to make a differcnce<br />

) Make a difference with your MONEY:<br />

Join a credit union<br />

Credit unions are mutually co-operative<br />

enterprises, through which people can<br />

save and bonow money at very low rates<br />

of interest. lt is you saving together with<br />

your friends, and provides saving and loan<br />

facilities convenient to you or your<br />

workplace. Your savings could help to<br />

provide loans for those who need them at<br />

a realistic and affordable interest rate.<br />

To find your nearest credit union,<br />

contact the Assocration of British Credit<br />

Unions on O767 832 3694 or visit<br />

www.abcul.or4.<br />

t Make ytxrr nxrney WORK FOR fiE POOR<br />

How much do you $ve to charities that<br />

make a difference? Forget fluffy<br />

animals, your money can work for<br />

change, help tackle social injustice and<br />

give a chance to people who otherwise<br />

wouldn't get one. Give by direct debit or<br />

standing order - it's much more efficient<br />

than one-off donations.<br />

+ Help tackle DEBT ON OUR DOORSTEP<br />

Debt on our Doorstep is a coalition of<br />

over 150 organisations including CAP,<br />

Oxfam, Child Poverly Action Group and<br />

New Economics Foundation, committed<br />

to campaigning for a fair deal for people<br />

currently being exploited by extortionate<br />

lending. Support the campaign to put<br />

an end to e)dortionate lending!<br />

Find out more at<br />

www. debt- o n - o u r- doorste p. co m.<br />

t Sagn the LIVING WAGE pledge<br />

Many of us are members of churches or<br />

have connections with organisations<br />

(including most universities and<br />

colleges) where cleaners or caretakers<br />

are low-paid. Try and get them to sign<br />

CAP's Living Wage Pledge - a public<br />

commitment to pay a 'Living Wage' of at<br />

least f,5.80 an hour.<br />

Find out more at<br />

www. ch u rch - povefty.or g. u k.<br />

'llUhat is<br />

poYerty?<br />

Poverty is a<br />

battle of<br />

invisibility,<br />

a lack of<br />

resources,<br />

exclusion,<br />

powerlessness<br />

... being<br />

blamed for<br />

society's<br />

problems.t<br />

A Living Wage church?<br />

While company directors compete to award<br />

themselves the big$est pay rise, the poor<br />

struggle to scrape together enough to<br />

maintain a decent standard of living. With a<br />

refreshing frankness, the new chairman of<br />

the Low Pay Commission, Adair Turner - a<br />

former director-general of the CBI - has<br />

admitted that he 'couldn't possibly envisage'<br />

surviving on National Minimum Wage of<br />

t4.LO an hour.<br />

The churches themselves have much room<br />

for improvement. Research carried out for<br />

Church Action on Poverty in Greater<br />

Manchester has found that nearly two in<br />

three people employed by churches are paid<br />

less than a Living Wage of 95.80 an hour.<br />

You too can make a difference<br />

What Bono has said of Third World debt could<br />

equally apply to poverty close to home:<br />

'What's on trial here is Christianity itself.<br />

You cannot walk away from this and call<br />

yourself a Christian and sit in power.<br />

Distance does not decide who is your<br />

brother and who is not. The church is<br />

going to have to become the conscience<br />

of the free market ... and stop being its<br />

apologist.'<br />

And according to Jim Wallis, activist preacher<br />

and long time anti-povefi campaigner in the<br />

States: 'Our vocation is not only to pull people<br />

out ofthe river, but to go upstream to find out<br />

what or who is pushing them in.'<br />

So how can we start to go upstream? What<br />

practically can we do to enable others to live<br />

life in all its fullness? Partly this is about being<br />

attentive to real needs and where people are,<br />

but it also involves creative thinking and a real<br />

commitment to sharing. See the box above for<br />

four ways you can make a difference.<br />

lf our society, economy and politicians<br />

continue to fail the poor, we as Christians still<br />

have the power to make a difference. Let it not<br />

be said that we have been found wanting. I<br />

Niall Gooper<br />

D<br />

F,cft)<br />

[orvty<br />

. l{iall Cooper Is Natlonal<br />

Co.ordinator of Church<br />

Actlon on Poverty


first among equals<br />

first among equals I claire connor<br />

Lucy Symons' second term as co'ordinator of an SGM<br />

group begins with a tale of mice and iazzmen'..<br />

There's<br />

an alarming<br />

amount of<br />

sherry, not to<br />

mention the<br />

green ginger<br />

wine, but it'll<br />

make a change<br />

from Bacardi<br />

Breezers<br />

Claire Connor is Catholic<br />

Lay Chaplain at GKT<br />

medical schools, King's<br />

ColleEle London<br />

January 9th<br />

3.00pm Happy New Year! 9 days into 2003<br />

already, and term's about to begin. lt's a bit of a<br />

hassle coming back early and the committee<br />

meeting's not until Friday, but as a sign of my new<br />

economy drive (see new year's resolutions) I<br />

decided to get the cheaper train ticket and travel<br />

today. Mum sent me off loaded down with all the<br />

leftover Christmas cake (why does she do this?)<br />

but a/so the leftover drinks from the festive<br />

season, 'in case you have a little party'. There's an<br />

alarming amount of sherry, not to mention the<br />

green ginger wine, but it'll make a change from<br />

Bacardi Breezers. Think Dad must have stolen<br />

back the whisky when he put my bags in the taxi.<br />

Humph. Right, not much food in, so off to have a<br />

bit of cereal and then do some shopping'<br />

3.75pm Odd. Cereal is almost completely gone'<br />

I'm sure I left a full box of strawberry crunch...<br />

8.OOpm Sitting in ftont of the telly with a $ass of<br />

sherry, watching Corrie. (Slightly worried I may be<br />

tuming into my nan, actually.) Pretty much ready for<br />

the meeting tomonow, hoping Jeremy will have<br />

taken fufther steps on the road back to normality<br />

over Christmas. We managed to persuade him only<br />

to do the unbuttoned-shirt-gold-medallions look on<br />

special occasions, but he still calls me'doll'and has<br />

taken up the trumpet. lt's a bit ... off-putting. I<br />

pointedly gave him M&S vouchers for Christmas.<br />

Anyway, new year's resolutlbns:<br />

1 I will not shout at Jeremy when he calls me<br />

'doll' and does the cool-swagger walk.<br />

2 I will be economical with mY cash.<br />

3 I will not forbid Kevin from organising SCM<br />

socials (despite the fireworks pady debacle,<br />

during which he set fire to most of the rare<br />

plants in the vicarage garden and created a<br />

towering inferno instead of a bonfire. Not to<br />

mention a certain someone who put their foot<br />

through the greenhouse while trying to swagger.<br />

Guess who had to explain to the fire brigade<br />

and replace the plants for Tom's wife...)<br />

4 I will not get into rows with housemates over<br />

sharing food or cleaning rota (although I do<br />

hoover, whatever Jenny says, and I couldn't<br />

care less about her wretched courgette bake<br />

that Saturday night).<br />

Think that's all. Oh, and obviouslY:<br />

5 Will lose half a stone, get up before 8.O0am<br />

and go to lectures looking effortlessly stylish<br />

and not like I've just got out of bed.<br />

January 10th<br />

77.30am Am going crazy. More of my cereal is<br />

gone and I bought a new packet yesterday!<br />

Cannot be Jenny or Dom as they're not back.<br />

What is going on? No time to investigate'<br />

everyone due round in half an hour.<br />

3.O0pm Planning meeting went brilliantly. Am<br />

confident that Jeremy is regaining his former self -<br />

he even ofiered to pick up Marie, the SCM links<br />

wod


eviews: books<br />

revleyvs<br />

J<br />

cinema... books.,. television... art... music...<br />

speakinS in remarkable prose<br />

An impressive first novel, longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2002...<br />

I began to read if nobody<br />

speaks of remarkable<br />

thrnds because I had been<br />

told by people whose opinions I<br />

trust that it was a good book.<br />

However, after reading the first<br />

few pages, I felt that I was being<br />

made to work quite hard to find<br />

the plot amongst the artfully<br />

arranged words. The whole book<br />

is written in prose in a style that<br />

is somewhere between Jeanette<br />

Winterson'sWriften on the Body<br />

and Simon Armitage's poem<br />

'About His Person'. Both the<br />

prose and the characters'<br />

different perspectives of<br />

overlapping periods of time<br />

present difficulties for those<br />

who like to scan-read books in a<br />

matter of hours, and also those<br />

who like to dip into a book at<br />

irregular intervals over an<br />

extended period of time. Trying<br />

to read this book too quickly led<br />

me to feel frustrated at the lack<br />

of instant gratification<br />

regarding the plot - the story<br />

comes together slowly as you<br />

put toglether the emotions and<br />

perspectives of the personalities<br />

whose lives it describes.<br />

I deliberated for quite some time<br />

before writing this review about<br />

whether or not I should try to give an<br />

outline of the plot at all, and came to<br />

the conclusion that it would spoil the<br />

experience for other people, and that<br />

I would probably be doing the author<br />

a disservice by trying to simplifl it in<br />

any way. Once I stopped trying to<br />

if nobody speaks of remarkable things<br />

Jon McGregor I Bloomsbury I 913.95<br />

rush through the book to see what all<br />

the fuss was about, I began to really<br />

enjoy it. Jon McGregor makes the<br />

ordinary seem beautiful, and is<br />

startlingly perceptive. Having felt<br />

that this book might be primarily of<br />

interest to slightly pretentious arts<br />

students, I was surprised to find that<br />

parts of the book made me cry,<br />

whilst others made me want to read<br />

it to friends to see if they felt the<br />

same about it, or to ask them if they<br />

thought a character reminded them<br />

of people we knew.<br />

The whole book shows a series of<br />

moments, some happy, some not, but<br />

so acutely observed that they are<br />

emotionally engaging, and I found<br />

myself wanting to know what would<br />

happen to the characters with whom I<br />

could empathise. Reading about the<br />

private emotions of the characters<br />

feels a little voyeuristic at times, but<br />

the book has been written wellenougfi<br />

for it to be superior, deeper and<br />

perhaps darker than the surface<br />

'reality' presented by reality television<br />

or fl y-on-the-wall documentaries.<br />

if nobody speaks of remarkable<br />

thrngs made me think. lt made me<br />

wonder how much I see of what is<br />

going on around me, how well I really<br />

know the people I'm surrounded by,<br />

and whether they know and<br />

understand me as well as I think I<br />

know them. 2 weeks later, I'm still<br />

thinking. The only part of the book<br />

that really disappointed me was the<br />

ending, because although the main<br />

story was concluded in the logical<br />

place, I was left wondering how<br />

I<br />

of<br />

remarkable<br />

things<br />

things turned out for many of the<br />

characters.<br />

if nobody speaks of remarkable<br />

thrhgs is worth buying in hardback,<br />

taking the time to read thoroughly,<br />

and I'd recommend it to anyone who<br />

likes their recreational reading to be<br />

inspiring, and to provoke thought<br />

about the way they interact with<br />

those around them. I<br />

if<br />

nobody<br />

speaks<br />

.l')ll lt)( j.(<br />

-! -!r)t<br />

""" *XrttT.1,T<br />

Jon McGregor will be writing on<br />

'the importance of story in a<br />

soundbite culture' in issue 114<br />

of <strong>Movement</strong> this April.<br />

The theme of issue 114 will be<br />

'Story and Spirituality', following<br />

on from SCM's annual conference<br />

in February. Not booked<br />

your place yet? See page 13.<br />

movementl25


eviews: music<br />

happy-clappy hippr-es<br />

Do you ever wish you'd been<br />

around in the 1960s hippie era,<br />

or do you dream about being<br />

transported back to it? Listening<br />

to the Polyphonic Spree's new<br />

album will take you there, with<br />

its mellow, Beatles-like psychedelic<br />

sound. However, be<br />

warned! Although individual<br />

tracks may be uplifting, listening<br />

to the whole may make you<br />

stressed or ratty! Hopefully this<br />

wasn't the desired effect!<br />

For those ofyou who haven't heard<br />

of the 2lz-yeaFold Polyphonic Spree<br />

(PS), the group was 'discovered'when<br />

they played at David Bowie's<br />

Meltdown Festival, and their spectacular<br />

live performances have resulted<br />

in an overnight success! lt would be<br />

difficutt not to make an impact with a<br />

group of twenty-five (yes, twenty-five<br />

no less) Texans dressed in white<br />

robes singing and making music on<br />

stage. Why the white robes, you ask?<br />

Tim Delaughter, the lead singer and<br />

co-ordinator of PS, explains in an<br />

interview on the Student Direct<br />

website that the robes express a<br />

sense of unity. They could have gone<br />

for uniformity in less attentiongrabbing<br />

outfits, but the robes have<br />

provoked some interesting discussion<br />

The Be$innin$ Stagfes<br />

of the Polyphonic Spree<br />

The Polyphonic Spree<br />

about whether they are making a<br />

religious statement or not. Some<br />

references to PS describe them as a<br />

group of happy-clappy Christians,<br />

while interviews with Delaughter<br />

suggest that he sees the music and<br />

the experience of performing live in<br />

PS as spiritual in a broader sense.<br />

Delaughter apparently chose the<br />

name 'Polyphonic Spree' because it<br />

summed up the diverse sounds he<br />

wanted to bring together in the<br />

music. They have certainly achieved<br />

this, with instruments ranging from<br />

harp and tablas to synthesiser and<br />

French horn.<br />

The lyrics are<br />

full of optimism<br />

(cynics would say nailetyl<br />

Their album The BeSinnhg Stages<br />

of... came out in October 2002 and it<br />

will be interesting to see if it is as<br />

popular as the live show. A CD<br />

consisting of ten sections (songs to<br />

the rest of us), Beginning Stages<br />

contains a good mix of tracks -<br />

except for the last one, 'A Long Day',<br />

which consists of a 35 minute long(!)<br />

/lilYffrli'ifl' fi,'$,\tr$\\'' l\<br />

irritating droning<br />

noise that makes you get up and<br />

check that your CD player isn't bust<br />

or that you're not being pursued by a<br />

swarm of wasps!<br />

The repetition of simple lyrics by a<br />

multitude of voices (in the style of a<br />

divine mantra) and the intriguing<br />

mixture of instruments give the<br />

album a soothing and hypnotic feel.<br />

The lyrics are full of optimism (cynics<br />

would say naiVety). Lyrics like 'Hey,<br />

it's the sun and it makes me want to<br />

shine... makes me smile' or 'Take<br />

some time, get away, suicide is a<br />

shame, soon you'll find your own way,<br />

hope has come, you are safe' in 'lt's<br />

the sun', sung by fifteen vocalists<br />

and accompanied by spontaneous<br />

celebratory-sounding percussion,<br />

can't help but make you feel inspired<br />

and at one with nature! Catchy tunes<br />

like 'Soldier Girl' imprint themselves<br />

on your brain and leave you humming<br />

them for days.<br />

I thoroughly recommend buying this<br />

CD if you like to try experimental<br />

music that's a bit different! Alternatively,<br />

you could borrow it from a<br />

friend and copy the tracks you like so<br />

that you don't have to pay for the 35<br />

minute long weird track - not that I<br />

would dream of encouraging students<br />

to make illegal copies of CDs! I<br />

Ellie MensinSh<br />

SCM Co-ordlnatol<br />

ls it a choit2 ls it some Mormons?<br />

No, it's the Polyphontc Spree<br />

in their enormous entireV.<br />

Not a bunch of religious weirdos,<br />

apparently.<br />

26 |<br />

movement


eviews: film<br />

srryeet sixteen?<br />

Ken Loach's latest gritty offering requires a strong stomach - but it's wotth the effort.<br />

Sr'xteen<br />

by Ken Loach<br />

Ken loach's latest film is not<br />

for the faint-hearted. The story of<br />

lS-year-old Liam preparing<br />

against all the odds for the<br />

release of his ex-heroin addict<br />

mum Jean from prison does not<br />

pull any punches. Sometimes<br />

quite literally. Liam's mum's<br />

boyfriend Stan and his grandfather<br />

try to get him to smuggle<br />

drugs into the prison for Jean to<br />

sell, and when he refuses, they<br />

beat him up. Liam wants to help<br />

his mum get clean and away from<br />

Stan, and sets his sights on<br />

buying a caravan for them both to<br />

live in. But to get it in time for<br />

Jean's release, he needs to make<br />

money fast. With his mate<br />

Pinball, he muscles in on Stan's<br />

business and starts dealing<br />

drugs, only to find himself up<br />

against the local baron. Liam<br />

starts working for him and at first<br />

it seems the new life he so<br />

desperately wants is within easy<br />

reach, until it becomes clear he<br />

is being drawn ever deeper into a<br />

vicious crime world and increasingly<br />

out of his depth.<br />

The film is set in Greenock, near<br />

Glasgow in the shadow of the closeddown<br />

shipyards, where lives are stifled<br />

by unemployment, crime, family<br />

breakdown and lack of opportunity.<br />

There's an inevitability about Liam's<br />

decision to Sell drugs - Loach and his<br />

screenwriter Paul lavefi met many<br />

kids like him when researching the<br />

film. The director says:<br />

'lt's a door into another kind of<br />

lifestyle ... if you're living in a<br />

place like that, you don't have a<br />

snowball's chance in hell of<br />

affording that lifestyle unless you<br />

get involved in dealing. For a 16-<br />

year-old with nothing, it is quite<br />

attractive.'<br />

There is an irony in the initial<br />

success of Liam's drugs<br />

business. His scheme to get<br />

locaf pizza delivery boys to<br />

double up as heroin couriers is<br />

comically enterprising and a<br />

pointed inversion of the<br />

Thatcherite, capitalist forces<br />

that have crushed his<br />

community. He is a<br />

businessman, determined to<br />

exploit local demand for a<br />

product, albeit an illegal one, to make<br />

money. But he is also just a boy -<br />

when he steals Stan's drugs stash, he<br />

also pinches his grandfather's false<br />

teeth in mischievous revenge. This<br />

prank and others provide welcome<br />

comic relief from the overall<br />

downbeat mood of the film, but also<br />

draw attention to his youth and the<br />

fact that the responsibility he bears<br />

for his family is too great for his age.<br />

Liam is played by Martin Compston,<br />

a t7-year-old professional footballer in<br />

the Scottish League who has never<br />

been in a film before. This is typical of<br />

Loach and it pays off- Compston plays<br />

the part with an immediacy and verve<br />

which makes us care deeply about<br />

what happens to him even as we are<br />

shocked in the latter part of the film by<br />

the choices he makes. This is also<br />

because they do not always seem like<br />

conscious choices - Liam is blinkered,<br />

determined to get what he wants at any<br />

cost and blind to the effect he is having<br />

on others. Unable or unwilling to see<br />

beyond his own situation, he propels<br />

himself on a collision course with<br />

disaster. Even so, the end does seem<br />

rather melodramatic and sentimental,<br />

thougfr not enough to detract fiom the<br />

overall impact of the story.<br />

The sense of progression is very<br />

strong - perhaps because each scene<br />

of the film was shot in order.<br />

Compston comments:<br />

'We shot it in sequence and it was<br />

just a great way of working. I've<br />

just done a W thing and they shot<br />

the ending first and it just took<br />

the fun out of it.'<br />

Loach says he uses simple filming<br />

techniques deliberately and enjoys<br />

paring down to the essence of the<br />

story and the characters: 'The simpler<br />

you are, the more powerful you are.'<br />

Take for example the simple juxtaposition<br />

of two shots - one of the<br />

smashed-up contents of Liam's<br />

bedroom strewn across the front lawn<br />

of his house by Stan and his grandfather,<br />

followed by a cutaway shot of<br />

the mountains around Greenock, the<br />

lake and a rainbow over the town's<br />

rooftops. The location is centralto the<br />

film and both the director and screenwriter<br />

profess great affection for<br />

Glasgow. Loach says:<br />

'lt's such a good place to work.<br />

Everything that's happening in<br />

Britain, you can see in one form<br />

or another. The people have spent<br />

generations struggling and that<br />

has developed a very tough, funny<br />

and sharp culture.'<br />

He makes a feature of the local<br />

dialect from the outset by putting a<br />

written statement on screen to say<br />

that the dialogue will be subtitled for<br />

the first 15 minutes of the film but<br />

that after that 'you and Liam are on<br />

your own'. This is effective on two<br />

levels. Subtitles help a non-Glaswegian<br />

audience get accustomed to the<br />

characters' accent but they also<br />

highlight the fact that for many<br />

viewers, Liam's world is foreign<br />

territory. His story is a real-life story<br />

of real-life alienation and hopelessness<br />

and it takes a gritty, political<br />

director like Loach to tell it. Go and<br />

be told, but take a strong stomach<br />

Kate Powell<br />

with you. I<br />

<strong>Movement</strong> odltodal Elroup<br />

movementl2T


eviews: books<br />

wild Soose chase?<br />

A self-confessed liturgy anorak is sorely disappointed..'<br />

ATellin{, Place<br />

Joy Mead I Wild Goose Publications<br />

When A Telling Place arrived in<br />

the office for review, I leaped on<br />

it with eaEler anticipation. But<br />

now, as I sit down to write this<br />

review, I'm struglglling to explain<br />

why I don't like it.<br />

The book is a collection of meditations<br />

which centre on the women in<br />

the biblical narratives. The author<br />

attempts to draw on the experience<br />

of the biblical women who are on the<br />

margins of history and telltheir story,<br />

which has long been ignored. She<br />

says that the book is 'not a book of<br />

certainties and answers but of<br />

explorations and of questions', which<br />

is the sort of thing we like to hear at<br />

scM.<br />

They were women<br />

who must have<br />

loved, raged, lusted,<br />

laughed and relaxed,<br />

feeling and thinking<br />

much as I have done,<br />

but the book did<br />

not help me<br />

to relate to them<br />

One of the stories which inspired the<br />

author is the story of Jesus and the<br />

Samaritan woman at the well, which<br />

has long been one of my favourites.<br />

The front cover shows a picture of<br />

some women at a well which, when<br />

added to the lovely calligraphic titles<br />

and illustrations, makes the book very<br />

visually pleasing. lndeed, there are<br />

many reasons why I thought I would<br />

like the book:<br />

. I'm a self-confessed liturgl anorak<br />

and have quite a collection of<br />

litur$/ books.<br />

. I'm inclined to judge a book by its<br />

cover and this one looks so lovely.<br />

. l'm a bit of a fan of literature which<br />

sees biblical stories from the point<br />

of view of the women in them.<br />

. I love the stuff Wild Goose publish.<br />

So I'm left to ask myself why it is,<br />

when it seems that the book is just<br />

my kind of thing, that I can't like it. I<br />

wondered whether it was because I'd<br />

read too much similar stuff and it was<br />

like the time of year when you never<br />

want to see another mince pie as<br />

you've sickened yourself on them<br />

over Christmas.<br />

I looked at the meditations again<br />

and I realised why it was I didn't like<br />

them. None of the women felt real to<br />

me. The author says 'we see how<br />

emblematic the stories of these bible<br />

women are - how intimately our own'.<br />

lronically, that is exactly what I felt<br />

was missing from the book: a sense<br />

of identification with the biblical<br />

women. They were women who must<br />

have loved, raged, lusted, laughed<br />

and relaxed, feeling and thinking<br />

much as I have done, but the book<br />

did not help me to relate to them.<br />

The women in the book do things<br />

which have been stereotyped as<br />

womanly. They weep for generations<br />

yet unborn, they await their own<br />

flowering, they outburst the frames<br />

described to hold them, they offer<br />

the sweet womanliness of their free<br />

flowing hair, and they have lifeblood<br />

flowing from them. The author likes<br />

to draw on images of bodiliness and<br />

blood a little too much for my liking.<br />

It all feels too much like bad liturgical<br />

dance.<br />

The author likes to<br />

draw on images of<br />

bodiliness and blood a<br />

little too much for my<br />

liking. lt all feels too<br />

much like bad<br />

liturgical dance<br />

I read it aloud to my friend in the<br />

hope a fresh viewpoint might help<br />

with the review. We put our finger on<br />

a problem: who will use this book? I<br />

couldn't read it aloud with a straight<br />

face, so that rules it out for corporate<br />

worship. 'And if you used it for private<br />

prayer you'd feel like a freak', she<br />

commented.<br />

So l'm afraid l'll have to say that if<br />

you are after some reflections which<br />

are rooted in reality and still have a<br />

beautifully poetic quality to them, try<br />

anything else Wild Goose have<br />

published, but don't try this. I<br />

Marie Pattison<br />

28lmovement


overview: web<br />

touched by the hand of Ned<br />

A vidual but vibrant community.<br />

Ship of Fools<br />

www.shiooffools.com<br />

Shrp of Fools: Ned Flanders. He's<br />

what it's all about. Ned is our<br />

icon. Ned is our leader, Ned is The<br />

Man. Ned is also Homer's Godbothering<br />

nextdoor neiglhbour off<br />

Ihe Sllmpsons, and according to a<br />

survey in 2001, the public figure<br />

most associated with Ghristianity<br />

on American college campuses.<br />

Which inspired the editors of Ship<br />

of Fools (wvuw.shiooffools.com) to<br />

arrange a very special ni$ht at<br />

Greenbelt 2OOt, replete with Ned<br />

lookalikes, sanctified songs, and<br />

fashion from the House of<br />

Flanders. lt was so successful<br />

that they did it again the following<br />

year. Twice. What kind of<br />

Ghristian outfit is it that can get<br />

away with orElanising an event<br />

celebrating a quite frankly lame<br />

(and, indeed, yellow) cartoon<br />

character and get it into the<br />

national press?<br />

Shrp of Fools has made a sometimes<br />

tongue-in-cheek, sometimes passionate<br />

examination of Christianity its stock-intrade.<br />

Ori$nally a paper magazine run by<br />

Simon Jenkins and Steve Goddard<br />

between L977 and 1983, for the last 4v,<br />

years Shlp of Fools has had a presence<br />

on the net.<br />

The whole ethos of Shrp of Fools is<br />

tied up in its subtitle, 'The Magazine<br />

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of Christian Unrest'. The Ship, as it's<br />

affectionately known by its devotees,<br />

exists to help people make sense of<br />

the Christian faith - to look at<br />

Christianity critically and honestly -<br />

to celebrate the good but to attack<br />

false religion wherever it's found. I<br />

think it succeeds in this admirably.<br />

But then, I'm a contributor to the<br />

Ship, and I'm biased.<br />

We have our very own Soul-Saving<br />

Supersonic Spiritual Celebrity in the<br />

shape of the Revd Gerald Ambulance,<br />

and he, with an army of columnists,<br />

some humorous, some serious, but<br />

all with offbeat perspectives,<br />

challenges the preconceptions and<br />

absurdities of the Christian World.<br />

ln the Fruitcake Zone you can find<br />

dozens of links to some of the<br />

strangest, weirdest, and scariest<br />

Christian websites out there. And I do<br />

mean 'out there' - from the Christian<br />

Naturists' Association through to the<br />

Christian Guide to Small Arms, and<br />

the perennial favourite, Rapture<br />

Ready, where a guy called Todd works<br />

out the percentage chance of the<br />

Rapture happening in any given week,<br />

with an index based on a peculiarly<br />

right-wing view of world events.<br />

Gadgets For God shows you exactly<br />

where you can buy those essential<br />

WWJD? underpants (with the false fly,<br />

of course). Urban Myths explodes<br />

those fictional e-mail forwards we all<br />

get, while Si$ns and Blunders keeps<br />

a record of strange Christian notices,<br />

bumper stickers and typos.<br />

taa, r.,s<br />

d kttn*r(d<br />

at.@2aal1.i3t<br />

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esources<br />

resources round-up<br />

Some other publications you may find useful...<br />

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FAITH<br />

WORRS<br />

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Faith Without Hostagies<br />

By Haniet Hanis, SPTCK<br />

A fresh look at Bible passages relevant to<br />

Lent and Easter, encouraging thought<br />

and reflection to link them to the world<br />

today. lncludes questions for personal<br />

reflection or group discussion. 87.99<br />

t; 0845 762 6747<br />

e: mailorder@sock.org.uk<br />

Faith Works<br />

ByJim Wallis, SFCK<br />

A powerful call by a leading US activist for<br />

Christians to put their faith into action<br />

and address issues of poverty and<br />

injustice. lnspiring stuff. tL2.99<br />

t: O845 762 6747<br />

e,' mailorder@sock.orE.uk<br />

Piltrim Prayer<br />

Compiled by Jim Cotter, Cairns Publications<br />

A new collection of prayers by <strong>Movement</strong><br />

columnist Jim Cotter (see page 2L). A<br />

companion for pilgrimage, with an order<br />

of prayer for each day of the week.<br />

Bilingual, in Welsh and English. Hardback<br />

912; paperback 98<br />

t: 01766 761 368<br />

e.' office@cottercairns.co.uk<br />

Praying with Our Hands<br />

By Jon M Sweeney, Wild Goose Publications<br />

A book of reflections with photographs,<br />

showing how our bodies can give<br />

meaning to prayer. Covers spiritual<br />

practices from a broad range of reli$ious<br />

traditions. A beautiful book for private<br />

prayer or group worship. t10.99<br />

t: OL41 3326292 . f: OL4L 332 1090<br />

w'' wu4&iol!ab99!9,.o0!n<br />

Who rs My Nei(hbour?<br />

Churches Together in Britain and lreland<br />

A report from a delegation to the Middle<br />

East. Challenges churches to build<br />

solidarity with Christians in the region,<br />

and to endorse churches in the Middle<br />

East's call for lsrael to end the occupation<br />

of the Palestinian Territories. s5.95<br />

t;020 7898 1300 ' f;020 7898 1305<br />

w' www,chbookshoo.co.uk<br />

have you seen SGM's books?<br />

I<br />

si?nificnnt<br />

#-<br />

-,5* r-'<br />

=i* *$##<br />

30lmovement<br />

others<br />

A range of publications is available ftom<br />

SCM, examining Christianity and society<br />

ftom a radical an$e. lnclusive, aware<br />

and challen$ng - invaluable resources<br />

for study, reflection and action, suitable<br />

for indMduals or groups.<br />

Titles currently available include:<br />

Common People - Christian ideas of<br />

community - currently on special<br />

offer, f,2.50 including postage!<br />

God Made Simple - a lively synopsis of<br />

the questions about God which have<br />

occupied philosophers and theologians<br />

Significant Others - a fresh look at<br />

relationships<br />

Raging in the Streets - activism and<br />

ministry in the twenty-first century<br />

The Dying Game - attitudes to life,<br />

death and mortality<br />

The F-word - exploring fundamentalism<br />

Fleshing out Faith - looking at the<br />

relationship between Christianity and<br />

our bodies<br />

No More Mr Nice Guy - theological,<br />

personal and political pieces in search<br />

of a Jesus that bites<br />

Find out more<br />

or order books now!<br />

Ring Ot21, 47t 2404<br />

or e- mail scm@movement.org. uk<br />

or write to:<br />

Student Christian <strong>Movement</strong><br />

University of Birmingham<br />

Weoley Park Road<br />

Selly Oak<br />

Birmingham<br />

B29 6LL<br />

or visit www. movement.org. uk/<br />

oublications<br />

q<br />

(brlttlan


the serpent<br />

TOO BUSY TO PRAY?<br />

Then get some earnest<br />

Christians to do it for you. A<br />

postcard landed on the<br />

doormat of my serpently den<br />

recently, promising that<br />

Christians from local<br />

churches would be<br />

pleased to pray for<br />

anything I'm concerned<br />

about if I would just<br />

return the form to a<br />

local Prayer Point.<br />

But do they<br />

discriminate? Will<br />

they pray for<br />

anything? Would<br />

they put in a word<br />

for a lowly serpent<br />

like me? What if the<br />

fanatic on my street<br />

sends in a deluge of<br />

cards praying for a<br />

plague of<br />

South<br />

American tree frogs?<br />

How irresponsible.<br />

And does it wort like Nectar<br />

points? Can I build up<br />

credit and ask for a<br />

really big pmyer at<br />

Christmas?<br />

I think it's a<br />

great idea<br />

that could be<br />

extended to other<br />

areas of church activity. You<br />

could have a Worship Point<br />

where you hand in cards<br />

asking someone to speak in<br />

tongues, or a Prophecy Point<br />

where you ask someone else<br />

to do all that troublesome<br />

frothing at the mouth. You<br />

could even get fire and<br />

brimstone called down on<br />

Methodist Central Hall by<br />

proxy.<br />

Everything<br />

must Eo<br />

I was<br />

delithted<br />

to see that<br />

all my<br />

labours<br />

have paid<br />

off. Get in<br />

quick and<br />

you could<br />

get some<br />

perfection<br />

at rockbottom<br />

prices.<br />

I<br />

t! .[|,,[<br />

THE GREAT DEBATE<br />

Of course, I diligently read all<br />

the church papers, and it<br />

seems that everyone wants<br />

the good Rt<br />

J<br />

Revd<br />

Dr<br />

Williams<br />

to endorse<br />

whatever<br />

theY<br />

I<br />

are<br />

selling<br />

these<br />

days. I'm half<br />

expecting him to<br />

turn up on posters<br />

at the local Tesco's<br />

advertising cat food.<br />

But not Remington or Gillette,<br />

although I imagine he needs<br />

something to keep that fine<br />

prophetic facial fungus in<br />

check.<br />

ln the run-up to Christmas<br />

we will, no doubt, be<br />

hearing the future<br />

Archbishop's opinion on<br />

Brussels sprouts. And<br />

evangelical groups will protest<br />

at the revelation that he has<br />

previously commended the<br />

i<br />

lr<br />

ET<br />

eating of sprouts, which are<br />

of course an abomination in<br />

the eyes of the Lord. Then<br />

there'll have to be a forum on<br />

vegetation in the church, with<br />

yet more 'integrities' and<br />

special bishops catering for<br />

the break-away broccoli<br />

brigade.<br />

HOW WOULD JESUS HANG?<br />

I was horrified beyond words<br />

to discover that young<br />

evangelicals can now<br />

get some assistance<br />

with mortifying their<br />

flesh, in the form of<br />

'What Would Jesus<br />

Do?' boxer shorts.<br />

What's a serpent to<br />

do? Now young<br />

nubile types are<br />

protected from temptation<br />

by their very undenruear.<br />

You can picture the<br />

scene. The young<br />

Christian couple slips<br />

from the straight and<br />

narrow, straying from<br />

the righteous path of<br />

keeping one foot on<br />

the floor and<br />

touching<br />

nothing<br />

above the<br />

knees or<br />

below<br />

the<br />

neck. Just<br />

as they slip<br />

into<br />

clutches<br />

my<br />

and<br />

^-.<br />

prepare to make the<br />

beast with two backs, they<br />

look down and see those<br />

words emblazoned in holy<br />

letters across their<br />

waistband, and see the error<br />

of their ways.<br />

It's not right. And moreover, I<br />

have it on good authority that<br />

Our Lord favoured a more<br />

loincloth-based garment in<br />

the undenvear department.<br />

EMERGENCY SERVICES<br />

The firefighters dispute may<br />

have ended by the time you<br />

read this, but you'll soon<br />

see that it's all part of a<br />

great plot, to which I myself<br />

am a party, and Andy<br />

Gilchrist's promise to bring<br />

down New Labour is but the<br />

tip of the iceberg. We've<br />

already forced the government<br />

to use Green<br />

Goddesses - sounds pretty<br />

pagan to me. And of<br />

course, Hell doesn't have<br />

too much call for fire<br />

protection, so we're sitting<br />

pretty. Fear a Satanic plot?<br />

Dial 666.<br />

A more responsible citizen<br />

than myself might also point<br />

out that their behaviour is<br />

somewhat thoughtless.<br />

Fancy lighting whacking<br />

great braziers all around the<br />

country during a firefighters'<br />

strike!<br />

STOP THE STATISTICS<br />

The Stop the War coalition is<br />

planning another mass<br />

protest in February about<br />

Dubya's antics. ln keeping<br />

with statistics for previous<br />

such events, the organisers<br />

have confidently predicted<br />

that, oh, zillions of protesters<br />

will turn up, while the police<br />

expect two men and a very<br />

small poodle.<br />

AND FINALLY...<br />

You couldn't make it up.<br />

The Vatican believes that<br />

the Russian Orthodox<br />

Church is running a<br />

'despicable operation' to<br />

ruin its reputation,<br />

o<br />

by accusing<br />

Franciscan monks<br />

of setting up a<br />

brothel in<br />

Moscow.<br />

A Russian<br />

newspaper<br />

featured<br />

photos of a<br />

nun in a habit<br />

o 31i,",'n'?jil<br />

oo<br />

li::*iffi:. ,o<br />

exptatn now you<br />

could see the<br />

undies beneath the habit),<br />

and claimed that a<br />

monastery turned out to be<br />

a 'bordello'.


I<br />

\<br />

ff<br />

Name:<br />

Cbri$'nn<br />

tr Please send me further information about joining the Student<br />

Ghristian <strong>Movement</strong>, and tell me where my local group is.<br />

U I would like to subscribe Io <strong>Movement</strong> magazine. I enclose a cheque,<br />

payable to SCM, to the value of f,,7.00 for my first three issues.<br />

Address:<br />

Telephone number:<br />

E-mail address:<br />

University or college (if applicable):<br />

Postcode:<br />

Post to: Student Ghristian <strong>Movement</strong>, University of Birmingham,<br />

Weoley Park Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham 829 6LL<br />

t: OL21, 471-2404 | e; scm@movement.org.uk I w' www.movement.org.uk

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