POLITICIANS SHOULD NOT TRY TO PLAY GOD

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Politicians should not try to play God

I agree with Keith Coleman's letter "Not for us to modernise what the Bible teaches" (Mailbox, December 24).

Paul also said: "And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be silent." (1 Timothy, chapter 1 verse 12).

In Deuteronomy, chapter 12 verse 32: "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it, you shall not add to it nor take away from it".

Ecclesiastes, chapter 3 verse 14: "I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him."

The Bible is God's holy word but today it seems many clergy and bishops think they know better and want to add to it with current thinking, such as on equality.

If God had wanted women to be clergy and bishops, then it would say so in the Bible.

At the end of the day, it is high time the modernisers accepted that there is only one authority for the church and their ministries and that is the word of God.

I, too, look forward with interest to the debate and vote in the Commons.

No doubt we will see politicians who agree with it and wanting to act as God and instil their views and will upon the country.

How many politicians have actually asked the public what they think? I have nothing against gay people. If they choose to live that lifestyle, then that is their choice.

Kevin Fletcher, Coalville

A TRIBUTE TO THE POWER OF SHARED VALUES

Riaz Ravat's First Person column appears in today's Leicester Mercury (but not on the website):

A tribute to the power of shared values

Riaz Ravat looks back over an eventful year that has brought faith communities closer together

This year will surely go down as one of the most remarkable in the history of the UK. On a spring day in March , Leicester paid a colourful and vibrant tribute to the Queen on the first stop of her Diamond Jubilee tour. The royal party was treated to a show that will live long in the memory.

The Church of England is interwoven into the fabric of this country and the leadership shown by the Diocese of Leicester, with Leicester Cathedral as the centrepiece, enabled a mosaic of faith communities to join in the celebrations to show they too are firmly rooted in the identity of this country.

2012 as also marked as the Year of Service. Launched in January, the initiative encouraged faith communities to work collectively to deliver charity efforts to needy causes.

"Confirm us in service to the world of humanity so that we may become the servants of Thy servants, that we may love all they creatures and become compassionate to all thy people."

These words of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the eldest son and successor of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, were delivered in 1912 and it was fitting the Bahá'í community was instrumental in launching a year of service.

One of the many points to note from the release of the 2011 Census is how the definition of "minority" is being redrawn locally.

The presence of smaller groups, such as the Bahá'í and Jewish communities, poses challenges to larger communities and defines the true meaning of a decent and progressive society. The challenge is how we enable these minorities to express their confidence and to contribute their fullest, to the life of the city, county and country.

Throughout the year, we witnessed Bahá'ís, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and those of no professed religions belief coming together for the selfless service of others.

Whether this motivation is inspired by God, political doctrine or human concern, we must begin to address what wee mean by  shared values, purposes and the nature of "good", not only for today's world, but for tomorrow's.

As we reflect on service, let us not forget the dedication and decency of the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

The impact of the General Synod voting against female Bishops is not restricted to the Church of England. Far from observing these developments, those from other persuasions must now take stock and ask, how much longer will we accept the gap between the principle and practice of equality?

The spiritual richness of service and compassion which faith communities possess, undergirded by their respective "golden rules", is all too often tainted by humanity's thirst for selective salvation.

Riaz Ravat is deputy director at St Philip's Centre, Leicester

NOT FOR US TO MODERNISE WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Not for us to modernise what the Bible teaches

When I read Ronald Mupfeki's letter "Women's Role in the Church" (Mailbox, December 17), I felt I had to write to support the view he expressed.

I, too, have been watching with interest as the General Synod got in a proper pickle over the matter. Is it really true that one of the bishops said that they would keep on voting until they got the right result? How self-righteous can you get?

The Bible verse at 2 Tim 3:16 makes it clear that the scriptures are inspired of Almighty God and are beneficial for teaching, reproving and setting things straight.

So Mr Mupfeki is spot on when he says the Bible tells us that bishops should be men.

That being the case, what are the current crop of bishops thinking of when they promote the idea of women bishops. Do they really know better than God?

If Almighty God has determined, in his wisdom, that men only should be bishops, by what authority do they seek to change that ruling.

Do they really think that they have greater intellect than the Most High Personage of the Universe?

The idea that "times have changed" and that "it would be more in keeping with modern life" really doesn't cut it.

The verse at Romans 15:4 tells us that, "all things written aforetime were written for our instruction", and if we think about wise King Solomon, while he did things God's way, he prospered, but when he turned away from God's guidance things went horribly wrong for him.

While God granted us free will, we are also answerable for our actions. Can we see the similarity?

Having said all that, it's true to say that women are held in great regard by our Creator and His son.

It was a woman to whom Jesus chose to appear first after his resurrection and, when we read in Ephesians 5, how the Christian husband is directed to treat his wife, then we can have no doubt as to the respect in which women are held within the Christian arrangement.

Time and time again the Church leaders have surrounded themselves with controversy when they try to modernise by going against the Bible that they are supposed to view as their Holy Book.

Perhaps they don't believe what the Bible says. With all this in mind, I am watching, with interest, the outcome of the matter relating to gay marriage.

Keith Coleman, Ashby

WOMEN'S ROLE IN CHURCH SET OUT FULLY IN THE BIBLE

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Women's role in Church set out fully in the Bible

There has been a lot of media coverage regarding women bishops and priests.

However, not much has been covered regarding what the Bible says about the role of men and women in the church of Jesus Christ.

Is the distinction between men and women in the Church simply a relic passed along to us as a custom from a past biased against women?

One thing I know is the Bible teaches men and women have different, complementary roles to play in the Church.

The Bible says 12 men were chosen to be the founders of the Old Testament Church when they had a sister, Dinah, who could have been selected – Exodus 7:1; 5:20. Only Moses was selected to lead the nation of Israel out of Egypt and Aaron was to lead as the high priest, despite Miriam, their sister, being a prophetess and older.

Only the male first-born son was to be the priest.

A system of male priests was established even though Israel was surrounded by nations that had a culture of selecting priestesses.

Twelve male apostles were chosen as the beginners of the New Testament Church when there were able women who might have been chosen.

The apostle Paul was inspired to write that bishops and elders should be male.

A bishop then must be "blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober minded, of good behaviour, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence". 1 Timothy 3:2-7

In Ephesians 5:22-25, he wrote: "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the saviour of the body."Therefore, just as the Church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything."

When Adam was created, the Bible says: "It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helpmeet."

Women also have an important role in the church – see Matthew 28:1-10; Luke 8:3; 23:49; John 11:1-46; 12:1-8,1 Corinthians 12:27-31; Romans 12:3-8; 1 Peter 4:8-11; Titus 2:4; Acts 2:17-18; 21:9; 1 Corinthians 11:5. From these we can see women in the Church played a very important role.

The problem comes when, as a body of believers, men and women, we do not do what the Bible says Christians must be doing in these last days – in Matthew 28:18-20 – but instead spend most of our time striving about who can occupy which position.

Ronald Mupfeki, Leicester

ARE SOME MORE EQUAL, BISHOP?

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Are some more equal, Bishop?

Heaven knows how the Bishop gets so muddled and inconsistent in his thinking! On the one hand, he bemoans the latest "no women bishops" vote in the Synod because he wants the Church to be inclusive.

And yet he's still of a mind to deny homosexuals the right to marry. Let's please remind the Bish that you can't be a little bit in favour of anti-discrimination – you're either for equality or you're not! You can't pick and choose if you want to remain credible.

Mark Sperry, Leicester

WOMEN BISHOPS DISCRIMINATION

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Women bishops discrimination

The much maligned Human Rights and Equality Acts ban among other things gender discrimination, so how does the General Synod of the Church of England, whose head is our Queen, justify its refusal to allow women bishops?

This glass ceiling is illegal and the CofE should be prosecuted.

This ludicrous ruling comes hard on the heels of the death of a 31-year-old pregnant woman in a Belfast hospital who was refused a life-saving abortion on, would you believe it, religious grounds.

I wonder if the doctors responsible for this poor woman's death sleep well at night and would they have made the same decision if one of their own children was in a similar predicament?

Truly, God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.

Don Tallis, Wigston

INTER FAITH WEEK 2012, DAY 5: HIGHCROSS EXHIBITION

Emma Craig-West, Gurbz, Sheri Paige

Fourth day of our week-long exhibition in Highcross for Inter Faith Week.

First volunteers on the display this morning are Emma Craig-West, one of my longest-standing and supportive friends from the earliest days of Creative Coffee Club onwards (on the left in the photo above) and Sheri Paige, Vice President, Student Welfare at De Montfort University Student Union (on the right). Standing between them is a visitor to the exhibition this morning - Gurbz (AKA Mistah G). He and his sister, Anita Kang, will be holding a fashion show charity event in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust at the King Power Stadium, Leicester, in July 2013. I chat with Gurbz about their proposed fundraiser, and about how things went down at Choice Unlimited II in the Tigers Stadium at Welford Road yesterday.

It's a busy morning, especially around the little white tree. Emma's good at drawing people in and encouraging them to write their dreams, hopes, prayers and wishes on the labels. In the photo above, she's with boys from the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy.

John Florance, from BBC Radio Leicester, arrives around 1100 to do a feature about the exhibition. He records a few minutes with me and with Sheri (photo below). Emma has conveniently gone off to the Post Office. John asks me for a quote about the Church of England Synod's vote on women bishops. After stalling him for a while in the hope that Emma (a church-going Anglican) will come back in time to say something interesting on the subject but it falls to me after all. When I tell John that there are eight different religions represented on the display, and that for seven of them (and for a lot of the Christians too) the vote on women bishops isn't of much importance, he switches off his microphone and asks if I could say something a little more interesting that he can use in a segment that he'll be doing at noon on the topic with Barbara Butler and Stephen Foster live in the studio. So I tell him that, as a discerning consumer of social media, I've found the blogs and tweets about the subject over the past day or so very interesting. When he asks me to pick out the most interesting, I reference Ruth Gledhill and Giles Fraser on Twitter, with brief mention of what they said.

Sheri Paige, John Florance

I'm not on the rota for this morning and came down so I could be here when John turned up. While I'm happy for him to record stuff with the volunteers, but it wouldn't be right to leave them alone to do a radio interview. Neither am I on the rota for the 1200-1400 slot, but one of the volunteers has cancelled, so I stay on to provide cover.

Dr Angela Jagger, member of the Board of Directors and former Secretary of Leicester Council of Faiths is on duty here for the next couple of hours. Angela was my tutor on an Open University Course that I took way back in 1992, "The Religious Quest". Next time I met her, some 15 years later, she was a member of the interview panel for this current post.

Sherry Fulloway, Angela Jagger (and John Coster)

Angela is on the right in the photo above, along with Sherry Fulloway, whom I know from the Christians Aware Monday evening courses at Christchurch, Clarendon Park (and John Coster, Editor of Citizens' Eye Community New Agency lurking in the background).

Angela is on the right in the photo above, along with Cherry Fulloway, whom I know from the Christians Aware Monday evening courses at Christchurch, Clarendon Park (and John Coster, Editor of Citizens' Eye Community New Agency lurking in the background).

Malika Kraamer (who curated the marvellous Suits and Saris exhibition at New Walk Museum and Art Gallery earlier this year) and Kate Dawe (from Victim Support) are volunteering on the exhibition from 1400 till 1600. Kate has brought some leaflets about Hate Crime which we put out on the table.

Ruth Fraser, Noel Singh

Kate and Malika hand over to Ruth Fraser of Leicester Quakers (whom I first met on the recent Walking Pilgrimage round Clarendon Park) and Noel Singh, Policy and Partnerships Manager at at Leicestershire County Council (photo above) at 1600. I pay a flying visit to the exhibition on the way to a meeting of Leicester SACRE (Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education) at Mayflower Primary.

When I return from SACRE, Bev Farrand and Angela Lynn Hunt (from Leicester Cathedral) are on the final shift. They might have been talking about the women bishops vote; but then again ...

Beverley Farrand, Angela Lynn Hunt

Here are some of the messages that visitors and volunteers have hung on the tree today:

I would like my daughter to grow up as a Christian. I would also like my family to succeed in most things

All faiths please get together

Doesn't matter if you're black or white, just smile

Society to work together in peace and harmony - one LeicesterI pray for peace and good health to all people

We teach our children that we are the same on the inside. When the world remembers this lesson, wars will finally end and we will find peace.

Hope my son has a good safe future

Wish peace and prosperity in our family

Happy Christmas from PJEA young boys

I wish health, wealth and peace for my family and the world