RADIO 4 AND DAVID WALKER THE BISHOP OF MANCHESTER PROMOTE CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
It was chilling to listen to David Walker, the Bishop of Manchester give the Thought for the Day on Radio 4's 'Today' programme, on the 25th February, 2020. He began saying "Power corrupts. Add sexual predation to the exercise of power and the stench of that corruption becomes particularly foul." He then referred to the report claiming that Jean Vanier, founder of the L'Arche community, abused several women, including nuns, into having sexual relations with him. When tackled in his lifetime, about a relationship, he said the sex had been consensual. The Bishop reflected about how hard it must be for a victim to complain when they are reliant on their abuser. However, then his words became sinister. Without any apparent awareness of how what he was about to say, was a further example of what he had just condemned, he spoke of Mary.
He said how this "young woman named Mary gave her consent to the request from the angel Gabriel that she be the mother of Jesus."
However scholarship suggests Mary was between 12 to 14, a child. There was no 'request' from the angel Gabriel. She was told. The account states that Mary was distressed that she was to become pregnant with 'God's son' and wanted to know what was going to happen to her. She is told a power much greater than her would come upon her and overshadow her. It is what so many victims of sexual abuse experience.
The Bishop pointed weakly to her 'consent'. Please Bishop Walker answer this. How can a child say no to God? Is this not the starkest example of child abuse that could be broadcast? The most powerful, sexually abusing the weakest.
The Bishop said that Christians should be inspired to "challenge the abuse of power". So Bishop Walker, I challenge you and Radio 4 to wake up to the abuse narrative you are promoting and with which you are influencing so many. It is the abuse story so overlaid with religion, familiarity and deference that it is the unrecognised monster in the room, from which so much harm issues. The Christian church must revise its beliefs, doctrines and theology to eradicate such horrific material and present such matters in an enlightened and relevant manner.
In reality, Mary became pregnant, either by Joseph or another man, and Joseph and she decided laudably to create a safe, stable family unit and they managed to raise a remarkable son. Destroying the efficacy of the facts with an ancient mythological abuse story can no longer be tolerated and should not be broadcast. It has the unconscionable effect of promoting child sexual abuse, as though with God's approval, read and broadcast on T.V., radio, in churches and schools across the land repeatedly, undermining the attempts to eradicate abuse and safeguard children.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p084pq08
He said how this "young woman named Mary gave her consent to the request from the angel Gabriel that she be the mother of Jesus."
However scholarship suggests Mary was between 12 to 14, a child. There was no 'request' from the angel Gabriel. She was told. The account states that Mary was distressed that she was to become pregnant with 'God's son' and wanted to know what was going to happen to her. She is told a power much greater than her would come upon her and overshadow her. It is what so many victims of sexual abuse experience.
The Bishop pointed weakly to her 'consent'. Please Bishop Walker answer this. How can a child say no to God? Is this not the starkest example of child abuse that could be broadcast? The most powerful, sexually abusing the weakest.
The Bishop said that Christians should be inspired to "challenge the abuse of power". So Bishop Walker, I challenge you and Radio 4 to wake up to the abuse narrative you are promoting and with which you are influencing so many. It is the abuse story so overlaid with religion, familiarity and deference that it is the unrecognised monster in the room, from which so much harm issues. The Christian church must revise its beliefs, doctrines and theology to eradicate such horrific material and present such matters in an enlightened and relevant manner.
In reality, Mary became pregnant, either by Joseph or another man, and Joseph and she decided laudably to create a safe, stable family unit and they managed to raise a remarkable son. Destroying the efficacy of the facts with an ancient mythological abuse story can no longer be tolerated and should not be broadcast. It has the unconscionable effect of promoting child sexual abuse, as though with God's approval, read and broadcast on T.V., radio, in churches and schools across the land repeatedly, undermining the attempts to eradicate abuse and safeguard children.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p084pq08
ARCHBISHOP JONATHAN BLAKE - MY LIFE - PART ONE
ARCHBISHOP JONATHAN BLAKE - MY LIFE - PART TWO
I AM PROUD OF MY WRITING, FOR JESUS’S SAKE, THAT HAS HAD ME FOUND INNOCENT IN HEAVEN, BUT TWICE A CRIMINAL ON THE EARTH. THE FIRST IN 1990 WHEN I WROTE A BIBLICAL TEXT ON THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT IN PEACEFUL PROTEST ABOUT THE BOMBING OF YOUNG IRAQI RECRUITS DURING THE FIRST GULF WAR. THE SECOND, IN 2016 WHEN I WROTE ON MY BLOG, TO ALERT THE PUBLIC ABOUT A PAEDOPHILE, AND WAS SUCCESSFUL IN FORCING THE AUTHORITIES TO STOP HIM HAVING ACCESS TO CHILDREN. THERE WAS ALMOST A THIRD! IN 1997, WHEN I WAS ARRESTED FOR NAILING MY PROPOSALS FOR REFORM OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ON THE DOOR OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. WORDS ARE POWERFUL MESSAGES THAT CHALLENGE CORRUPTION, CONFRONT THE WICKED AND CREATE A BETTER WORLD. JESUS IS THE WORD OF GOD AND HIS FOLLOWERS ARE CALLED TO COMMUNICATE HIS WORDS, IRRESPECTIVE OF THE COST.
"You brave, courageous and wonderful man. To stand up for the truth in the face of suppression and oppression is truly an act of a pure heart."
posted by Bishop Jonathan Blake | 3:12 PM
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