In the surreal world in which we live, where a republican Marxist could be Prime Minister and Donald Trump could be president of the US, I guess that nothing should surprise me. But this one comes straight out of the Monty Python book of ironic surrealist history. The government wants to send me back to school, to learn their version of theology and ensure that I am not an extremist!
I spent seven years training to become a Free Church minister. And that was only the beginning. I have been on numerous 'refresher' courses, taken sabbaticals and of course I read and train continuously. So in one sense being told that I could be required to receive 'special training', is not particularly alarming. Except for who it is that is doing the training.
The government are concerned about Muslim extremists and so, in order to combat this, they want to promote and protect 'British values'. To achieve this aim they are proposing to establish a national register of 'faith leaders'.
These faith leaders will receive special training and special security checks. Any faith leaders who want to be involved in the public sphere (basically all of us) will have to be on this register. This is the British government's great strategy for countering extremism. What's wrong with it? [Christian Today] Read more
