Big Brother or Heavenly Father

So the debate over Britain's surveillance culture continues to rage with the latest report from the House of Lords Constitution Committee. In the report, the committee suggested that growth in surveillance by both the state and the private sector risks threatening people's right to privacy, which it said was "an essential pre-requisite to the exercise of individual freedom". The report went on to say that "There can be no justification for this gradual but incessant creep towards every detail about us being recorded and pored over by the state."

It is true to say that no people in history have been spied on like the British public. We have a proliferation of CCTV cameras and the largest DNA database in the world per head of the population; not to mention the myriads of databases containing personal information. Now the Government wants to keep records of all out telephone conversations and emails, supposedly for our safety.

What is uppermost in most peoples' minds is what happens to this data. Government and private agencies seem to "mislay" CD-ROMS and data sticks on a regular basis. Also what happens in the future if Britain comes under the power of some extreme government? We only need to take a lesson from history to see what can happen. When the Nazi regime overrun France and Holland and started rounding up Jews, their success rate in Holland was far greater than in France - why? - simply because the Dutch kept meticulous records on every individual whereas the French did not.

Of course, Christian believe that there is someone who has always kept an eye on us. Long before there was anything like a CCTV camera the psalmist wrote:-

O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely
(Psalms 139:1-4)

Whereas I find the Government's collection of data on me a worrying thought, I cannot say the same of God. I'm pretty sue he has never lost a data stick and I'm pretty sure also that he does not want to keep tabs on me just in case I do something wrong. Whereas the Government collects data out of fear, God collects his out of love. Whereas the Government say it does what it does to make me feel safe, with God I know I am safe. Whereas the Government constantly betrays peoples; trust, God has proved himself true to his word time and time again.

Peace and all good

Dave

BBC on Lords Report

The Good Childhood® Inquiry

Today the Children's Society released its report into Childhood. It is a long affair and no doubt will become the basis of much debate. Of course, there will those that will rubbish the report without reading it simply because it has a Christian ethos.

One line in the sumary of the report struck me because it tied in very much with my own thinking of late

Most of the obstacles children face today are linked to the belief among adults that the prime duty of the individual is to make the most of their own life, rather than contribute to the good of others. (Children's Society)

As if to reenforce that argument I listened to a mother being interviewed on Radio 4. It was a short interview but I lost count of the times she said "I": not once did she mention her children.

Jesus hated individualism. He could have preached his message alone but he chose others to share in that mission. He talked about his followes as being Children of God - a God who loves them and cares for all their needs, spiritual, physical and emotional: not an absent God but one who is always present. Jesus talked of his Church as being a fellowship of people from all around the world., not a collection of individuals. If Jesus had looked to his own individual interests he could have avoided the cross, but he didn't. In the word of the report he contributed to the good of others.

It would be easy to condemn individualism, it is not condemnation that is required but compassion. The individualistic person is often unhappy deep down because they are operating in a mode that God never intended. Every so often that sadness may surface only to be supressed by a bit or "retail therapy."

The answer to individualism lies in allowing people to taste a better option; as Christians we believe we know what that option is.

The Children Society Report

A Tale of Two Countries

USA

US President Barack Obama is expected to sign an executive order to start the process of closing down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp within days. http://tinyurl.com/a7n4vd

UK

Plans to exclude relatives, juries and the press from some inquests - on national security grounds - are being brought back by ministers.

They come in a new bill covering coroners, murder laws, witness protection and sentencing. Just months ago, similar plans were shelved.

The government says secret inquests, which many oppose, would prevent intelligence details from leaking out. http://tinyurl.com/8xpyv7

I've often criticised the USA in the past but it seems to me that they have some advantages that we in the UK are denied.

• They elect their President - we have a Prime Minister pushed on us whether we want them of not
• They have a fixed term of Office so that everyone knows where they stand - Government in the UK can call an election on its own whim
• They have a written Constitution outlining the rights of individual citizens - we have laws that can be changed by government whenever they choose

Under New Labour more individual rights have been abolished than by any Government before. We Brits are the most spied on nation in the world (including Communist China).

Come back Tom Paine - all is forgiven!

Zimbabwe

I have no hesitation in forwarding this post which I received this morning.

Dave

-------------------------------------

Dear friends,

The people of Zimbabwe cast a brave vote for change in March. Did President Mugabe accept their verdict? No, he declared he would rule until God removed him, murdered scores of his opponents and their families, shut out observers and prepared to steal back power in the run-off to be held this Thursday, 27th June.

Finally, this Sunday, the opposition withdrew from the run-off, calling the elections a "violent sham." Indeed, this isn't an election at all -- it's a one-sided war.

But against the odds, there is hope. Amidst growing international condemnation and pressure, Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the opposition have entered private talks and legitimate government may be possible yet.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously held on Monday that free and fair elections are now impossible in Zimbabwe. The UN Secretary-General spoke out. But it is African leaders, most of all Thabo Mbeki, who hold the key. Even Mugabe cannot cling to power without their cooperation. Today, we're launching an emergency campaign, petitioning these leaders to call an immediate summit, isolate Mugabe, and broker a legitimate government for Zimbabwe. Our call will be published in big newspaper advertisements in South Africa, Tanzania, Angola, and Mozambique this week -- click here to see the ads and endorse their message:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_zimbabwe/3.php?cl=100522815

Last week, 27 year old Abigail Chiroto, the wife of Harare's mayor Emmanuel Chiroto, was abducted with her 4-year-old son by men in uniforms and found brutally beaten to death. Reports abound of systematic and targeted torture, with scores of MDC activists and their families killed. Bodies have been found with their eyes gouged out and their lips and tongues cut off.

Last week Kofi Annan said to Mugabe, "The victor of an unfair vote must be under no illusions: he will neither have the legitimacy to govern, nor receive the support of the international community." Southern African leaders are already calling for the postponement of the election, but there's a real danger that they may not stand up to Mugabe's mockery.

So our campaign will publicly name those African leaders who hold Mugabe's last remaining lifeline -- key allies and neighbours, the states charged by the Southern African Development Community with overseeing this election and Tanzania, which will chair an African Union summit late this week. Robert Mugabe may have saved Zimbabwe from colonialism, but now it's time for African leaders to save Zimbabwe from him.

If we do nothing, Robert Mugabe could succeed in his de facto coup against the democratic process and solidify his deathgrip on a wavering ZANU-PF party and an imploding Zimbabwe, meeting little more than mild protests from his neighbours. His thugs will run riot, and chaos will spill over the borders destabilizing the whole region.

But if we act now, by stiffening the nerve of the neighbours who control Zimbabwe's borders and supply its electricity and goods, enough regime officials will accept the need for change and for Morgan Tsvangirai as leader of the next government.

If we can muster 250,000 voices this week, including a great roar from every country in Africa through a major ad campaign, we can make this happen. Please click here to see the ads and sign the petition, then forward this message to friends:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_zimbabwe/3.php?cl=100522815

With hope and determination,

Ben, Alice, Paul, Graziela, Mark, Ricken, Iain, Veronique, Pascal, and Milena -- the Avaaz.org team

PS: For more information and sources for the facts above, see:

Thabo Mbeki and the emergency talks for a settlement:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article4200177.ece

United Nations Security Council declares free and fair elections "impossible":
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL2026827820080624

Elections going ahead despite MDC pull-out:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7468849.stm

Mugabe: "Only God will remove me!"
http://www.thetimes.co.za/SpecialReports/Zimbabwe/Article.aspx?id=788598

Regional leaders criticizing Mugabe:
Tanzania's Kikwete - http://allafrica.com/stories/200806200336.html
Rwanda's Kagame - http://allafrica.com/stories/200806190003.html
Kenya's Odinga - http://allafrica.com/stories/200806190949.html
Uganada's Museveni - http://allafrica.com/stories/200806120016.htmlABOUT AVAAZ

Back to Roman Times

The New Mersey Gateway Bridge is to go ahead. However, when it opens there will be a hefty toll. Not only that, but the old bridge (which is now free) will be made toll.

All this means that there is no free crossing of the Mersey till one gets to Warrington.

Two thousand years ago, when Rome ruled, the only free crossing was also at Warrington!

Thank you Mr. Brown and New Labour for giving us a glimpse of the past!

Open Bethlehem

O Little Town of Bethlehem,
how still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
the silent stars go by:
yet in the the dark streets shineth
the everlasting Light;
the hopes and fears of all the years
are met in thee tonight.

I must have sung that Christmas carol many times over the years. Each time I picture in my mind lots of white, flat topped houses, much loved by my Sunday School teachers when we came to making biblical models. Bethlehem, a sunny place, a happy place.

The truth of course is much different. Today Bethlehem is a city under siege. All around is the Israeli 'security fence', a structure that dwarfs the old Berlin Wall, and which has been condemned internationally.

Over the past few months I have become increasingly concerned by the plight of my brothers and sisters in Palestine, and Bethlehem in particular. I am concerned that my country uses its military bases to load U.S. aircraft with weapons for Israel, an occupying force. I am concerned that some Christians seem fit to support Israel in their attempt to bring about the 'end time.' How arrogant of them to believe they can manipulate God!

However, being concerned and angry is not enough. It is not going to improve the situation for the Palestinian people or the town of Bethlehem. What will help is to bring to the attention of my fellow Christians the truth of what is happening. For that reason I was particularly heartened by the visit to Bethlehem by UK Christian leaders and the publication of their comments afterwards.

The following is an abstract from the Open Bethlehem website

23 December 2006

Leaving Bethlehem this morning after a three-day pilgrimage, the UK ’s church leaders pledged themselves to continue to be a “voice for the voiceless” on behalf of the beleaguered people of the town.

The Rt Revd David Coffey, president of the Churches Together in England , was speaking on behalf of the Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster , and the Armenian Patriarch of Great Britain, after they received symbolic Bethlehem passports.

The passports are an initiative of Open Bethlehem, a campaign which began in 2005 to draw the world’s attention to the plight of the town, which is in economic meltdown following the construction of a 30-foot-high wall by the Israeli army. The Israeli measures imposed since 2000 have led to a catastrophic decline in the number of pilgrimages to the town, on which its economy depends.

According to a 2004 UN report unemployment and poverty have caused more than 400 Christian families to leave Bethlehem in search of livelihoods abroad.

Shortly after walking through the checkpoint on Thursday, a visibly shocked Archbishop of Canterbury said the wall symbolized “all that is wrong in the human heart”.

“Your visit reassures us that we are not forgotten,” Leila Sansour, Open Bethlehem’s chief executive, told the four pilgrims.

She said the passports signaled “our hope that you will continue to be ambassadors for Bethlehem after you return home”. She asked that “whenever you travel you will speak about Bethlehem and remember us, a people who long to travel in dignity and freedom.”

There has so far been only one passport given: Pope Benedict XVI received the Bethlehem passport in December 2005 from the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

“We are fortunate to have such distinguished ambassadors to speak for us,” Sansour said.

The passport asks the bearer to “remain a true friend to Bethlehem through its imprisonment” and that he or she will “strive to keep the ideals of Bethlehem alive as long as the wall stands.”

Mr Coffey in turn presented Leila Sansour with a Christmas card signed by hundreds of people in Durham , in north-east England . The card shows Mary and Joseph approaching Bethlehem but finding the town imprisoned behind a wall.

“We support your struggle for peace with justice”, were the words on the inside of the card.

The Open Bethlehem delegation included a representative of the Governor of Bethlehem, as well as the coordinator of a network of Christian organizations in Bethlehem and a representative of the World Council of Churches.

The church leaders spent yesterday visiting Christian and humanitarian projects in Bethlehem, including Bethlehem University (where 70 per cent of the students are Muslim), the Holy Family hospital and the Arab Rehabilitation Society, a hospital for the disabled.

At the university, the church leaders received from the students a piece of a demolished house belonging to the family of one of the students, as well as a candle and a handpainted tile.

Rather than hand over the stone from the demolished house to his advisers, Dr Williams kept hold of it throughout his visit to the university.

The students spoke of life under occupation, the sense of imprisonment, and their anxieties about their future.

-- end quote --

If you share my concerns may I suggest you visit the Open Bethlehem Site
Another good source is to be found at The Amos Trust

If you find these links helpful, then pass them on. And let us pray that next Christmas in Bethlehem will not only be a demonstration of God's love in sending his son, but also of our care for God's people in Bethlehem.

Dave