I thought this was an interesting, and somewhat amusing, juxtaposition
The Archbishop of Canterbury has said the terror attacks in Paris made him “doubt” the presence of God. The Most Reverend Justin Welby told the BBC’s Songs Of Praise the killings had put a “chink in his armour”.
He said his reaction to the attacks had been “first shock and horror and then a profound sadness”, heightened because he and his wife once lived in Paris. ….. The archbishop said: “Saturday morning, I was out and as I was walking, I was praying and saying: ‘God, why – why is this happening? Where are you in all this?'”
“He said ‘in the middle of it’ and also in answer from Psalm 56 – ‘he stores up our tears in a bottle, none of our sufferings are lost,'” he added.
2. Lord’s Prayer cinema ad snub ‘bewilders’ Church of England
The Church of England has said it is “disappointed and bewildered” by the refusal of leading UK cinemas to show an advert featuring the Lord’s Prayer. The Church called the decision “plain silly” and warned it could have a “chilling” effect on free speech.
It had hoped the 60-second film would be screened UK-wide before Christmas ahead of the new Star Wars film. The agency that handles adverts for the cinemas said it could offend those of “differing faiths and no faith”.
The advert features the Christian prayer being recited or sung by a variety of people. They include refugees, a grieving son, weightlifters at a gym, a sheep farmer, a gospel choir and the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby.
I heard Justin Welby on radio yesterday and he seemed to get his theology and his philosophy terribly mixed up. I can’t say that the archbishop comes across as anything more than a feather-weight theologian and philosopher. I note that the CoE has a Facebook page, but with just 10,453 “likes”. Is their God so “unknown” as to require a cinema advertisement? Of course I expect that UK cinemas will also refuse to show any advertisements from ISIS (ISIL, Da’esh).
I quite like listening, occasionally, to BBC’s Songs of Praise. I expect that the BBC pays the CoE rather than the other way around. And this programme then really ought to be preceded by the statement “This programme is for the aid and succour of the Church of England”.