What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Sunday Trading and the Churches

    Dear the Churches of England

    If you campaign against Sunday trading you are going to seem to the People of England to be as bad as you are. Campaign instead for the rights of shop workers of all religions who work at all times and the People of England might be more convinced. If you take on the Sunday trading thing you are going to lose anyway.

    Here in Scotland things have been much more liberal for a long time. We did have quite strict liquor laws which meant you couldn’t buy booze on a Sunday morning anywhere. This meant you couldn’t buy an emergency bottle of wine for communion on a Sunday morning in case it led to drunkenness, which always seemed to me to be a little odd. Even this law has been relaxed now.

    Seriously – the fight against Sunday trading isn’t one that churches can win and look sensible or fair. Please don’t make the rest of us look foolish.

    Remember the Sabbath day and what it was about and keep what it was about holy. It was about making sure workers got rest. It was about making sure there was time for leisure. It was about making sure that there were opportunities for worship. Churches should campaign for all those things. In multicultural Britain these things do not coalesce any more in the idea of one shared day off a week which is inevitably on a Sunday.

    Dear churches of England and the Church of England in particular – pick your battles wisely.

    Thank you for your attention.
    KELVIN

6 responses to “Michael Perham and Gracious Restraint”

  1. Rosemary Hannah Avatar
    Rosemary Hannah

    I think the married bishops ought to be asked to repent of having married in the first place.

    I think what the statement by +Gloucester fails to take on board is that it is not just about sex. It is the love and joy people have in each other. It is saying ‘have you met my husband?’ Until people get that, we will make no progress.

    Reply
  2. Jaye Richards-Hill Avatar
    Jaye Richards-Hill

    I’d like to gear him call for a bit of gracious restraint in Uganda and Nigeris, where the Anglican church could perhaps do a little more to wind down the appalling homophobic violence taking place, due in no small part to their inflammatory conduct and support of really bad law…

    Reply
  3. Susan Sheppard Hedges Avatar
    Susan Sheppard Hedges

    Yes, Jaye…

    Reply
  4. Bro David Avatar
    Bro David

    Yes, it is always we who are called upon to stand in the “crucified place.”

    Reply
  5. Tom D'Evelyn Avatar
    Tom D’Evelyn

    Well done! It should also be pointed out that the rhetorical form of this plea is sure to put people off, expressing the purblind self-hypnotic self-mediation of a closed mind. You wouldn’t buy a used car from this chap. I speak as an unchurched American deeply impressed by Kelvin’s intelligence as expressed on this blog, which I share with my son who is on the ordination path in a Bristol. He loves it too.

    Reply
  6. Fr Steve Avatar
    Fr Steve

    Well said, as always.

    Reply

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