[Magdalen] COE stuff.

[Roger Stokes]

On 26/11/2015 19:33, M J _Mike_ Logsdon wrote:
> I collect Catholic World News Headlines emails for future reading, and today I offer a couple articles for comment.
>
> For Rev Roger Stokes, I'm curious about your opinion on:
>
> [begin quote]
> Church of England ad featured Lord's Prayer barred from movie theaters in England
> November 23, 2015

I have just watched it.  Obniously I give due regard to the views of 
+++Justin, Primate of All England.  That said, I believe I am closer to 
the grass-roots than he is in regard to the prople I meet regularly.  
With that in mind one of the first rules in considering any publicity is 
"who are you trying to reach?"

One of the first things that struck me was that they were using (at 
least) two different translations of the Lord's Prayer.  That makes a 
mess and is unhelpful in my view.  If it is meant to be a number of 
groups and individuals praying the same prayer then it should be the 
same translation.  The change between "thee" and "you" jar.  I think it 
would have been far better, if you were going to do this, to use one 
version throughout - and my vote would have been for the modified 
tradional "Our Father, who art in heaven".  That has the same cadences 
in different languages.

I also know that Richard Dawkins, the noted atheist, has said that if 
people are so thin-skinned as to be offended by it then that's their 
problem and he has no onjection to it being screened.  Support from that 
quarter raises questions in my own mind as to its effectiveness as an 
advertisement.

Having said that I turn to the perverss truth that those who onject to 
something draw more attention to it than it would have had without any 
objections.  That is the reason I am grateful to those who objected to 
thew Harry Potter novels.  Without their objections I would not have 
read and enjoyed them, and appreciated their underlying Christian message.

Overall, then, my view is that the cinema chains may well have done 
Christianity a service in reminding people that the Gospel we preach is 
counter-cultural.  Given the apparent public antipathy to what might be 
termed the consumerist and capitalist approach prevalent in the 
developed world that could be used to advantage this coming Advent 
Sunday - by chance a Sunday I am not preaching so I won't have that 
opportunity.

Roger