All religions should heed law

BETWEEN April and July this year 4,390 cattle and 758,263 sheep were slaughtered without the merciful anaesthetic of being stunned first. And, according to Food Standards Agency figures collected for the first time, so were 45 million birds. Animal lovers will be outraged. But ministers explain: “The Government would prefer all animals to be stunned but respects the rights of J ewish and Muslim communities to eat meat prepared in accordance with their beliefs.” If the law says, as it should, that animals ought to be spared unnecessary suffering when killed for our dinner plates then it should apply to all. It is these exceptions – made for religious beliefs – that most infuriate me about religion. I’m no atheist and I feel the same about Christianity. It was scandalous that the Church of England could deny women equality in the workplace until as recently as 2015, when the first woman bishop was consecrated. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby might have quit had she not been. But there are many Anglicans who still object to women officiating in church on the grounds that the twelve apostles were men.

Yet it was women who bankrolled Jesus’ ministry.

Mary Magdalene is the real star of the Gospels, not the dim-witted and cowardly male disciples.

They made themselves scarce when the going got tough. But Mary was at the crucifixion and was first to discover the resurrection.

The Anglican church still struggles with LGBT people, and won’t allow same-sex weddings in church. I call that unchristian.

Behind

It’s not as if Jesus ever concerned himself with sexual preference. There are 3,000 mentions of alleviating poverty in the Bible, but not one about same sex marriage.

Church leaders complain that policy makers won’t listen to them. That’s because the C of E marches 20 years behind those it serves.

And in a modern democracy, laws passed by Parliament should be for everyone, which is why motor cycling Sikhs should wear crash helmets.

I’m off for Christmas now. Labour’s Laura Pidcock and the Green’s Caroline Lucas will entertain you in my absence.

On Christmas Day you’ll find me in a church. If one will let me in after this.