Rising Dawn

Forgiveness

“What, I wonder, do Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and all the other professional atheists who make good money out of knocking people’s religious faith make of the behaviour of Margaret Mizen in the immediate aftermath of her son Jimmy’s murder?” 

Justin Thacker, Head of Theology at EA, writing in The Friday Night Theology 

The brutal unprovoked killing of Jimmy Mizen left me wondering if anyone was safe in this advanced corner of civilisation called Britain. Then I heard his mother speaking coherently about the love of God and of the people in her church and how she had been supported by their care. I remember hearing similar voices from close family of victims of violence here in my own country. Safety from violent and evil men isn’t guaranteed either here or anywhere else in the world. But universal access to the love of God and the power to forgive is. It’s up to me to accept it.

The Friday Night Theology is a weekly piece from the Evangelical Alliance designed to provoke discussion over the weekend. It’s usually based on a significant event in the news - so it’s topical.

The 10 deadly evils of life in Britain today | Society | The Observer

 ’The focus on greed as an issue reflects concern about the growing gulf between the rich and poor. Connected to all of these issues was the perception that we no longer share a set of common values and that we have lost our “moral compass”.’

As I wrote previously Joseph Rowntree’s legacy is still contributing valuable stuff to our national conscience.