Religion
When atheists stole the moral high ground
In 1585, Jacques du Perron presented to the court of the French king Henry III, as a kind of after-dinner…
Patently insincere: Kanye’s Jesus is King reviewed
Grade: B– Kanye West has found Jesus Christ. Lucky old Christ. If I were Christ I’d have hidden out a…
![Parents and children demonstrate against the No Outsiders programme at Parkfield School in Birmingham in March [Photo: Getty]](https://spectatorau.imgix.net/content/uploads/2019/10/Melanie_McDonagh.jpg?auto=compress,enhance,format&crop=faces,entropy,edges&fit=crop&w=410&h=275)
Should Muslim parents be allowed to challenge LGBT lessons?
We saw two different worlds, or at least two different value systems, collide in the High Court in Birmingham this…
The Democratic party’s post-Christian America
The new Pew report doesn’t mince words in its headline: ‘In US, Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace.’ In…
Why was a finals student disqualified for criticising halal meat?
We have to talk about the schoolgirl who was disqualified from a GCSE exam on the grounds that she had…
The West cannot survive without a re-energised belief in Christianity
There is no faster way to get yourself classed as dim than by admitting that you hold religious belief, especially…
The curious reaction to a niqab-wearing homophobe
Are we allowed to criticise the niqab yet? This question crossed my mind as I watched that viral clip of…
Letters: Stop and search is messy, confrontational and absolutely necessary
Support for stop and search Sir: Mary Wakefield is rightly exasperated by fatuous comments over police use of stop and…
Billy Connolly and the death of free speech
I hope readers will forgive me for returning to a subject I addressed here recently. It was a reflection on the…
Letters: God does lead us into temptation
Appeasement? Sir: Your editorial (‘Plan B’, 22 June) refers to the need for Boris Johnson, as prospective PM, to have…
History is made from ideas — but are ideas becoming history?
Wallace Stevens called it ‘the necessary angel’. Ted Hughes thought it ‘the most essential bit of machinery we have if…
The Pope is wrong to change the Lord’s Prayer
Is the pope a Catholic? You have to wonder. In the old days, a pope’s remit was modest: infallible, but…
What are the perks of being Jean-Claude Juncker?
Juncker’s perks The European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker complained that he doesn’t have an official residence, unlike the ambassadors who…
Whitby Abbey is at the heart of Britain’s spiritual and literary history
The 199 steps up to the ruins of Whitby Abbey are a pilgrimage; they always have been. And any good…
Justin Welby: Catholic or Protestant – who cares?
Justin Welby is working in Thomas Cranmer’s old study in Lambeth Palace, a room that looks as if it hasn’t…
The objects that sound witchiest on paper just look sad: Spellbound reviewed
Just in front of me, visiting Spellbound at the Ashmolean last week, was a very rational boy of about seven…
When haddocks flirt, they sound like a motorbike revving up
Flies buzzing, strange rustling, crunching sounds, and then the most chilling screech you’ll have heard all week. Vultures were feeding…
Fascinating, powerful and brilliantly done: Apostasy reviewed
For many years I would chat genially with our local Jehovah, Stephen, who came door-to-door every few months or so,…
The term ‘marriage’ needs to be untangled
Rebecca Steinfeld (37) and Charles Keidan (41) have a moral objection to marriage. They’ve been together since 2010, have two…
Letters: the very belief that poorer pupils do less well is what limits them
Self-limiting beliefs Sir: As someone who spent much of his working life teaching at Eton and Harrow, it was amusing…
A tale of two Sarahs: the cuddly bishop vs the terrifying cardinal
If you’re looking for a snapshot of the state of global Christianity today, a good place to start would be…
Why does James Purnell think radio needs to be ‘reinvented’?
Grade: A A dimbo pop reviewer for one of our national newspapers suggested that on this album, her ninth, Björk…
Christian Slater is mesmerising: Glengarry Glen Ross reviewed
David Mamet’s plays are tough to pull off because his dialogue lacks the predictable shapeliness of traditional dramatic speech. He…
Rarely has the West End seen such a draining and nasty experience: The Exorcist reviewed
The Exorcist opened in 1973 accompanied by much hoo-ha in the press. Scenes of panic, nausea and fainting were recorded…
The ties that bound us
Only Neil MacGregor could do it — take us in a single thread from a blackened copper coin, about the…
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