BFA Plus - The Important Issues in our Society
Further reflections on this weeks Beauty for Ashes Podcast
Each week I intend to paste a supplementary article notes here on the Beauty for Ashes podcast. The main links and videos can be found on the weeflea.com.
Ceuta - In this week’s programme, we look at things that I think will be ongoing within the culture, and they are enormously significant. So for example, the Ceuta invasion, and I think that’s what we should call it, is one that will have significance for the whole of Europe and the UK. It will be a defining or at least illustrative moment in the ongoing issue of immigration. The image of thousands of young men rampaging through the streets of Ceuta will be one that will be used by Nigel Farage, Giorgia Meloni, Marine Le Pen, the ADF, and other right-wing groups in Europe. The fact is that when countries offer generous welfare systems, housing, and health benefits to those who claim to be refugees, you are going to get millions of people who seek to come. It is unaffordable and will lead to societal breakdown.
South Korea - After I recorded the program on South Korea, I was amused to discover that hundreds of South Korean Christians had come to London for a prayer meeting to pray for the United Kingdom. It seems that South Korean churches have a particular interest both in Israel and in the UK.
Islamisisation - Another key issue which is going to be ongoing in our society is the Islamization of society. The things that I mentioned, including the Oxford Union debate, indicate just how serious this is. Again, after I recorded the podcast, I discovered that the police had spent over £100,000 in providing protection outside the Oxford Union. It is incredible that that kind of mob rule and threat should be permitted within UK society, but that is where we are at. Many of our institutions have been captured by the fear of being perceived to be Islamophobic.
The Disintegration of Academia - As well as immigration, Asia, and Islam, another key issue covered in this week’s podcast is Professor Jason Arday. I’m not speaking of him himself, who I would regard as somebody more to be pitied than despised. He was promoted to his position despite a series of incredible lies which intelligent academic people accepted purely because they wanted to be seen as anti-racist or pro-DEI. I’ve been reading a number of articles which point out how universities in the UK, the United States, Australia, and other English-speaking Western countries, (I’m not so sure about the non-English speaking Western countries), have been captured by an ideology which undermines the whole of academia. This is particularly true within the humanities. The decline of Western universities, universities which were established by Christianity, matches the decline in Christianity. The two are not unconnected.
Transgender - And then we come on to the other main issue of our culture, which is that of human identity, and particularly the question of male and female gender. The question of men in women’s sports is a touchstone issue within our culture and will continue to be for some time.
The Cult of Science and Celebrity - This podcast also covered two other main issues within our culture. First is the deification of science and the cult of celebrity that surrounds some experts. It’s not so much that Anthony Fauci lied, which he did, but that he did so because he delighted in celebrity, at least if we are to believe his own diaries. But you see how people get invested in this. You support someone, you come out publicly and say how wonderful they are, and when you discover or when it is said that they have been lying, you double down because it’s as much about your reputation as it is about theirs. Now, that can happen on all sides. For example, people who support Donald Trump or Nigel Farage will react badly to news which shows them in a bad light. But we have to go with the truth.
The Bureaucratisation of Society - And then the final issue is Bill Anderson’s really important talk at the AIC. I thought actually it was one of the best talks there. His description of how as a company grows, it becomes less effective and innovative because of the bureaucracy that is involved is something that we need to reflect on. I think the phrase that stuck in my head is that whilst there is work in heaven, ‘hell is managed’. I’ve noticed this in churches as well, that the larger they get, the more bureaucratic they get. Paradoxically, I’ve also noticed that as denominations decline, they become more bureaucratic because somehow they believe they can manage decline or manage it so that it turns around into growth, which management never, ever does. The bureaucratization of the church will be the death of the church.
A great and important song - And finally, I do strongly recommend listening to every word of Johnny Cash’s “When the Man Comes Around.” I think it’s a genius song, binding scripture together with his classic voice, a great guitar riff, and a profound, if challenging, message, which is kind of what this podcast is trying to do. Be interesting to get your feedback. Please do feel free to pass this on and to pass on the podcast to others. It has a growing audience, but I would love it to reach more people. Thanks.