Contents

Editorial

Letters

An old acquaintance

FCCU: a reply

FCCU: another reply

Meditation

James Porter fights back!

World

The G8 summit, and with it the Make Poverty History Rally, is rapidly approaching. Do I have an excuse not to go? No. The tickets aren’t expensive, my degree will be over by then, so it’s not as though I’m unable to. It’s not that I’d be against such a march being ‘fashionable’, something that Chris Charlton discusses in Trendy middle class liberal frauds. It is as though I don’t feel the need to go to Edinburgh to make a difference. Yet even in York, I experience laziness in social action.

I don’t even have the excuse of placing my faith before social action, as Greg Melia discusses in Just Mission. I could ease my conscience by saying that we do what we can when we can. But the least we can do is to strive to do better, if nothing more than for the sake of all those without clean drinking water.

Perhaps I am unsure as to what should be done. It may take time to decide, after much prayer. In an interview with Lizzie Freear, Marian Olsen recalls how she took ten years to feel confident about what she must do. Lizzie also asks us to consider the differences between the sexes, and celebrate them in Beyond political correctness.

Meanwhile, as the G8 happens around us, I will attempt to consider “What can I do?” I urge you all to do the same.

Keith McKillop

Love thy neighbour

Trendy liberal middle class frauds

Do you have a gender construct?

Meeting Marian Olsen

Life

Why is it that we celebrate life’s beginning, but not its end? As Christians who believe that death is not the end, should we not be celebrating death as a new beginning, a second birth, rather than selfishly reflecting on the fact that the deceased are no longer with us? The fate that awaits us after death is no less certain than that which awaits an infant. Have we got something wrong here?

Having said that, I was very sorry to hear that our popular contributor Dorian du Richard has met an untimely end. We may gain some consolation — Dorian did find love before he died, as you can read in his last article, which follows his obituary.

We also have a quiz, ‘Which Pope are you?’ written in memory of the late John Paul II, so you can distract yourself from your revision by working out which of the interesting specimens we’ve managed to dig out you most resemble, and for those of you who have always wondered just what goes on in some of York’s churches but aren’t feeling as energetic as Greg Melia, you can follow his report of a church marathon.

Lizzie Freear

Which Pope are you?

The Church Marathon

Dorian dies…

…after finally getting the girl

Belief

A very wise man (actually, I think it was Chris Rock, but the principle still stands) once said, “I think it’s better to have ideas [than beliefs]. If your ideas are wrong you can change them, but changing a belief is trickier. People die for it. People kill for it. The entire world is threatened right now because of belief…”

OK, I paraphrase, and possibly the Kevin Smith film Dogma isn’t the most theologically sound source from which to draw, but the point survives; belief is always powerful, and always controversial. To begin a sentence with the two words, “I believe” not only exposes your inmost thoughts to public scrutiny, it can also provoke factions and divisions — factions with those who share your beliefs, divisions from those who don’t.

This may sound as though I am opposed to the concept of belief. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Beliefs are a substantial part of what make us us. But it is important that these beliefs which can, if misused, alienate and wound, can also inspire each of us to perform acts of the utmost selflessness and kindness. It is vital, if we are to make a positive impact on the world, that we have beliefs which are considered and rational, that we understand their impact on our decisions and lives, and that we are prepared to live them out in the face of all criticism.

Part of this journey is sharing our beliefs with others. In this section of Christis some of our writers have done just that. We hope you find their words helpful and interesting.

Chris Charlton

Knock and the door shall be opened

I believe in…Theology

I believe in…Christian Unity?

Poems

In Search of Love

Watch Over Me

Little Sunflower

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