Alarm bells are ringing in Denmark and – more quietly – in the rest of Europe. The Danish government is proposing to legislate about sermons. To many this will seem blameless, particularly if the measure prescribes that sermons should be no more than ten minutes long. But the legislators are not concerned with the attention-span or fortitude of those in the pews (or chairs in the case of more up-to-date churches). They are concerned with what the preachers may say. More particularly they are anxious to exclude the purveying of extreme views from pulpits. This can be tackled, it is reckoned, by requiring all sermons to be in Danish.
There was a time of course when pulpits were prime publishing instruments. When a preacher in a parish was the only person who could read or write and when a government was conscious of its frailty, it made sense to curb preachers. Sermons could have an electrifying effect on public opinion. Savonarola demonstrated that in Florence. Such was his pulpit performance that he brought about a ‘bonfire of vanities’ Citizens threw treasured worldly objects – e.g. cosmetics and books – on to the flames as a sign of repentance. His preaching and his policies in a Christian state even incurred the displeasure of Rome. Eventually he was hanged and burned. In this country John Wycliffe provided an English example of unacceptable preaching and a resultant crackdown. Wycliffe laid bare corruption in the Church. He was hailed before the church authorities and condemned. It was not only Wycliffe himself who was in trouble. His followers, the Lollards, faced similar sanctions. After his death the church authorities had his bones dug up and burned. Catholic puritan and protestant puritan had a good deal in common.
It is not Christian preachers who are the targets in this new proposed legislation. Denmark is a country with an established Lutheran Church and there is no attempt to silence Lutheran preachers overall. What is at issue is extremist preaching in mosques, where the language of the preachers is Arabic. But the move is causing anguish because it affects, for example, the Anglican churches in Denmark. And the supervision of sermons is likely to be not only an assault on religious freedom but an expensive matter of translation – or even of digital recording if the preaching does not follow a written text.
ALPHA IN SHEFFIELD AND HULL
St Philip’s church, Sheffield, has a clear aim: ’We are praying that we will double in size by 2024, primarily through seeing people discover Jesus and begin to follow him.’ St Philip’s is a Baptist church. It features stories of its members on its website and runs Alpha courses. It sees itself as a community of prayer and mission.
Also featuring Alpha courses is Hull Minster. Starting from the point that, although Jesus never held political or religious office or commanded armies, many would agree that he was the most influential person ever to walk upon this planet, the Minster invites visitors to the website are invited to join others in finding out more about him.
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