She was always reticent about her personal opinions about people and policies. She was reluctant even to divulge whether she had a favourite hymn, knowing that she would be condemned ever afterwards to hear it on every occasion.

During the Diamond Jubilee in 2012, in a speech at Lambeth Palace the Queen was explicit about her own view of the role of the Church of England in a multicultural country. ‘The concept of our established church is occasionally misunderstood and I believe commonly underappreciated. Its role is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country.’

The Queen believed that the ‘Defender of the Faith’ should be the friend and protector of all the faiths which make up the national community. She was an assiduous visitor to temples, gurdwaras and mosques. The idea, however, that you could slip the Christian anchorage in favour of a generalised benevolence to all religions was not one she instinctively favoured. To be simply a ‘Defender of Faith’, rather than the Faith, suggests that one occupies an elevated position in which all faiths are seen as more or less adequate local editions of something vaguely lying beyond them all. Spiritual progress and deeper appreciation of other traditions comes from the serious and disciplined choice of a particular way to follow. The Queen was intensely disciplined in every aspect of her life including in its spiritual dimension. Wherever she was, Sunday worship was a priority.

Read it all.

'The Queen was explicit on numerous occasions that her "inspiration and anchor" was Jesus Christ. Her words reflect a firm personal faith nourished by the experience of prayers and Bible-reading with her mother.'

✍️ Richard Chartreshttps://t.co/VkaAqT0IJI

— The Spectator (@spectator) September 15, 2022

The 120km train ride between the cities of Luoyang and Zhengzhou is a showcase of economic malaise and broken dreams. From the window endless, half-built residential towers pass one after another for the duration of the hour-long journey. Many of the buildings are near completion; some are finished and have become homes. But many more are skeletons where construction ceased long ago. Developers have run out of cash and can no longer pay workers. Projects have stalled. Families will never get their homes.

The train ride through China’s heartland helps to explain one of the country’s biggest crises in recent memory: the public’s loss of confidence in the government’s economic model. For decades the property industry has been symbolic of China’s rise. Private entrepreneurs have made vast fortunes. Average people have witnessed their net worth soar as home values trebled. Local governments have filled their coffers by selling vast tracts of land to developers. An astonishing 70% of Chinese household wealth is now tied up in real estate.

To undermine trust in this model is to shake the foundations of China’s growth miracle. With sweeping covid-19 lockdowns and a crackdown on private entrepreneurs, this is happening on many fronts. But nowhere is it clearer than in the property industry, which makes up around a fifth of gdp….

Read it all.

To undermine trust in the government’s economic model is to shake the foundations of China’s growth miracle https://t.co/jTSwESdVxM

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) September 15, 2022

As I began editing World thirty years ago I was proposing policies regarding poverty-fighting and related issues that became known as “compassionate conservatism.” The magazine reflected that viewpoint. Today, “national conservatism” or “Christian nationalism” has little room for compassion. As World resisted paranoid lines regarding vaccines, masks, and church closings—all part of a big government plot—our resistance became part of a larger conspiracy theory: World had gone woke.

American journalism history has valuable lessons on how to deal with conspiracy mongers. In 1955 wealthy William F. Buckley, Jr. started a magazine, National Review, that invigorated a conservative movement in disarray. Within a few years Buckley as editor had to fight off the John Birch Society, which asserted—among other oddities—that President Dwight Eisenhower was a Communist. Buckley said Birch founder and head Robert Welch inferred “subjective intention from objective consequences”: Because bad things had happened, U.S. policy makers must have intended them to happen.

John Birchers scrutinized book-buying decisions by local librarians and demanded that some books be removed. When National Review opposed the Birch campaign to impeach Earl Warren, the Supreme Court’s chief justice, many subscribers complained. When one donor said he had supported National Review financially and wanted it to support his concerns, Buckley said the magazine was “not for sale.”

Buckley owned the magazine and maintained his emphasis on independence even when the business side, led by publisher Bill Rusher, worried about reader and revenue loss. Rusher said a “substantial fraction” of readers “bled away” during 1962 and 1963. A direct mail campaign flopped as many on the mailing lists sided with the Birchers.

Buckley stuck with his principles and wrote to Barry Goldwater, “It is essential that we effect a clean break” with the Birch Society.

Read it all.

LONG FORM: A Wrinkle in Journalism History https://t.co/B4aSuubIg0

— Marvin Olasky (@MarvinOlasky) September 14, 2022

take the time to watch it all.

The chaplain service will start at 9am…Wednesday 14th September…and run until Sunday 18th September. They will be with the crowd during day-light hours.

The chaplains will be identifiable by their Hi-Vis vests with Faith Team printed on them.

They will move along with the crowd and will introduce themselves, have conversations and, only if requested, pray with people.

The Church of England is working in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to organise this collaborative chaplaincy.

Read it all.

pic.twitter.com/U5ph5hcVdg

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) September 14, 2022

Gracious God, reveal to thy church the depths of thy love; that, like thy servant Catherine of Genoa, we might give ourselves in loving service, knowing that we have been perfectly loved by thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates Catherine of Genoa, Mystic and Nurse, 1510 https://t.co/31PDuksZIN

Image: Catherine of Genoa depicted in The Mother of Sorrows window (Harry Clarke, 1926), now in @NGIreland. Photos: Sailko, CC BY 3.0; CC BY 4.0 via https://t.co/MtmziQYxPc pic.twitter.com/mehoftHmWw

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) September 15, 2022

We bring to you, O Lord, our poverty of soul to be transformed by your beauty; our waywardness of passion to be tamed by your love; our stubbornness of will to be conformed to your commandments and our coldness of heart to be enkindled by your grace; now and for ever. Amen–Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510)

Sunrise – Kyleakin, Isle of Skye #Scotland 15/09/22 @VisitScotland @ThePhotoHour @StormHour @angie_weather pic.twitter.com/1idfa2MZE0

— James MacInnes (@Macinnesplant) September 15, 2022

But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and every one’s fetters were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, with all his family. Then he brought them up into his house, and set food before them; and he rejoiced with all his household that he had believed in God.

But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” And the jailer reported the words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore come out and go in peace.” But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now cast us out secretly? No! let them come themselves and take us out.” The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens; so they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. So they went out of the prison, and visited Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they exhorted them and departed.

–Acts 16:25-40

Morning everyone hope you are well. Sunrise over Rydal Water. Have a great day. #lakedistrict @keswickbootco @ShowcaseCumbria pic.twitter.com/UT2Q2zWsYF

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) September 15, 2022