Looking Back at '7/7'

by Fr Ian

This year the BBC has broadcast a four-part documentary about the terrorist attack which took place in London on 7th July 2005 - twenty years ago this year. The series is still available on BBC iPlayer.

Photo of one of the 7/7 London bombings from The Guardian newspaper

I remember that at the time I wrote an article for a Catholic website (now defunct) and I thought I would re-publish the article here in hope of encouraging discussion and debate on the forum. Apart from a few small grammatical improvements and the addition of photographs I've left it completely unchanged, so the references are obviously dated. I wonder how far I've changed my mind since then? The issues are still very topical, as shown for example by Hamas' incursion into Israel on 7th October, 2023, Israel's retaliatory military operation in Gaza, and the car attack in Munich yesterday (Thursday 13th February) by an Afghan asylum seeker.       

In any case here's what I wrote in 2005:

Are we now living in the Great Apostasy? (4)

by Ray Caldwell

New Age authors offer an alternative to New Testament Christianity. Here I look at one such effort, A Course In Miracles Made Easy by Alan Cohen.

Are we now living in the Great Apostasy? (3)

by Ray Caldwell

(Part 1 here, Part 2 here)

The Garden of Eden by German artist Lucas Cranach der Ältere (c. 1472 - 1553)

The Christian Explanation

It seems to me that too many people fail to comprehend the Adam and Eve account in the book of Genesis in the Bible. It is about God bestowing upon humans the gift of free-will. "Made in God's image" means, created to reflect God's nature and glory. 

Orbs and Spirituality

Photo taken from the website Pure Spiritual

David Derrington ponders if there are connections between Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UFOs), past religious revivals and the contemporary spiritual quest. Is our planet entertaining angels unawares, or are we being visited by some other form of Non-human Intelligence?

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Orbs aka “drones” are in the news, especially since this photo (below) taken by a pilot from his plane at Manchester Airport has gone viral.

Are we now living in the Great Apostasy? (2)

In the long-awaited second part of his essay Ray Caldwell asks 'What is the Great Apostasy?'

(Part I here)

"The Great Apostasy is a concept within Christianity to describe a perception that mainstream Christian churches have fallen away from the original faith founded by Jesus and promulgated through His twelve apostles" (James E. Talmage from his book The Great Apostasy).

A New Year Service of Prayer for Peace in 2025

Before the start of the service

On Monday 6th January, at 2.00pm, members of St David's C-in-W church and St Mary Magdalene Catholic parish came together to pray for an end to war and violence in 2025. 

Rev. Roland presided and Fr Ian offered a reflection taking this passage from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount as his starting-point: