It’s been awhile since we’ve heard the Rev. Ian Paisley rail publicly against the pope, identifying him as an ‘anti-Christ.’ But in an interview with the BBC World Service, Paisley reverted to ‘anti-Christ’ mode as he voiced his opposition to the pope’s state visit to the UK in September. On his blog, BBC religion correspondent [...]
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Christians v. Atheists? The Battle for the Buses and the Ulster Museum
In its annual report, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) has noted that it received 392 complaints about the British Humanist Association’s campaign slogan: ‘There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.’ The presence of this slogan on city buses became almost iconic. But what received the most complaints? It was the [...]
Peter Robinson, Naomi Long, and the 2010 Westminster Elections: A New Era in Northern Irish Politics?
This morning I had the rather surreal experience of a Benedictine monk greeting me with news of one election result I didn’t expect: the Alliance Party’s Naomi Long had defeated Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader and Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson in the election for the Westminster Parliament. So I’ll have an interesting answer [...]
DUP Election Broadcast: Will Looking Back Keep Northern Ireland Moving Forward?
The Democratic Unionist Party has a lot to worry about in this election. Traditional Unionist Voice’s Jim Allister has been smelling blood ever since the DUP’s compromise with Sinn Fein. Especially in the conservative heartlands, the TUV cause may get a boost from the Iris Robinson scandal and suspicions over Peter Robinson’s dodgy property deals. [...]
Iris Robinson scandal – What now? Meaningful Change or Business as Unusual?
Last night’s BBC Panorama programme on the Iris Robinson affair, ‘The MP and the Whistleblower,’ followed much the same script as the original Spotlight programme. The Panorama showing, geared towards a wider UK audience, merely updated the on-going saga to include yesterday’s most important development: Peter Robinson’s decision to vacate the office of First Minister [...]
The Robinson Scandal, Evangelical Pietism and Waiting for God to sort things out?
On today’s BBC Radio Ulster programme, Sunday Sequence, I discussed with Free Presbyterian minister Rev. David McIlveen, and former editor of the News Letter Austin Hunter, how the Robinson scandal may change Northern Irish social, political and religious culture. Rev McIlveen, a senior Free Presbyterian cleric who is a close confidant of former DUP party [...]
The Robinson Affair: DUP’s Evangelical Constituency May Find it Easier to Forgive than to Trust
In yesterday’s Irish Times, Fionola Meredith wrote that folks might be surprised that Protestant fundamentalists seem willing to forgive Iris Robinson. Meredith notes that this constituency (I prefer to refer to them as conservative evangelicals) has been quick to condemn what they perceive as the immoral behaviour of other public figures. Why should their reaction [...]
Iris Robinson Scandal, Episode II – Dodgy Loans with a side of tea and scones…
Wednesday we found out about the sex, yesterday we found out about the money. Last night the BBC ran the Spotlight programme that is assumed to have prompted First Minister Peter Robinson’s interview on Wednesday about his wife Iris’ marital infidelity. The programme revealed that Mrs Robinson secured a £50,000 loan for her then 19-year-old [...]
The Iris Robinson Affair – Sex, Money & Christianity…
Last week when the DUP’S Iris Robinson retired, I blogged about her battle for the ‘moral soul’ of Northern Ireland. I was as surprised as anyone at the news yesterday evening about her extramarital affair, and her attempt last March to take her own life due to her anguish about what had happened. The news [...]
Peter Robinson, Gerry Adams and Questions about Political Leadership
A column by David Gordon in today’s Belfast Telegraph addresses speculation about the leadership of DUP First Minister Peter Robinson, noting the persistent rumours that he too will bow out of politics following his wife Iris Robinson’s retirement due to depression. Yesterday in the same paper, Gordon made the case that Mr. Robinson wouldn’t be [...]
About me
Welcome to Building a Church Without Walls, a website for people who are excited about how Christianity is developing in the 21st Century. I am a Lecturer and Coordinator of the Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation Studies Programme at Trinity College Dublin at Belfast (the Irish School of Ecumenics).
Please note this is my personal site. All views are my own and are not representative of TCD.
